One more trip around the sun…

This morning got off to a great start in Estabrook Park, with nearly clear skies, nearly still air, and nearly 50°F temps. It was almost balmy, and I skipped a poofy jacket for the first morning this year. The birds seemed to be digging it, too, because I could hear them singing their little heads off even before I crossed Wilson Drive.

Anyway, the first sight I thought worth a picture was our darling pied-billed grebe on the river in its usual spot, where the water gets wide and slow below the twin radio towers on the far shore.

Just upstream of the grebe, this red squirrel not only posed, but grabbed a tree branch with buds, bit off a piece, and proceeded to nibble all the buds off it. Remember to eat your vegetables!

The water around the islands above the falls was full of birds when I arrived. Besides all the geese jockeying for nesting spots on the upstream island and a few mallards, I was pleased to spot a pair of hooded mergansers, a common merganser hen, and a red-breasted merganser drake. Best of all, we got our first glimpse at wood ducks on the river and only our third sighting of them this year.

The horned grebe was still there, and it even had a buddy for the first time. Here’s a look at one of them while the sun was still shining.

Then the sky became overcast, the wind picked up and started blowing cold air off the lake, and it was time for me to head home. As I emerged from the river path beside the southern soccer fields, I found this brown creeper making its way up the side of a river birch that grows there.

Finally, the golden-crowned kinglets seemed to be everywhere this morning, and I counted over a dozen of them, but they’re about as fast as they are tiny, so pictures are not easy to come by. This little devil, on the other hand, was nearly daring me to take its picture as it continued performing its acrobatics on this ninebark bush as I stood there watching. How could I not oblige such an adorable face, right?

Lastly, today is the sixth anniversary of this project, and what an amazing trip it’s been. In the 2,191 days since I took my first wood duck picture and breathlessly emailed my family and friends about it, I’ve taken over 100,000 pictures, posted to you about them 1,725 times, and walked over 4,000 miles. So far, we’ve seen in Estabrook alone, 14 species of mammals, 174 of birds, 7 of reptiles, 2 of amphibians, 16 of fish, 116 of insects, and 7 of arachnids. What an absolute treat it has been, and thanks for coming along!