Sure, it was cold this morning, but there was much less cloud cover and wind than forecast, so my visit to Estabrook was far more pleasant than I anticipated. The birds seemed to enjoy it, too, because they were out in droves.

I had just walked past the common mergansers at the south end, whom we first saw yesterday, when I spotted another familiar face for the first time this winter, a common goldeneye hen, and she was in about the same place on the river as the one who hung out there for weeks last year. Perhaps she’s the same bird, and she found that spot works well for her.

As I was trying to get a better picture of her, and maybe also one of the common merganser drake she was hanging out with and you can see right behind her, there was suddenly a commotion up above.

A few crows were expressing their displeasure with the perches of one mature and one young bald eagle, both of whom soon headed back north. Happily, the mature one circled a couple of times before gliding out of sight.

Below the falls, I didn’t see the beaver today, but I did see the gadwall drake, and I’ll show you a better picture below, which I got on my way back south when the sun was a little higher in the sky. Above the falls, there were a couple of geese and a bunch of mallards, but no buffleheads today.

At the north end, the sun was finally warming things up, and a lot of little birds were either sunning themselves or already busy rustling up their breakfasts.

Here’s a black-capped chickadee pausing from its foraging for just a moment in the soft morning glow.

Here’s a mourning dove still soaking up the sun.

Here’s a male hairy woodpecker who thinks he’s found something…

And here’s the female, red-bellied woodpecker who swooped in to chase him off and grab the grub before I could even take a second shot. I have not seen that sort of pecking order between woodpeckers before.

Here’s another shot of the female after she opened her eyes to get a look at what she had just confiscated.

Finally, here’s a female downy woodpecker who steered clear of that whole power struggle.

On my way back south, I did get a better picture of the gadwall drake, as promised, and it looks as though his front defroster still doesn’t work as well as the ones all the mallards appear to have. Who among us hasn’t struggled through at least one winter with a bad front defroster, eh?

Lastly, just about at the south end again, I happened to capture this fascinating little scene of a diminutive female hooded merganser who surfaced right between a common merganser drake and hen. There appears to be honor, camaraderie, or at least tolerance among diving birds.

Just about all the winter birds have now arrived. The only hold out I can think of is the red-breasted merganser, but now that winter really seems to be here, I bet we’ll get to see one soon enough.

The weather was what one might call suboptimal for taking pictures this morning, with temps around 20°F, winds around 20 mph, heavy gray skies, and light snow, but these pictures aren’t going to take themselves, so off to the park I went to see if anyone was up and about. Holy Smokes! I’m sure glad I did.

Right off the bat, I got to say hello to our newest arrivals, a quartet of male common mergansers, and here’s three of them hovering around a lone hen.

Some of the males would jostle for position, periodically.

And one just opted out of that whole scene, preferring to snooze on the ice instead.

Farther north, but well below the falls, I spotted one of our beaver on the far shore still up having its version of a midnight snack before heading off to bed.

Then it came across to the east side and slowly made its way home.

As soon as I turned around after that last beaver shot, and before I could even take another step north, look who I found foraging at the water’s edge: our favorite little winter wren.

After that, I was finally able to continue north, and I didn’t see a thing until I got above the falls, where a slew of mallards were hunkering down for the storm.

And that’s it. At the far north end, I only saw one gull and one Canada goose, but by then it was snowing hard enough that I had no hope of taking a picture, so I turned around and hustled on home. I didn’t see our gadwall drake nor the pair of buffleheads today. Maybe tomorrow, eh?

This morning was a bit warmer, at 21°F, a bit cloudier, and a bit breezier than yesterday, so not quite as magical, but also not bad by any means.

I was glad to see that our gadwall drake was still here on the lower river and suffering from much less of an icing problem this morning.

Meanwhile, the sturdy mallards were going about their business as usual.

Above the falls, I was happy to see the pair of buffleheads, although they don’t quite seem to be sticking as close together, recently, as the pair did last winter. Maybe they just didn’t hit it off or one of them is holding, out for now, to see who else might fly in. With any luck, we’ll see soon enough.

I think I saw our kestrel rocket north over the water, and I had a hope of finding it again at the north end, but had no luck today. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, I did see the bald eagle yesterday morning in just about the same spot heading north at a more leisurely pace.

At the far north end, I didn’t see the mergansers or bluebirds this time, but there was a young ring-billed gull out on the ice, and it looks like this is its first winter. Welcome to Estabrook, Buddy. Try the fish.

On my way back south, just as I approached the falls again, a bunch of robins flew across the river to forage among the brush and leaves on the side of the bluff, and here’s one just taking in the view for a moment.

Further south, there was a nice male cardinal who didn’t want his picture taken today, so here’s a female from yesterday who was more than happy to oblige or was just too darn cold to move.

While I’m mining the leftover pictures from yesterday, here are a pair of mourning doves on the ice appearing to be getting a sip of water.

Finally, the beautiful morning sunlight yesterday even made this goldfinch’s drab winter coat look a bit more golden.

Well, the sun finally came out, and the wind was nice and calm, so 7°F seemed like a small price to pay for such a glorious morning. Some of the critters might probably prefer the opposite trade-off, but let’s hope that anyone not built to handle this weather has long since flown south.

Anyway, you’ll never believe who was perched high above the river to greet me soon after I got started at the south end, as if on cue.

Yup, one of the several bald eagles I’ve been seeing patrolling the river since the fall finally allowed me an audience. The sun was up, but still very low in the eastern sky, and you can see just a dabbling of that golden light filtering through the trees onto its white tail feathers. It eventually decided it wasn’t going to catch a fish there or that I had seen enough, and it glided right over me on its way farther south.

I didn’t get very far before I heard our belted kingfisher and found her hard at work already on the far shore.

At the top of the mild rapids, which keep the water mostly clear of ice, our gadwall drake was still foraging with the mallards, and his bill was still coated in a thick, protective layer of ice. By that point the river has turned west so the early morning sun can reach down to the surface and bathe everything in its beautiful glow.

Above the rapids, the river becomes wide and slow and so is completely frozen over, and there are no more ducks to see. Instead, two gray squirrels noisily burst out of their den in this tree, but a third one found the morning air just a tad too brisk, perhaps, and hung back in the entrance.

I didn’t see another bird until the north end, where I found our trio of bluebirds again…

A gaggle of geese resting on the ice…

A flock of mallards flying in…

And a pair of common mergansers busy fishing among the ice floes again.

On my way back south, I saw that the gadwall finally got his deicer working.

And back at the south end, a female downy woodpecker paused from her foraging just for a moment to confirm that I posed no threat.

And that’s not even all of it, but we’d better pace ourselves.

The snow did finally arrive, even though the sun stayed hidden until I got back home, so there was a nice change of scenery after all, and I’ll take it!

Our new gadwall drake was still on the lower river, and he appeared to be having icing issues that the mallards were not facing, but he seemed unfazed by the situation, thankfully.

Who knows. Maybe it’s a feature, not a flaw, and the ice acts as a protective layer, like on the sherbet in Mom’s freezer.

The river below the falls was so jammed up with ice and snow that it was backing up the water enough to make the falls almost disappear. I could not make an attractive picture of it this morning, despite my best efforts, so you’ll just have to use your imagination for now.

The water above the falls was similarly jammed up, but with Canada geese instead, which are far more photogenic, and here are a few napping on the ice.

Above the falls, I did not see our kestrel again, but at least three of the common mergansers from last year were back and fishing among the ice floes, and here are two of them catching their breath for a moment.

On my way back south, I thought I spotted a junco, which would have made a nice picture with the snow, but it didn’t take off right away, the way juncos usually do, and that’s because it was one of the trio of bluebirds from last year, instead. It was great to see all three again, eventually, but I could never get more than two in a single image.

This one, with subdued colors, looks like a female.

And the one on the right below, with the vibrant colors, looks like a male.

Finally, on my way home, this red-bellied woodpecker struck a pose, while sampling the snow, that I just couldn’t ignore.

Lastly, the forecast is for nice and cool temps for a while, so I have a hope that the snow will stick around for a bit.

Happy New Year! I hope yours is off to as nice a start as mine is. This morning looked like many recent mornings with low, dark skies, but as Forrest Gump always used to say, “Estabrook Park is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

This morning, I was thrilled to spot a new raptor in the park, “North America’s littlest falcon”, an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), and the little bit of brown on the top of her head leads me to believe she is female.

She looked just like a mourning dove when I first spotted her at the north end, but when she didn’t take off right away as mourning doves tend to do, I took a closer look. What a treat!

Until I had spotted her, I was just trying to get something to show you at all. Thus, I already had another kingfisher picture from the south end…

A chickadee picture from farther north…

And a coy gray squirrel from just short of the north end.

On my way back south, I spotted the male bufflehead again hanging out with the mallards above the falls.

Finally, as I approached the south end again, I spotted a few mallards working their way upstream just offshore, and the one at the end of the line looked different. Sure enough, that’s because he’s a gadwall drake. Ha!

Long-time readers may remember that we had a gadwall hen hang around for weeks last spring, first on the pond, and then on the river, but I think this is our first sighting of a drake. How sweet is that?

The forecast looks pretty promising right now for some snow overnight, and the sun might even come up on partly-cloudy skies tomorrow, so we might finally get a break from all the gray. Keep your fingers crossed!

I don’t have a lot of time this morning, and it looks gray as heck out there again anyway, so let’s do a little year in review instead. Here are some of my favorite pictures from 2021.

Nothing brightens up a gray day in January like a male northern cardinal on sumac, eh?

But a thrush on sumac with snow and a blue sky in February ain’t too shabby either.

Here’s a raft of common mergansers, and one with a fresh catch, from March.

And a hairy woodpecker from April.

A robin feeding its chicks from May. What a thrill it was to get to see that whole process unfold.

One of a pair of North American river otters I spotted hunting goslings in June. (It still gives me goosebumps that I got to witness that scene and that this picture came out as good as it did. Phew!)

A great horned owl, also in June, who looked like it was hunting ducklings but eventually just took a bath.

A great blue heron picking a new fishing spot in July.

A mallard hen with her ducklings on the pond also in July.

A green heron fishing on the pond in August.

An indigo bunting also from August.

A great egret fishing in the river in September.

The osprey who visited us for a couple of weeks in October.

One of the bucks strutting his stuff in November.

Our female belted kingfisher who’s been fishing the lower river all December.

Of course, I am leaving out dozens of critters that could have just as easily made this list: warblers, vireos, hawks, eagles, goslings, wood ducks, the cuckoo, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, muskrats, the mink, raccoons, beaver, butterflies, dragonflies, snapping turtles, etc., etc.

In any case, it has been an absolute treat for me to see all these beautiful creatures right here in the little park across the street and share them with you. Thanks for coming along for the ride, and see you all next year.

PS. Some dates above are approximate because of reasons.

The exciting news is that we have new arrivals in the park again, this time a foursome of female common mergansers, the likes of which we haven’t seen since March. Here are the two that swam closest together.

Meanwhile, the mallards continue going about their business and achieved some nice duck density in this image.

Our two “love birds”, the pair of red-tailed hawks, appear to be together enough to perch in the same tree, which is still an unusual sight for me.

Finally, another blue bird has stopped in or one of the trio from a couple of weeks ago hasn’t moved on yet. Either way, a pretty sight to see, eh?

Lastly, this recent cold snap has created some interesting kinetic sculptures on the river.

Here’s a perfect little disk slowly spinning in place right below the falls.

Brrr. It was colder than it looked this morning, and I should have checked the “real feel” temperature before heading out. My hands are still pretty stiff from the cold as I try to type this.

Anyway, it seemed as though the big animals saw my post yesterday and took offense or took pity on me. Either way, they were about all I saw today.

Right off the bat, as I crossed the parkway on my way to the river, I spotted this deer, among the biggest mammals in the park, just resting on the grass by the edge of the woods. I read that our bucks shed their antlers “around January,” so she’s likely a doe.

On the river, I saw our pair of buffleheads again, foraging this time, and a few mallards, but the best pose of the morning came from this herring gull just below the falls.

On my way back south, I was pleasantly surprised to find our blue heron, certainly the biggest wading bird, if not the biggest bird overall, intently fishing just below the abandoned bridge abutments.

And that’s about it for the critters. It was a pretty quiet morning. To round things out instead, since we still don’t have a snow cover, here are some pretty maple leaves frozen in the ice.

I see the forecast is for snow on Saturday, and I for one am looking forward to that change of scenery. Keep your fingers crossed!

Despite a few nice little breaks, the gray skies are hanging around like a Gloomy Gus this month. Even the buffleheads, the smallest diving ducks in North America, and whom I usually find hard at work, were sleeping in this morning.

This gray squirrel isn’t even the smallest squirrel in the park, let alone North America, and it’s just wondering why I’m including it in this list. The answer, little buddy, is that the diminutive chipmunk, who has been hard to find since the fall, and who momentarily perched on the log right between us, took off the instant I reached for my camera.

Finally, here’s a winter wren, one of North America’s smallest birds, foraging amongst the ice covered rocks and roots at the water’s edge.

Oh, sure. There were a bunch of geese, some mallards, a few gulls, and even a couple of crows on the upper river, but none of them wanted their picture taken today.

I didn’t see the goldeneye from yesterday, so maybe it is off in search of other goldeneyes. Here’s hoping he finds some and brings them all back here, eh?