Marine Park Bookends

     I started my day with a pre-work walk in Marine Park and ended my day, taking my daughter to Marine Park.

    With the sun shining and the temperatures already mild, I wasn't really out for anything. Although I was keen on seeing the red-headed woodpecker who continues to hang tight on the Stuart and Avenue T section of the Park.

    For the last week, my daughter has been saying "No school, Kestrel see birds!" It's a really good excuse to skip school, but it was just not happening. Today with temperatures soaring close to the mid-60's I thought damn, we should go see some birds. So I picked her up a touch early to get her some outdoor time. I packed her little camera and off we went.

It has truly been a winter chock full of titmice. They are literally everywhere. And I'm not complaining.

The red headed woodpecker is still holdin' down the fort at it's little corner of the park. I loved seeing it in the morning light, could appreciate that slight iridescence on its shoulders.

I hope this bird sticks around, would love to see its red head come in.
I also love how very prominent its tail feathers have those stiff projections to help brace itself on the bark of the trees.

There is for sure a look of disappointment in dropping that sumac berry.
Northern mockingbirds kinda look disappointed always though.

But don't worry, there are plenty more!

For this afternoon, I returned to a much lower tide and many more ducks.
A pair of hooded mergansers evading a gull dive bombing them. 

While this was happening, my daughter scolded and laughed, "naughty seagull!"
The mergansers prevailed.

On our bike ride over the see the birds, Kestrel said she wanted to see ducks. To which I expalined well, ducks are birds.
I quickly learned this argument of logic is not worth the time with a 2.5 year old.
Good thing there were a shit ton of ducks out there, I would have been in trouble!

This female mallard walked right up to where we were standing to dabble in the mud.

As we were leaving we became distracted by a gang of tufted titmice. 

The titmice were joined by this "naughty" mockingbird.
This bird is naughty because it is standing on a table, and my daughter knows that you don't stand on tables.... even though she attempts to often.
This bird was living her wildest dreams.

While my daughter was soon distracted by the gravel which she loves to pick up by the handful and let fell through her fingers, I got a few pictures of one of the titmice who dared to come near.

Glad we got to see some birds together and enjoy some daylight.