A few days ago it was warmer, however briefly, and the birds took notice. There was a lot of singing, including this Song Sparrow at the top of the post who flew in and gave me a little recital when he wasn’t posing.

Below is a Red-winged Blackbird from a previous visit.

With the warmup last week, a pair of Canada Geese and a pair of Mallards came by to enjoy the small amount of open water. Since there was plenty of open water available in the nearby river, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the couples were looking for breeding habitat.

A Downy Woodpecker made an appearance.

And I got brief, distant view of a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Five days later, we were frozen again.

I was not seeing birds, but a Foix Squirrel was enjoying something edible close to the trail.

I was about to leave without any bird photos, when I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk flying far across the pond, close to the trees.

There was someone else in the tree where it landed. On closer inspection I realized it was the Red-shouldered Hawk.

Going through the hawk flight photos again, I noticed something else in the sky. Is that a drone “airplane” in the upper left? Google suggested it might be a Tomahawk cruise missile. That would certainly be unusual…

So even on days when you don’t see much at all, the camera sees more… Water dripping out under the bridge near Harlem, like beads on a necklace.

The days are longer and longer, I’m hearing more birdsong, and spring’s inevitability suggests there is still a reason to fill in the blank.