It started out as a cold, wet, and windy morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it didn’t snow, and the wet, along with the clouds that brought it, soon blew away. Better yet, it might have been the threat of snow that brought us a resurgence in winter waterfowl. We had a half dozen red-breasted mergansers on the river around the islands, and here’s an immature male.
There was also a trio of hooded mergansers, and at least two of them look like non-breeding males.
We even had a lone female common merganser.
By the time I reached the pond, the sun was starting to light things up, and it was just in time for this female belted kingfisher portrait.
By the time I was back at the south end, the sky was nice and blue, which made a great background for this male house finch that was nibbling on that bud of tree leaves in front of it.
Finally, I heard a few winter wrens today, but none came out for pictures, so here’s one more look at the one from yesterday.
Lastly, I’ve gotta take a quick work trip tomorrow, and I probably won’t get to visit Estabrook before I go, but I’ll sift through the archives for some nice old pictures to show you until I can take some fresh ones.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 