There was plenty of waterfowl activity on the river today, but photography opportunities were dampened by the dark overcast skies. So, I left the camera in my backpack and just enjoyed the walk.
Several swans continue taking advantage of the low river on either side of the Aiken Street bridge. Another is long-neck feeding in the middle of the river down by the Tsongas Center.
The Aiken Street bridge area is most active as some Mallards continue to play leapfrog in a long riffle on the Centralville side of the river, while others continue group diving in the riffles on the Lawrence Mills side.
The Mallard jamboree continues, although there are half as many Mallards out there as there were a week ago. But still, there are a couple of hundred of these ducks in various sized concentrations or even scattered about the river between the bridges and in the Riverbend.
None of the other species of waterfowl seem concerned about the ubiquitous presence and constant quacking of the Mallards. In fact, the large ducks seem to blend in well with any of the other species.
Way out in the Riverbend, there are 30 Common Mergansers clustered not far from the Beaver Brook outlet.
At the other end of the river, down by the Boott Mills, there are 8 Hooded Mergansers, mostly males, patrolling both sides of the river as a team. There are 6 males and 2 femalse currently.
And, of course, there are plenty of Canada Geese and gulls on hand. The geese are interspersed and bleating softly on any part of the river. Whereas the gulls are concentrated on the ever growing islands, especially between the Lawrence Mills and the Aiken Street bridge.
As I walked the final stretch of my walk, from the Boott Mills to the Tsongas Center, I was startled by a raptor that swooped down from a nearby tree, crossing right in front of me, then over the rail and down to the base of a river birch tree below.
I looked over the rail and saw a Red-tailed Hawk juvenile on the ground in pursuit of a squirrel. The squirrel calmly scooted around a wide based tree and hid in a pocket on the other side.
The squirrel wisely stayed low to the ground, realizing it had the advantage as long as it didn’t scurry up the tree where the hawk could fly up and snatch it.
Overcast or not, I pulled my camera out of my backpack and started shooting. The hawk hopped around the tree a couple of times, but it was no match for the squirrel’s quickness and agility.
Resigning the chase, the young Red-tailed Hawk flew upwards to a thick river birch branch and surveyed the area for another opportunity to snatch its quarry.
The Red-tail is about seven months old, just a baby still, out on its own, doing what it can to survive in the wild urban spaces.
But, on this day, the squirrel was easily able to frustrate the young raptor with the old 'ring around the birch tree' play." Well, maybe next time the rodent won't be so lucky.
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk regroups after failed attempt to snag a squirrel.