There was a little more wind this morning than I had been led to expect, but the sky was indeed clear, and the cold firmed up the muddy river trail nicely, so it was a fine morning for a wildlife walk in Estabrook Park. Eight hearty enthusiasts found their winter coats and came out to join me.
The clear skies coaxed me out the door before the sun rose, and on my way to the parking lot, I found the pied-billed grebe again before the sun had reached down to light up the river.
The bigger surprise was finding these northern shoveler drakes, two of a quartet, and the first ones we’ve seen this year, in the water just off the upstream island. As you can see, the sun was there in time to turn on the iridescent green in their head feathers. Nice!
Along with the shovelers, I found one red-breasted merganser drake, and I love when the water reflects both the clear blue sky above and the early morning sun behind me like this.
Then it was time to meet everyone in the beer garden parking lot, and we all hustled down to the river in time to see the shovelers before they disappeared. Phew! Then, on our way to the pond, we all thought this was our first savannah sparrow of the year, but the bad light was fooling us, and when I got home and cleaned up my best image, we can see it’s just an innocent white-throated sparrow, instead. Oh well, it’s still a pretty bird, and they’ll all be off to the north for the summer soon enough.
After the pond, we headed back to the river in hopes of seeing the pied-billed grebe again and one of the winter wrens that had been reported yesterday, but both eluded us. Then Jeff caught back up to the group and said he had just seen a winter wren at the pond. Ha! So, we hustled back up there and sure enough, it was right where Jeff had seen it, but it was in no mood for pictures today, and so here’s the best “first of the year” portrait the little stinker would let me have.
Finally, one bird who seemed not to mind the camera this morning was this female northern flicker on the sumac by the pond. She was probably just more focused on warming up in the sun.
The forecast for tomorrow morning looks similar to today’s but maybe a bit warmer and cloudier. Either way, I can’t wait to see who we see next.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 