The holding pattern of weather we’ve been enjoying for the past few days continued in Estabrook Park this morning. Temps were in the low twenties again, wind speeds were in the low teens again, and the sun was able to poke through the clouds again. The geese and ducks continue to be on the river, and nobody new showed up today.
The most interesting sight, for me at least, was at the pond, where I spotted this Cooper’s hawk on the railing of the little bridge in the northwest corner. I continue to learn from my mistakes, albeit slowly, and I quickly took the shot I could, in case that would be my only opportunity, and then I backed up to see if I could get a better look if I approached from the south.
Well, I got lucky this time, the hawk stayed put, and I was able to get a little better picture, good enough to see clearly that it’s a young one. There were still sticks in front of its face, however, even when I sat on the lawn at the edge of the water, and I didn’t want to trust the ice, after the thaw we had, so I didn’t really have a way to get much lower.
So, I sat on the bench for a moment to consider my next move and finally opted to try sneaking up the paved path that leads to the bridge. Once again, the view was improved, but that black scrap of a leaf right in front of its chest wasn’t great.
I worried that if I approached on foot any farther, I would spook the bird, so I sat down and slowly crab walked up the path until I could get a clearer shot, and this is what I got. There are still a few sticks in the way, so I wouldn’t call it perfect by any means, but it’s a pretty nice look at a beautiful bird, nevertheless.
That’s the whole show for today, and I’m gonna treat it as an opportunity to practice being grateful for the sights I see and not worry about the rest. We’ll see how that goes.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 