There was a single drake Ruddy Duck at Humber Bay East this morning, in the small open bay on the northeast side of the park. An hour or so later, when I was walking back from Humber Bay West, the bird had moved over to the flock of Greater Scaup east of HBE. I also saw a single Trumpeter Swan, a pair of American Wigeon, a few Hooded Merganser, loads of Red-breasted and Common Merganser, a couple dozen Redheads, Black Ducks, Gadwalls, Great Black-backed Gulls, and so on.
A Cooper's Hawk flew low over the bay from HBE to HBW then roosted in the sumac by the gate to one of the marinas there. In the butterfly garden, a Kestrel balanced on the top of a low-growing tree. The wind was almost straight out of the north and bitterly cold. Both water bottles, one of which I'd carefully laced with Gatorade, froze solid.
