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.
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.
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, …
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.
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.
Even though the wind was whippin’, it was a pretty nice morning in Estabrook Park, with unseasonably mild temps, and mostly sunny skies.
The big news today is that I finally saw the great horned owl again, for the first time since May 16, I believe, after which the tree it liked to perch in leafed out enough to provide full cover. In previous years, I would see it over the summer from time to time, but not this summer, and I began to fear that it had found another perch, or worse. So, I don’t know if it has been there the whole time, and today was just the day that the leaves were finally down enough for me to see it, or if it simply returned now that daylight savings time has finally ended, but I’m thrilled either way.
I must admit that after a while of not seeing it this summer, I began merely to give the spot a glance as I walked past. Since the leaves have started falling, however, I began searching again in earnest. This morning, at first, I couldn’t even be sure I was seeing a bird and not a branch or wishful thinking. Once I was sure someone was there, it took me a while to find a spot from which my view was the least obscured by branches. Then it took another while to trick my camera autofocus into choosing the right subject in all that clutter. Finally, once everything was all lined up, I had to wait for it to turn its head toward the sun and open those big beautiful yellow eyes. But I believe every second was worth it just to see this magnificent creature again.
Anywho, I eventually moved on, and the north end was pretty quiet today, not only because there was not a single goose for a change, but also because I only saw a few mallards and this one great blue heron.
On my way back south, I swung by the pond again in hopes of nice woodie and hoodie pictures now that the sun was higher in the sky and there was a nice big gap in the clouds. As I crossed the parkway to approach the pond, I accidentally spooked a Cooper’s hawk, who I hear will be getting a new name soon, and happily it perched right across the pond and in front of a gorgeous blend of a pretty blue sky and some last vestiges of nice fall foliage. An added bonus is that it is even sporting some bling on its ankles.
The woodie, who I had seen earlier, was probably keeping out of sight because of the hawk, but the hoodie, a proficient diving bird, seemed to be showing off instead.
Finally, here’s a northern cardinal showing us the nice morsel it had just found.
The stream of new sights in Estabrook Park has slowed a bit lately, and it’s a Sunday, so you know what that means. It’s time to join Donna and her Sunday Birders and visit someplace new, and today’s location was Coal Dock Park in Port Washington. Yay!
It did not disappoint, and our first treat is this bufflehead drake enjoying an uncharacteristically smooth lake. We usually get to see them in Estabrook eventually, but not yet this season.
There were also a few female and/or immature male red-breasted mergansers, and here’s one, but it took me a while to get a picture of them, so the light is better, and the water is a little rougher. I expect we’ll see them in Estabrook, too, once the river starts to freeze.
Here’s a bird that we’ve been seeing almost every day in Estabrook, yet another great blue heron.
On my way home, since it was right on the route, I stopped in Estabrook to see who might be around in the late morning. The first surprise was this merlin oddly holding its ground, what little bit there was above the water, while I took this portrait.
Other than that, the river was quiet, so I continued to the pond, where I found a second surprise: a little red-eared slider up out of the water in November. The sun wasn’t even that warm today.
Lastly, the hoodie and woodie are both still there, and while the woodie hid under the bushes along the shore, the hoodie was back to fishing, but I didn’t stick around long enough to see what it caught today.
The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was about the same as yesterday, but maybe a bit cooler, and a bit less breezy. I finished breakfast early, so I got out well before sunrise, and I found the hoodie and the woodie still on the pond, but once again thought I’d have better light later, so I headed to the river. Perhaps because I was ahead of schedule, it seems I beat the anglers today, and thus I found a great blue heron fishing right at the falls for the first time since I can’t remember when.
On my way north, I came across another little red squirrel that kept coming back for a closer look. That’s always fun.
I did see a belted kingfisher for the first time in a few days, but it just did a fly-by and continued upriver. Otherwise, there were only geese and mallards, so I turned around and headed back south.
Right before I was going to take that path back up to the pond again, there was a lot of little-bird activity, with chickadees, goldfinches, and white-throated sparrows all twittering away, and while I was checking out that action, I noticed a surprise visitor: one last gray catbird, who is long overdue at its wintering grounds along the Gulf of Mexico.
I barely had turned around from taking my last catbird picture, when I almost tripped over this great blue heron fishing right against the near riverbank.
Back at the pond, the sun was beginning to peek through the clouds a bit, so here’s your hoodie portrait.
But wait! The little rascal also put on a fishing show for us.
It took four or five dives to find one, and then it took a few gulps to get it down.
Perhaps it helps to stretch out the neck a little.
And finally, down it goes. Breakfast of Champions!
Lastly, I had to wait a bit, but the woodie finally came around for his portrait, too.
Temps were pretty mild this morning in Estabrook Park, but the clouds were thick, and the breeze was stiff, so I didn’t have very high expectations for my visit. I saw the hooded merganser and the wood duck on the pond again, but I figured they weren’t going anywhere, and the light might improve later, so I continued on to the river.
There was a great blue heron on the far side just above the falls, and the light wasn’t any better yet, but they’re sometimes skittish, so I took this picture while I could.
I only saw mallards on the river around the islands at the north end, so I headed back south with a pretty meager bird count so far. To get back to the pond, I took the path that runs through the woods on the south side of the dog park. Along the way, I spotted my first mourning dove, but don’t worry, it was too far away for a picture. Once I stopped walking, however, I just kept noticing more and more birds.
There were a couple dozen robins foraging in the bushes up the little bluff from the stream that runs from the pond to the river. Then a flock of starlings flew in, parked, and started chatting away. Hairy, downy, and red-bellied woodpeckers all started calling. A nuthatch, chickadees, and goldfinches chimed in. More doves arrived, and a blue jay joined the fray. It was getting crazy, and the cherry on top was that one of the goldfinches turned out to be a yellow-rumped warbler, and quite possibly my last one for the season.
They all kept their distance, too, so I didn’t even bother with my camera and just enjoyed the spectacle. There were representatives from six species I hadn’t yet seen today.
Eventually, the concentration of birds dissipated back to normal, and I continued to the pond. As I followed the path around the north end, I startled a Cooper’s hawk who might have been taking a sip at the water’s edge. Happily, it found this perch on the island, just 20 feet away, and let me take this portrait.
I continued on around the pond and found the hooded merganser again.
Finally, on my way home from the pond, I was stunned to spot a second warbler, an orange-crowned this time, who appeared to be picking seeds out of that gone-by clump of goldenrod. I did see some bugs in the air today, but with the weather we’ve been having lately, I’m glad that it has a backup plan and that it only has to get to Memphis, about 560 miles away, to reach the northern edge of its winter range.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 