Sure, it was -5°F out this morning, -20°C for our European audience, but the sun was up, the sky was blue, the snow was white, and the forecast wind hadn’t come up yet, so it was quite a nice time to visit Estabrook. Plus, this just happens to be post number 500, so there’s that.

Anyway, down on the river, the open water continues to shrink, but the birds continue to forage in it. The first one I saw was a common merganser drake partially obscured by the thick steam fog coming off the water.

A bit beyond him, I started seeing goldeneyes. I counted at least two drakes and four hens, and here are a pair together. He might be having a front defroster issue, as the gadwall drake did a while ago, but I can’t say for sure.

At the north edge of the open water, the sun started to reach down to the surface, and lit up this frosty common merganser hen for us.

As I was busy counting the mallards, looking for the gadwall, noticing the hooded merganser hen, and seeing who else was there, look who was methodically going about his rounds and marking his territory on the far shore.

Sadly, I can’t say for sure whether this is the same coyote we saw back in December, but I loved seeing him nevertheless.

He didn’t stay long, and my fingers were too numb to take any more pictures, so I put my heavy mittens back on and continued north. I didn’t see a bird at the falls, which might be a first, and kept right on going to the north end. There I was thrilled to find yet another marvel, this Cooper’s hawk looking out over the frozen river and soaking up some sunlight.

Here it is again showing off those long tail feathers that supposedly “help them maneuver through trees in pursuit of songbirds.“

It was certainly as big as a crow and not as small as a blue jay, so definitely not a sharp-shinned hawk.

On my way back south, I finally found one of the many busy chickadees willing to pose just for a moment for this portrait.

Now the other side.

Back at the open water, the common merganser hen, was taking a break from fishing and appeared ready to take a nap.

Lastly, back at the south end again, I heard the kingfisher but couldn’t spot her. Instead, here’s a female hairy woodpecker fishing something out of a branch with her tongue. Yum!

I see we’re in for a warmup tomorrow, back into the 20s, and I bet almost no one will mind.

It was a picture-perfect morning in Estabrook, but I had to go to school today, and thank goodness I did. Look who I saw along the way in Cambridge Woods.

That little cutie, ladies and gentlemen, is an eastern screech-owl (Megascops asio), and here’s a close-up.

As I rode by bike to campus this morning, a guy, who’s name I didn’t catch, was taking a bunch of pictures of it, and I did my best to do the same with my phone. On my way home, I couldn’t believe my luck to find it was still there, so I hustled home to get my real camera. Miracle of miracles, it was still there on my 3rd visit.

I was surprised by how small it was. The fine folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describe it as “an owl no bigger than a pint glass”. Now that I know what to look for, you can bet I’ll be scouring our trees in Estabrook with renewed vigor.

Meanwhile, back in the park, here are a few images that I couldn’t fit in yesterday’s report. A herring gull decided it was bath day, no matter the weather.

It splashed under the water a few times.

Then hopped up onto the ice.

Shook itself off just as a dog would.

And that’s it. All done. Clean as a whistle.

Tomorrow morning, I expect to resume our regularly schedule program.

It was still snowing when we had breakfast, so I waited a bit for it to peter out before venturing into Estabrook, and it was worth the wait. I didn’t see anyone at the south end, at first, and I was already composing the story in my head, when I found that my alarm was premature.

The first creature I saw was our hooded merganser hen, who was busy fishing away in the little ribbon of open water that remains.

Soon after that, a male red-bellied woodpecker checked to make sure I kept it moving up the trail.

Then a male northern cardinal parked itself right over the trail and gave me the same look. Okay, okay! I’m going.

Back on the water, the crowd of goldeneyes is growing, and I counted 4 drakes and 5 hens this morning. Here’s the largest group I could squeeze into one shot.

Near the north end of the open water, I finally found a big group of mallards and one common merganser hen all resting on the ice together.

Finally, just before the river ices over until the falls, our gadwall drake is starting to show his shiny white speculum feathers. I first caught a glimpse of them yesterday, but he hid them again before I could get a picture. I would love to know if they have been there all along, and he just hides them, or if those are new feathers that have just come in for breeding season.

I was thrilled to spot our kestrel again just a bit further north and across the river from where we’ve seen her with a couple of small rodents.

As I walked past, keeping to our side of the river, she opted for a different perch, and I’ve been taking pictures of those huge, flying-saucer-looking things, which are part of the guywire system for a tower across the river, but never found one worthy of showing, until now.

At the falls, I found about a half dozen mallards and one poor goose who appears to be out of the flying business.

At the north end, I was rewarded for making the trek, even though there’s hardly any more open water, by our kestrel again, who let me get a much better picture this time.

On my way back south, I glimpsed and eagle soaring very high, but it drifted south before I could get a picture, and here’s one critter who was probably relieved to see it go.

Finally, back beside the open water, this female hairy woodpecker made sure everyone, including me, knew she was there.

Lastly, I heard and caught a glimpsed of a kingfisher at the south end again, but it was on a mission today that did not include photographs. Maybe next time.

The snow did arrive overnight, and the clouds cleared out by the time the sun came up, so Estabrook looked like a winter wonderland.

The first sight to great me was a couple pairs of goldeneyes and a common merganser hen all diving together. Here is one of the goldeneye couples, …

And here’s the common merganser.

At the north edge of the open water, I could see about a dozen mallards, I could hear and caught a glimpse of a kingfisher, but not enough to know if it was our regular female or the newly-arrived male, and I found our gadwall drake taking a break from dabbling on the fresh thin blanket of snow.

A bit further north, over the grassy field, I found this female red-bellied woodpecker hard at work on excavating a nesting cavity.

Just what is wrong with this one or any of the others that the males have been shilling all winter, she didn’t say.

At the little bit of open water remaining around the falls, I found this pair of mallards who were perfecting their synchronized dabbling.

I didn’t see anything at the north end except a few little birds who had no time for me today. Instead, on my way back south, I found this gray squirrel intently gnawing on a nut.

Lastly, here’s a goldfinch sampling the snow.

The forecast is for even more snow tonight, so I can’t wait to see what tomorrow looks like.

The snow did come, and if the wind didn’t blow it into little drifts, there was technically enough to track a cat, which was the threshold for a “snow fall” that my grandfather always used to cite.

I saw a goldeneye drake in one of the remaining slivers of open water at the south end, but thought I’d have another chance with better light later, so kept moving. At the north edge of the open water, before the river is frozen over all the way to the falls, I spotted the gadwall drake amongst about two dozen mallards, but before I could get a picture, a mature bald eagle glided over on its way south, followed soon after by a red-tailed hawk. I wonder if that’s the same hawk that appeared to chase off an eagle before.

Anyway, the birds of prey parade woke up our belted kingfisher over on the opposite shore, and she called out so that I could spot her.

I didn’t see our kestrel again, but as I approached the falls, I was surprised to see another kingfisher. Best of all, this one was a male, if only because variety is the spice of life, right? I tried to point him down river, but he was too busy fishing. Priorities, I guess.

He flew across to the far shore, and I couldn’t get a better picture, so I shifted my focus to the crow pecking at a fish frozen into the ice in the middle of the falls.

Then a robin landed on the ice at the far edge of the open water.

Finally, once I was distracted by the crow and the robin, the kingfisher caught a fish, of course, and proceeded to work on it behind a whole bunch of branches. You can just make it out in his beak in my best attempt below. Perhaps now it will take my advice and see what there is to see downstream.

Things settled back down on my walk to the north end. The only sight to see was another crow chowing down on something it found on the ice.

My walk back south was so uneventful, I finally took advantage of all the thick ice we now have and collected a bunch of bottles and bags stuck in branches out on and over the water. That should make it easier to get a pretty picture when the ice melts and all the warblers return in the spring.

When I got back to the open water, the gadwall drake was still there, so here he is.

Lastly, as I was working with the gadwall, I heard the distinctive little chirp of a winter wren. I spotted it soon enough, but the little stinker made me spot it a half dozen more times, chirping all the way to help me out, before it conceded to pose for this picture.

By the time I reached the south end again, the goldeneye’s sliver of open water had shrunk nearly in half, mostly from accumulated slush, and he had opted to find a bigger sliver, I guess. Oh well. I’m sure we’ll see him again.

I had to go to campus this morning and so didn’t get to Estabrook till after 10. The day was pretty enough, but it seemed that just about everyone was already sleeping off their breakfast. For example, here’s our hooded merganser hen dozing beside a pair of mallards.

Happily, one creature still up was our long-lost gadwall drake. We haven’t seen him in a week, but here he was late this morning looking hale, hearty, and still at the buffet.

Above him, the red-bellied woodpecker was out and about, but I didn’t see any sign of his lady friend.

At the edge of the ice that marks the northern end of the open water, a lone herring gull was keeping watch.

North of the falls, I found my first squirrel of the morning out over the ice and on the prowl for more chow.

At the far north end, I thought I’d see a lot of little birds, as in the past, but there was a chainsaw running on the opposite shore and a pair of jackhammers are demolishing the old highway bridge over the river just beyond Port Washington Road, so maybe they all fled to get a break from the racket. Instead, here’s a mourning dove just hanging out on the ground in the sun.

I swung by the pond but only saw house finches, and on my way out of the park, I spotted another gray squirrel feasting on maple tree seeds.

I see snow showers in the forecast for overnight, so let’s hope the park as a nice fresh layer in the morning, even if it’s a thin one. A change of scenery would do us good.

It was another stunningly beautiful morning in Estabrook with bright sun, crystal blue skies, and nearly calm air. Sure, it was cold as all heck, but it was a dry cold, so not bad, not bad at all.

Right off the bat, I was greeted by a new bird for the year, a Cooper’s hawk this time, who took off across the river when it spotted me. Sorry, Buddy. The good news, though, is that it parked in the first tree it came across so I could get this picture. Thanks, Buddy!

We haven’t seen one of these since the start of December when a young Cooper’s hawk looked like it made a try for a mallard.

While I was positioning myself at the water’s edge, I also noticed this interesting ice formation, which looks more organic than crystalline.

On the open water, I did see a goldeneye drake and hen and the single hooded merganser hen, but nobody was in the mood for pictures this morning. Instead, at the north edge of the open water, a few mallards were dabbling, and this one really caught the sunlight. And, yes, that is ice on his shoulders, but his front defroster is working just fine.

Behind and slightly above the mallards, our belted kingfisher appeared to have already taken a dip, based on the little balls of ice stuck to her feathers, and was drying out and/or warming up in the sun.

I didn’t see our kestrel this morning, but perhaps 5°F is below her rated temperature range for safe flight operations, even with a good stretch, and she was grounded until today warmed up a bit.

Finally, at the far north end, I found someone at last lined up in front of the blue sky so that the sun was at my back, and it was this black-capped chickadee.

Since I’m a little short on pictures this morning, I can finally show you a couple from Tuesday when I had too many. First is this male northern cardinal getting a start on staking out his territory with song.

And lastly, the male red-bellied woodpecker who had just been hammering away on the trunk in unison with a visiting female.

Well, the forecast for tomorrow is more of the same, if slightly warmer, so I have a hope that we’ll be able to find some more pretty sights to see.

Oof! It was almost opposite day in Estabrook, at least compared to yesterday. It was sunny instead of cloudy, the wind was howling instead of calm, temps were dropping from the 20s instead of rising, and I mostly saw only the little birds that can forage close to the ground instead of owls, deers, and herons.

For example, here’s a goldfinch seeming to munch on the tiny leaf buds of this little tree or bush.

This male downy woodpecker was about 10 feet above me and about as far from the ground as I saw a bird venture.

At the north end, where the sun shines down on the riverbank, and I can walk out on the ice to get a good view, there were a slew of little birds all foraging in the same vicinity. Here’s a house finch.

Here’s a junco.

Here’s an America tree sparrow, not in a tree once again, despite its name.

And here’s another goldfinch that posed so nice, I have to show you twice.

Back at the south end, our hooded merganser hen was fishing, as usual.

And one of the goldeneye drakes was keeping his neck nice and limber just in case the opportunity to show off presents itself.

I didn’t see the kestrel today, but as I came south, I glanced up, upon hearing a gull squawking, just in time to see a mature bald eagle glide south, but not in time to get a picture. Instead, let me leave you with another picture of the great horned owl from yesterday, this time in profile to prove that it was really real and not a plastic dummy.

It was cloudy again this morning, so I didn’t expect to see much, but the clouds weren’t very thick, the temperature was pretty mild for the season, and the winds were nice and light, so I still had hope.

The show began right away with this common merganser drake at the south end who was much less shy than his kind have been lately. Man, if I were that handsome, I’d be posing for pictures all the time.

Right above the shore behind him, our belted kingfisher was already on the hunt.

Back on the water, the merganser had floated down stream leaving this goldeneye drake to keep me company.

I was finally able to make some progress north and noticed that the red-bellied woodpecker with the nesting cavity overlooking the river had company this morning, and they were hammering away on the trunk in unison. How exciting for him!

Farther north, I kept my eyes peeled for our kestrel, and found her at the top of a tree on the far shore. Here she is keeping tabs on me.

Here she is stretching out her tail after I hope she realized I was as harmless as I’ve been every other morning.

As I approached the abandoned bridge abutment, I was stunned to find some of our deer just about to start their way across the river on the ice. It was a trio, perhaps the trio we’ve seen before, and they made it across without incident by the time I got to where you see them standing below.

At the far north end, our plastic owl was still at its post, guarding the roof of the Holiday Inn, so I’m pretty confident it really is a plastic owl. Sorry, Kyle.

As I made my way back south, I could here a few crows and even some mallards making a racket near the southern island. I thought there might be a hawk, so I hustled down there to see who it could be, and looky, looky who I found.

It kept turning its head this way and that, so I’m sure it is a real, live, great horned owl back in Estabrook Park. Hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo! There were even two of them, but I didn’t see the second one until it opted to fly a bit farther west. Darn.

I didn’t see the buffleheads above the falls again, so I kept moving, and as I re-approached the grassy area, I kept my eyes open in case our huntress had caught herself a mouse once more. I didn’t have any luck on that front, but I was thrilled to see yet another old friend farther south, where the ice peters out and the open water resumes.

Kyle and I had just been wondering yesterday where the great blue herons go to find open water when the river is all iced over. Maybe this one just followed the mallards.

I did my best not to disturb the heron, even lying flat on my belly as I slid out onto the ice to get a clear picture, and I am happy to report that it was still fishing in the same spot as I hiked southward out of sight. Phew!

Finally, to round things out, I spotted yet another of our successful huntresses, the hooded merganser hen, taking a breather on the ice this time.

Now, that’s what I call a great morning!

The little bit of sun I was promised in the forecast never materialized, and the breeze was up, so it was not a perfect morning for pictures, but Kyle, who I met when he was participating in the Christmas bird count last month, came along to keep me company.

We saw the pair of goldeneye drakes almost as soon as we got started at the south end. We didn’t see the hen today, but the way these two drakes were chasing each other around makes me think that they expect that she’ll be back..

Just past the goldeneyes, we were treated to the spectacle of a mature bald eagle, first perched in a tree up ahead, and then soaring over the river, but neither of us could get a shot through the bare trees.

Our belted kingfisher was hard at work again at the top of the rapids.

Above the falls, this little chickadee had found something to peck at.

As we approached the north end, this mourning dove did not want to relinquish its perch on the side of this old cottonwood trunk. At the base of the same tree, I spotted a winter wren but couldn’t get a picture. Perhaps Kyle did.

We continued past the meadow to see if there was anyone new on the sliver of open water south of the Port Washington Road bridge, but we only saw some mallards and one goose. I got excited for a second when I spotted a great horned owl on top of the Holliday Inn across the river, but upon closer inspection, I believe it is merely a plastic dummy intended to keep the gulls from nesting there. Darn.

When we finally turned around, we spotted a kestrel gliding over the frozen river around the northern island, but we couldn’t find where it landed.

The rest of our walk back south was uneventful, and back at the south end we finally got the chance to capture a raptor on film when this red-tailed hawk perched in a tree across the river.

I didn’t get a lot of pictures today, so here’s one last shot of our kestrel with her fresh mouse from Saturday.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy again, but with less of a breeze, so here’s hoping more critters will be out and about.