Winter’s not quite done with us yet…

The stiff wind out of the west this morning in Estabrook Park made it feel colder than I expected, even after I checked the weather, but the mud on the river path was hard as a rock, and the sky was indeed a nice, bright blue, so it was a good morning for taking pictures.

The common grackles, whom I’ve been glimpsing all week, finally deigned to sit still for a second, and here’s one showing off its iridescent feathers in the bright morning sun. Unlike the rusty blackbirds of yesterday, who looked rusty even under thick clouds, grackles look jet black or dark blue on a cloudy day, and only flash these golden colors when the sun hits them just right.

Out on the water, the hooded mergansers are still here, and I found this dashing trio lined up beside the upstream island.

I was thrilled still to find a pair of common mergansers, as well, and this handsome couple were in the wake of the downstream island.

Here’s the drake again because it’s not often that I can catch them with their head looking so green, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one holding his tail feathers up like that.

At the pond, I was happy to find one of the white-throated sparrows still kicking around. Soon enough they’ll all be off to their breeding grounds, which start just a bit north of here and extend all the way to the shores of Hudson Bay.

Back at the river, there were a couple of downy woodpeckers flitting about, and here’s the male holding still for a second.

Finally, here’s a male, red-bellied woodpecker letting me take advantage of that pretty blue sky.