The wind was already blowing pretty good by sunrise, so I didn’t have high hopes for this morning’s outing in Estabrook Park. The sun was shining, however, so it was a pretty day to look at, in any case.
Once again, I didn’t see any new birds on the pond or the river, but I did get to see our visiting merlin again near the top of a tree on the upstream island in the river.
Back on our shore and a lot closer to the ground, I found this northern flicker, who didn’t depart with the rest of the crew, appearing to warm itself in the sun.
The main event for today came as I went by the dog park on my way to the pond for a second visit. There I happened to notice this Cooper’s hawk perched in the tree that sits inside the fence and nearest to the parkway. As I tried to move to my left to get that stick out from in front of its face, it swooped down and circled the tree several times …
in hot pursuit of this red squirrel, and you can see the hawk peeking out from behind the tree. It reminded me a little of those old coyote and roadrunner cartoons.
It tried again and ended up on the chain-link fence around the dog park.
After the third attempt, it retired to a nearby tree, and I was finally able to get a proper portrait of the frustrated hunter.
Finally, at the far south end, look who else paid us a rare visit.
Boy, today sure turned out better than I expected.
Now, about tomorrow. I won’t be able to join you for the wildlife walk this time because Anne and I will be boarding our flight to our next destination, instead. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I will post some pictures tomorrow of critters we might hope to spot once we get there.
