It was a little cloudier and a little breezier than recent mornings in Estabrook Park, but mild and very nice for November. I found our dynamic duo still together on the pond, and here’s the woodie, …

and here’s the nearby hoodie.

At the river, there was a great blue heron fishing at the falls on the far side, our on-again-off-again owl was off today, and our belted kingfisher was perched over the far side of the northern island, so nothing amazing. Instead, the big surprise was this mature bald eagle, the likes of whom we haven’t seen in a while, and who flew across the river to perch over the far shore and dig into something it had caught that I can’t quite make out.

Then I got word from my old pal Brian that a Ross’s goose had been spotted on the river in Lincoln Park, and since Estabrook Park abuts Lincoln Park, and I was already at the north end, I decided to just keep hiking north to see what I could find.

On my way, I encountered a small bunch of American tree sparrows, and this one must have liked enough the junco portrait from yesterday, that it struck a similar pose.

At the north end of Lincoln Park, I came across about a dozen wild turkeys, which I haven’t seen in Estabrook since May, and here’s either the boldest or the hungriest one.

Finally, on my way back south, another kingfisher offered me a better shot.

There was also a red-tailed hawk and a pair of merlins, but they were all too far off for my equipment, and neither Brian nor I could find any geese other than Canada geese. Oh well. It was a very nice day for a walk.

The gorgeous weather in Estabrook Park just keeps coming, and look who was back on the pond to enjoy it this morning, our little woodie. I wonder where it was yesterday.

As I was trying to get a decent picture of the hoodie and woodie together, a red-bellied woodpecker perched above me on a light pole and watched the sun rise.

Down at the river, a great blue heron was fishing at the falls again, but I thought the better picture was the male belted kingfisher perched over the far shore.

At the north end, the big surprise was the osprey landing on a branch above the far shore with its fresh catch.

In this picture you can see that it is holding up its fish in its left talons to take a bite, which makes it easier for us to see.

Here it is pausing from breakfast to take a look around.

On my way back south, I stopped to check on our owl again to see if I could get a better picture because it was really buried deep in the sticks today, and this is the best I could muster.

As I was concentrating on that, a pair of crows flew in, and I figured they were there to mob the owl, but I never saw it flinch. Part of the reason, I soon realized, is that they were there to mob this Cooper’s hawk instead. Ha! That makes this a three-raptor day!

After all that excitement, I continued south along the river, and just when I was about to turn inland to visit the pond again, I came across my third and most-photogenic great blue heron of the morning fishing right off the near shore.

I did eventually make it back to the pond, and this dark-eyed junco rewarded me for my effort with a nice portrait.

Finally, this female northern cardinal might wish I didn’t capture this, slightly-less-flattering image.

The recent beautiful weather continues, and it was another wonderful morning to be in Estabrook Park. Our wood duck drake continues to float around the pond, and I took a picture on my first visit today because sometimes he’s gone into hiding when I come by again later.

I didn’t see our hooded merganser on the pond, during either visit, for the first time since November 2. I hear that “birds have wings”, so for them, it is often “easy come, easy go.” And speaking of coming and going, look whoo-wh’HOO-whoo-whoo’s back at the river again. Yay!

The north end was quiet again, but on my way back south, this little red squirrel was in a noisy dispute with a neighbor. I read that “red squirrels are highly territorial and asocial with very few non-reproductive physical interactions,” so that fits.

Back at the falls, one of the three great blue herons I saw today was fishing again.

On the path back from the river to the pond, I spotted this rotund little bird, and I thought it was another late-season hermit thrush, but upon closer inspection, that beak clearly makes it a fox sparrow instead.

That’s it for Estabrook today, but yesterday afternoon was so nice, I stopped by the lake front on my way to campus, and I was thrilled to spot this mystery bird far offshore. The dark plumage and white spot behind the eye suggest that it is either a female harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) or a female surf scooter (Melanitta perspicillata), I believe, and either one would be a first for me, but I’m going with harlequin. Woo hoo!

While I was trying to get the best picture I could of the duck, this red-tailed hawk was trying to find some lunch.

Further down the lake shore, there were a couple dozen American coots diving for their lunches.

And finally, on my way back north, when I checked to see if I might get a better picture of the mystery bird, I found a couple dozen buffleheads, and this one drake let me have the best picture of the bunch.

The beautiful weather has returned to Estabrook Park, though the air was not quite as still as it was on Saturday morning. The first happy surprise today was spotting a red-tailed hawk at the pond. Even better, it “allowed” me to follow it to the huge oak tree just north of the beer garden, where I was finally able to capture an image. It did a good job of hiding behind sticks, but I was able to trick my autofocus into ignoring them for just this instance.

At the river, we still have a couple of great blue herons, and here’s one on the far shore about a couple hundred yards upstream from the falls.

I had no luck when I checked for our owl, but I did flush this mourning dove by accident, and here it perched before a pretty mix of foliage and sky.

There was nobody new at the north end, but on my way back south, the second happy surprise of the day, this late-season osprey, flew upriver to look for fish. As I hustled after it for a better shot, it spotted what it was after, dropped down to the water, snagged a fish, and then flew back downriver with it in tow. At least I got to see it at all.

Before I resumed my journey south, I took one last look around, and look who else finally showed up, our resident male kingfisher.

Finally, I stopped by the pond again, and the woodie that I had seen earlier had gone into hiding, but the hoodie drifted out to the middle of the pond for some more fishing. I didn’t stick around to see what it caught this morning, and I just took this tranquil portrait instead.

The morning was dark and windy, so I opted to take a break from Estabrook and join Donna’s Sunday morning birding group again, and we went to the South Shore Yacht Club this time. I’m pressed for time right now, but the three fun sightings for me were:

1. A few young or female red-breasted mergansers. On or two usually show up in Estabrook Park eventually, but not yet this year.

2. About a dozen American coots. We also get these once in a while, but the most I ever saw at one time was a single pair.

3. Finally, a “non-breeding adult” horned grebe (Podiceps auritus), which I have glimpsed once or twice before, but never in Estabrook (yet!), and I have never managed a picture before. Check out that eye! Yikes!

Wow, oh wow, what a wonderful morning. It was cool, for sure, but the sky was clear as a bell, and the air was dead calm. Combine that with the reduction in car and construction noise that a Saturday morning brings, and I could hear a leaf drop. It was magical.

At the pond, the little hooded merganser seemed to be enjoying the peace and quiet as much as I was.

I was even able finally to capture a presentable image of the resident muskrat nibbling on its breakfast at the far water’s edge.

I didn’t see the wood duck, however, so I continued on to the river with the hope that I might see him later. There were already anglers on the water, but that did not seem to deter this great blue heron waiting for something tasty to go up or down the falls.

Our great horned owl was missing again this morning, but as I continued up stream, I inadvertently roused this buck from his slumbers. It froze like that as long as I held still, but I couldn’t keep that up all day, …

and I eventually turned to continue north, at which point, he bolted across the river to the island.

At the far north end, there were the usual few Canada geese, mallards, and a couple more herons. The first happy surprise was when a belted kingfisher arrived and let me capture this portrait. With any luck, we’ll see him on-and-off all winter long.

The second happy surprise was when a merlin magically appeared over the northern island. I had checked those trees plenty of times already this morning, but when I looked up from taking the kingfisher picture, there was the merlin. Ta da!

On my way back south, I found a slew of goldfinches, now all in their subdued winter coats, feasting on seeds from some weed.

Here’s a closer look.

Back at the pond, the wood duck did reappear.

This mallard hen ignored me as I sat down on the west lawn.

This mallard drake drifted by, but he didn’t take his eye off me.

And Woody got to work on rustling up its breakfast. I also saw it bring up at least three tadpoles, and I did confirm that “bullfrog tadpoles can take up to two years to transform into frogs“, but the crayfish bravely flashing “V” for victory in the face of such terrible odds just looks so much more dramatic.

Finally, tranquility returned, and I went home.

The nice weather continues, with blue skies for a while at least, and with a little less warmth but a little less wind than yesterday. I’ll take it!

Our great horned owl was back again this morning, yay, but in a slightly different spot and with eyes only half open.

This little red squirrel seemed transfixed by something above, which I couldn’t see, but I’ll take that pretty picture anyway, thank you very much.

I was happy still to find a hermit thrush who hadn’t yet flown south to Kentucky for the winter.

Despite my circling around looking for the best angle, it seemed quite content in that sunny spot, although I did keep a respectful distance, which I’ve learned varies wildly from species to species and even bird to bird.

At the pond, the action continues, and this morning the hooded merganser is going to show us that you can indeed swallow a crayfish tail-first, so long as you thrash the heck out of it before you try.

Then just line it up, …

and don’t forget to stretch out your neck.

Finally, this white-throated sparrow by the north-end of the pond was the most poofed-up bird I saw this morning. “Sorry, sweetie, but if you think this is cold…”

The sun came up on a picture-perfect morning in Estabrook Park today, and I got out there nice and early. So early, in fact, that I caught our last wood duck sneaking a crayfish out of the pond before the sun came over the trees. The light was still dim, but I believe we can make out the crayfish carapace in this image, …

and the tail fin in this image. I could be mistaken, but Woody struggled with it for a while, which the hoodie also did recently. I would guess, more so than with smooth and slippery fish, they prefer to subdue crayfish, with all their claws and legs, before choking them down. Wouldn’t you?

Anyway, on to the river, where I found this doe skulking through the weeds at the downstream tip of the southern island.

Nearer to the other end of that island, the great horned owl was back again, after a brief absence, and flashed me both big yellow eyes this time.

There was almost nobody at the north end, except for a few mallards and geese, so I returned south and stopped back by the pond to see who might still be around, but with better light this time. I was thrilled to see a ruby-crowned kinglet foraging in the low weeds, …

and it even let us have a glimpse of its ruby crown, though not on full display.

A little higher up, a few house finches were feasting on red berries.

Finally, the hooded merganser continues to rid the pond of excess fish stock, and this time, the catch appears to be a little blue gill. At least I’m pretty sure it isn’t a goldfish or a crayfish.

Anyway, that went down quickly, and tranquility soon returned to the pond.

It was a soggy morning in Estabrook Park, but there was a gap in the rain from about 7am to 8:30, so I snuck in to see if anyone was around.

I found this great blue heron just off the near riverbank, and its expression seemed to match the weather.

A bit farther north of the heron, this white-tailed deer looked to be about just as thrilled.

Even the kingfisher at the north end appeared to be hunkering down.

As I looked back south from the far north end, to see if there were any visitors mixed in with the Canada geese and mallards, my heart skipped a beat when I spotted this sight. As you may already be able to tell, however, it turned out to be just a decoy that somebody lost upriver. This makes the second time I’ve been faked out by plastic. Oh well.

Back at the pond, I had just captured a nice-enough image of the hooded merganser and put the rain cover back over my camera, when the little rascal came up with a healthy-looking crayfish.

First, you have to line it up to go in headfirst, …

then you can start gulping, …

finally, stretching the neck out helps, as we’ve seen before.

Lastly, the sole remaining wood duck continues to linger, and I wonder for how much longer.

PS. Another “rare bird alert” came out over the interwebs, and it was just up in Bayside, and I had to ride my bike to Silver Spring Drive anyway, which is already about a third of the way, so I figured “why not go check it out?”

Donna even offered to help me find it, and we only had to sit still for about ten minutes before this dashing young Harris’s sparrow (Zonotrichia querula) came out to join the house sparrows below a backyard birdfeeder.

I wonder what the American Ornithological Society will change its name to?

The clouds are a little thicker, and the air is a little cooler, but the wind has calmed down a lot in Estabrook Park since yesterday morning, so all in all, not a bad morning. I didn’t see much until I got to the pond, but that place was hoppin’!

All the ducks were agitated and clumped together near the far shore, and when I turned my binoculars on them, I could see the cause, a mink was crouched on a little near-by floating log. By the time I dropped the binos and grabbed my camera, however, it had already slipped back into the water, so no mink pictures today. ☹️

Instead, there was something else still swimming low in the water, and that turned out to be a muskrat, which you can just make out at the right edge of this image, and which also contains three mallards, the woodie, and the hoodie all together as never before!

I have read that mink will attack muskrats, so I can’t tell if the mink was after the muskrat, and the ducks just take exception to minks no matter who they are after, or the mink was after one of the ducks, and the muskrat just also happened to be at the scene. In any case, the ducks were doing their “circle-the-wagons” thing, and apparently mergansers also know the drill.

After all that excitement, I took a seat on the bench to see who else might be around, and I was able to get yet another nice wood duck picture, …

and one more hooded merganser portrait.

Then blue jays started making a ruckus of their own above the far shore, so I hiked around to see what had them in a tizzy, and it turned out to be a Cooper’s hawk, but I couldn’t get a good enough look to know if it was the same one as from yesterday. The blue jays, on the other hand, which I usually find very camera-shy, did not care and were finally distracted enough by the hawk that I could sneak this picture.

Eventually, all the excitement subsided, and I continued on to the river, where I was happy to see a great blue heron fishing at the falls near the far shore again, and stunned to find a second one fishing just below the railing right in front of me. How can I pass up a close-up like that?

What’s more, there was a third heron at the downstream end of the southern island, and a fourth at the downstream end of the northern island. What a treat!

Finally, I was bummed not to find the great horned owl again today, but I did find this belted kingfisher perched over the near shore, so that will have to do.