A cold morning in the park
I jumped out of bed at 7am this morning and sped off to the park on my bike. I was all bundled up against the cold: long underwear, a scarf, fleece mittens and a wool hat C knitted for me.
I walked my bike across the meadow and joined up with the footpath on the other side, which winds through the woods. I stopped to watch some white-throated sparrows and european starlings along the way, and a couple downy woodpeckers – one a male.
When I reached the Nethermead, I turned left and made my way along the lullwater near the Audubon center. There I happened upon a great gathering of all sorts of birds, flitting about in the trees above my head and scouring the underbrush and dry leaves for nibbles. I saw more sparrows, including fox sparrows, some sort of nuthatch, dark-eyed juncos, more downy woodpeckers, something resembling a tufted titmouse that flew away before I could get a better look, and a couple others I couldn't identify in the dim morning light. Turning toward the pond on my left, I saw a female hooded merganser, all on her own save for a few mallards skirting the other bank. She twirled in the center of the pond for a while and didn't look in much of a hurry to get anywhere.
Next I headed over to the bird feeders but I was distracted halfway there by the trees at the edge of the footbridge, which some people call "red-tail buffet." I peered around in the leafless branches for hawks, but didn't see any at first – until I spied a grey form nestled in one of the branches off to my left. I walked closer and observed a good-sized hawk, sitting open-eyed and alert, and turning its head to any sound it detected below. I assumed it was a red-tail, though I couldn't tell whether it was male or female. However, glancing in an identification book later, I remembered that it had a black "hood" and black back, so it appears to have been a peregrine falcon; though I thought it looked a little large for that. The chest, also, wasn't as mottled as the chest of the falcon in my book. Maybe a Cooper's hawk? Dunno. I'll go back tomorrow to get a better look.
I walked my bike across the meadow and joined up with the footpath on the other side, which winds through the woods. I stopped to watch some white-throated sparrows and european starlings along the way, and a couple downy woodpeckers – one a male.
When I reached the Nethermead, I turned left and made my way along the lullwater near the Audubon center. There I happened upon a great gathering of all sorts of birds, flitting about in the trees above my head and scouring the underbrush and dry leaves for nibbles. I saw more sparrows, including fox sparrows, some sort of nuthatch, dark-eyed juncos, more downy woodpeckers, something resembling a tufted titmouse that flew away before I could get a better look, and a couple others I couldn't identify in the dim morning light. Turning toward the pond on my left, I saw a female hooded merganser, all on her own save for a few mallards skirting the other bank. She twirled in the center of the pond for a while and didn't look in much of a hurry to get anywhere.
Next I headed over to the bird feeders but I was distracted halfway there by the trees at the edge of the footbridge, which some people call "red-tail buffet." I peered around in the leafless branches for hawks, but didn't see any at first – until I spied a grey form nestled in one of the branches off to my left. I walked closer and observed a good-sized hawk, sitting open-eyed and alert, and turning its head to any sound it detected below. I assumed it was a red-tail, though I couldn't tell whether it was male or female. However, glancing in an identification book later, I remembered that it had a black "hood" and black back, so it appears to have been a peregrine falcon; though I thought it looked a little large for that. The chest, also, wasn't as mottled as the chest of the falcon in my book. Maybe a Cooper's hawk? Dunno. I'll go back tomorrow to get a better look.
posted by Seph at 7:41 AM
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