A great show, despite the cold…

It was a bit chilly this morning in Estabrook Park, and the flooded area where we’ve been seeing the coot was all frozen over, but the wind was light, and the sky was crystal clear, so it was a good morning for checking on the critters.

My first treat was finding this muskrat, whom I suspect is the one we’ve seen already this spring, gobbling up its vegetables right at the edge of the ice I mentioned above.

The coot, however, appears to have moved on, perhaps due to the ice, and so the next fun sight was this wood duck drake strutting his stuff, up on the west lawn of the pond.

There was no sign of the bufflehead at the river, but I did glimpse the grebe, and I don’t know how I could miss this red-breasted merganser drake.

The next big treat was catching another look at a great horned owl, who was far more interested in something or someone I couldn’t see, than it was in me.

I also saw a pair of hooded mergansers at the river, but they kept to the far side and then bolted. Happily, they appeared to have bolted to the pond, which they seemed to find more to their liking. In about half the pictures I took, he even had his eyes closed.

Also at the pond, I spotted two red squirrels together, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before, but I simply could not get a picture with them both in focus, so this cutie will just have to do.

On my way back to the river, the screech-owl must have known I was alone, so it poked its head out to say “hi”.

Back at the river, the ice on the flooded area was taking its time melting, but the sun was warm enough to get this swamp sparrow to sing his song.

Back up on the paved path for my way home, I was thrilled to spot a yellow-bellied sapsucker again. They were thick for a day or two last week, but then they went quiet, and I was afraid that might be the last we saw of them till the fall. Thankfully, this one even called to me as I went by, so I knew to look up.

Finally, just as soon as I had a decent sapsucker picture, these sandhill cranes circled right above me, as if to give me a chance to make up for that terrible first picture I took of them. “Thanks, guys!”