For all my whining about gray skies, you’d think I’d have a bunch of beautiful blue-sky pictures on a clear and crisp day like today. I sure would like to, but the critters had made other plans, it seems.

On my way north, I turned on my camera only once, but I flubbed the two chances a hairy woodpecker gave me before it disappeared in a tangle of little branches high up in the tree. Dang.

I spotted a gray squirrel with a mouth full of fallen leaves, for the second time in as many days, as it made its way up a tree trunk, and I lined up to capture an image when it came into the clear, but it found its burrow on the other side of that trunk before the clearing and emerged empty-mouthed. Darn!

At the north end, Lisa was kind enough to point out the bufflehead and hooded merganser pair, but I thought I might have been overexposing them lately, so I let them be. Neither of us could see any herons or raptors. Oh well.

On my way back south, it wasn’t until I reached the mudflats again, where the river is wide and slow, that I finally managed to capture a presentable image of a red-bellied woodpecker checking out a hole in an old tree trunk.

Just a bit south of there, at the base of stairway 9, I was thrilled to find a muskrat enjoying some late season greens at the water’s edge. Eat ’em while they last!

Finally, near the southern end, a group of mallards on the far shore were having some sort of agitated meeting, but they wouldn’t tell me what it was about.

That’s it for today, I’m afraid. Better luck next time, eh?

After being dissappointed by my last two outings, I went to the park this morning with no expectations at all. I didn’t get there particularly early, and I didn’t care that the sky was gray. As always, the critters didn’t care one way or the other about my expectations and were busier than they’ve been lately just going about their business.

I had barely made any progress north along the river when I heard the rattle of a belted kingfisher, and I quickly found her straight across the water, but she must have already spotted a fish because she didn’t immediately take off when she saw me.

Instead, she dove straight down into the water and emerged with this tasty morsel. Breakfast is served!

Further north, I was thrilled to find a winter wren again and not far from the last one we saw. Perhaps it’s the same bird.

I hadn’t even reached the falls yet when my luck with little birds continued with this golden-crowned kinglet.

Things settle down for a bit until I reached the north end where I spotted our two resident divers: the hooded merganser hen and her trusty sidekick, the bufflehead hen.

There were more gulls on the water than I believe I’ve ever seen before, at least 20 of them, but they were all on the far side and spread out, so not very photogenic. These mallards, on the other hand, were on our side of the northern island and could barely be more closely packed. Thanks guys!

I had collected quite a few cans by then, so on my way back I climbed up to the beer garden to put them in the recycling there, and figured, what the heck, might as well go check out the pond at this point. Sure enough, it was frozen over shore to shore, and the best picture I could get is of this tiny island off the north shore, where we’ve seen turtles, blue herons, green herons, wood ducks, black ducks, and mallards on warmer days.

Finally, just as I was about the leave the park, this female cardinal convinced me to take just one more picture.

The big news, besides all the door-buster sales today, is that the river is really starting to ice over in spots. Here’s a view looking north toward the abandoned bridge abutments. You can see the falls once you round that bend up ahead. The ice is thin but stretches shore to shore. It’s nice and grey to match the sky we had this morning.

The hardy birds are built for this, however, and continue to go about their business, especially on the water, which stays a relatively-balmy 32°F no matter what crazy stunts the air pulls. Here’s a hooded merganser hen fishing amongst the mallards and ice floes in the mostly open water above the falls. You can just make out that her forehead is wet because she just pulled her head up from scouting for fish.

The bufflehead hen was in that same mix, and here she is right beside a mallard hen to give you some idea of her size.

Finally, not all the ice was grey, and here’s an oak leaf frozen into some intricately crystalized black river ice.

I wish I had found a turkey today to show you, but I haven’t seen one since this beauty beside the pond back on July 10. Instead, there were at least two, and possibly a young third bald eagle over the river this morning, but the park was busy, so they didn’t stick around long enough for me to get close enough to capture an image. It sure was a good sign though, and I expect I’ll be able to show you pictures of them in the coming weeks and months.

Another trio I was happy to see included this red squirrel and probably two of its siblings.

The clouds were thick, and the sky was even spritzing, so the light was darn low, and my camera struggled mightily.

At the north end, I spotted one of the hooded merganser hens again, but saw no sign of the bufflehead today.

On my way south, this red-bellied woodpecker posed for just long enough.

Finally, another beaver heading home, upstream this time, posed for not quite long enough.

The winds were whippin’ out of the south this morning, and it seemed that just about everyone was sleeping in. I barely saw a soul, and certainly nothing to photograph, until I reached the north end.

There was no sign of the bufflehead or the mergansers this morning, and a blue heron was on the east shore up ahead, but someone else flushed it out, probably inadvertently, before I could get close enough. Instead, I did manage to get this image of a red-tailed hawk high above the far shore. Perhaps it’s the same one we saw just Monday.

A crow was foraging again on the now-exposed river bottom between the islands. Maybe it was craving some more of that naturally-aged salmon.

I headed back south and stayed along the river to avoid as much of the wind as I could. I did see two belted kingfishers by the falls at the same time for a change: one above and one below. I’ve suspected there was more than one, but this was the first time I could see both while standing in one spot. Neither one wanted a portrait today, however, so I kept moving.

This next sight took me by surprise because of the freezing temperatures we’ve had lately, but I guess they’re hardy and/or growing in a well-sheltered spot. They sure looked healthy.

As far as I can tell, these are grey oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) and quite edible, but I’m saving my appetite for tomorrow.

Just a bit beyond the mushrooms, I finally met a little cutie who was in the mood.

By the looks of that round shape, short tail held straight up, and the slight stripe over the eye, I’d say we’ve finally got ourselves a winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis). It’s about darn time, eh? Oddly enough, it appears that their breeding range is just a bit north of here, their winter range is just a bit south of here, and we’re smack dab in the middle of their short migration range. Well, we’ll take what we can get, right?

Finally, there was a trio of geese on the lower river, amongst the mallards, and here are two of them taking turns stretching. Perhaps stretches are contagious among birds similar to the way that yawns are contagious among people.

If you’re traveling this week, we hope you get there and back safely, and we’ll “see” you when you return.

I’ve gotta go give an exam this morning, but the sky isn’t the beautiful blue that we had yesterday, so I don’t mind so much. Plus, there were so many pretty sights yesterday, I’ve got some more to show you today.

Here’s another, slightly blurry, look at that red-tailed hawk that really shows off its red tail. It must have decided that the river wasn’t big enough for the two of us. Sorry, buddy! Maybe it had finally gotten warm enough in the sun, and I was just the impetus it needed to go get some breakfast. I was all the way across the river at a pretty wide part, after all.

Here’s a nice close-up of one of the two female hooded mergansers who probably didn’t mind that the hawk finally took off.

And here’s another look at the female bufflehead. This might be my best bufflehead picture yet. They are usually quite shy, but that could have always been the male’s reaction, and the female could be a bit bolder. That certainly seems to be the case with mallards and wood ducks and perhaps is a result of females usually wearing better camouflage. I’ll have to look into that.

Here’s another shot of the fishing herring gull. It was diving and getting back out of the water repeatedly, but I didn’t see it manage to catch anything. Keep trying, buddy!

While I have you, here’s one more look at the muskrat from Sunday.

Finally, here are two more shots of the foraging chickadees from yesterday.

Till next time.

The thermometer said 21° this morning, and the manual for my camera assured me it was good for 14°, so we were good to go with 7° to spare! That’s a good thing, too, because the sky was crystal clear, and it would have been a crying shame to miss the park today.

The first pretty sight I saw came a bit before the abandoned bridge abutment, near where we saw the muskrat yesterday, and where this blue heron was warming itself in the bright morning sun on a log over the water. Those darn vines hanging down between us were giving my autofocus fits, so I’m thrilled that it somehow focused on the heron one time. Phew!

Meanwhile, as I was trying to trick my autofocus into doing my bidding, look who came cruising down the river. Yup, that’s a beaver heading home once again after a night of gnawing on trees upstream.

After all that excitement, things were calm for a bit until I got above the falls and tried to check on another spot where I’ve seen beaver before. Look who caught my eye in a tree across the river as I approached the water: a red-tailed hawk appearing to try the same trick as the heron.

The beaver hangout was all iced over, so nothing to see there, but there was some new action out on the water.

Mrs. Bufflehead has come down river a bit and has been joined by a pair of hooded merganser hens. Sweet! Here’s a nicer picture of Mrs. Bufflehead as she caught her breath between dives to forage for tasty morsels on the river bottom.

Speaking of tasty morsels, the herring gulls were back to fishing on the river, and here’s one just about the splashdown at the far north end.

There was no sign of the young eagle this morning but be patient. I bet we’ll get to see it again, and hopefully its elders, too, as the river ices over in the coming weeks, and everyone starts frequenting the few patches of open water left.

On my way back home, I spotted this fascinating phenomenon trapped in an eddy just below the falls. It appears to be foam churned up by the falls now frozen into plate-sized pancakes that lazily circle each other on the surface. I do not recall seeing that before, but I read that this is not the first occurrence, and it is perhaps distinct from the so-called “pancake ice” that forms on oceans and lakes. Fun, eh? What will they think up next?

Further south, the little birds were finally up, and here’s a chickadee with breakfast already.

Finally, here’s a goldfinch who just needs five more minutes in the sun, please, before it’ll be ready to forage.

Skies were cloudy at sunrise again, so I took my sweet time getting to the park, and this handsome devil was waiting along the river trail to welcome me. How’s that for an auspicious start?

The next fun sight was this little cutie enjoying a muskrat’s breakfast at the river’s edge just a bit south of the abandoned bridge abutment. As before, I watched it make a couple of sorties onto shore for more helpings before a big flight of geese coming down river and honking as they came scared it into hiding.

As I approached the falls, this other gaggle of geese arranged themselves nicely in the reflected light upstream.

I reached the two islands just in time to catch these two crows enjoying a fish they found in the middle of the river. Could be salmon. There are a few of them littering the length of the river these days.

From there, I could see Lisa upriver at the boat launch, so I headed her way to hear what she had found this time. We thought it might be our osprey, but it turns out to be a young eagle instead.

We weren’t the only ones to notice it, either. The mallards had all already made themselves scarce, and these four crows took the fight right to the eagle.

When I thought I had the best eagle picture I was gonna get, I went looking for the bufflehead from yesterday, and sure enough, she was right where I left her.

Suddenly, she started paddling upstream as I’ve never seen before, and when I took my eye away from the viewfinder, I could see why. The eagle had finally had enough of the crows and came our way before it headed back north. Let’s hope we get to see a lot more that that one in the coming months.

On my way back south, I encountered a big group coming north at the boardwalk. They call themselves the “Sunday Birders”, Katie, who had tipped me off to the bufflehead just yesterday, was in the lead, and long-time reader Donna was deep in the pack.

I would have loved to tag along, but I had an event to get to, so continued south, and as I passed the wide and slow part of the river, where the stream from the pond empties in, I finally got a chance to capture this sweetie, who I’d been hearing all morning.

And that’s all she wrote for this morning. Best of all, the forecast for tomorrow morning looks fantastic, if a little cool and breezy, so let’s hope for some nice blue-sky backgrounds.

It was cloudy but much warmer than yesterday, and my morning in Estabrook got off to an interesting start when I spotted this herring gull with a fish in the river near the south end. We haven’t gotten to see much of that.

Things were quiet again until I approached the abandoned bridge abutment below the dog park. There was a blue heron fishing from a log on the east side, and it was much less shy than they usually are. Here’s the view straight west from the path.

And here it is again but straight south from the riverbank upstream.

Above the falls, I finally found one of the nuthatches nice and close to the ground that I’ve been hearing for the last few weeks but have not managed to photograph.

The main event, however, came at the north end, as I approached the boat ramp, when a birder walking south mentioned that they had just seen a bufflehead. Be still my heart! I hustled up to a gap in the brush, and sure enough, there it was. There was just one, so far, and here she is, showing off her namesake head.

She was diving regularly for “aquatic invertebrates, crustaceans, and mollusks,” and eating her fill, we hope.

We were lucky enough to have a pair on the river for most of last winter and into the spring, and I’m thrilled to see at least one back again. Let’s hope she sticks around, and another shows up to join her, eh?

Finally, as amazing luck would have it, my morning wrapped up just as it started, with another herring gull catching a fish. What are the odds of that?!?

Well, it was a beautiful morning in Estabrook, as forecast, but everyone must already be on the road for the Thanksgiving holiday because just about nobody was home.

I did manage to catch this red-bellied woodpecker, who I’ve heard but haven’t seen much of lately.

Near the same spot, where the river is wide and slow, this goldfinch appears to be trying to warm its toes. You can see one claw pulled up into its belly feathers.

And right behind the goldfinch, one of the many mourning doves who frequent that area maybe thought I was aiming at the goldfinch and so let me sneak this shot.

I hiked all the way up to the north end and back before I saw a shot worth taking again. This time of a junco keeping an eye on me over its shoulder.

Finally, there are still plenty of mallards scattered along the whole length of the river, and these two looked especially nice in the morning sun with the blue sky reflected off the water.

And those were all the pictures I thought worth taking. Meanwhile, I keeping seeing reports of buffleheads in Port Washington, and I wish they would hurry up and get here.