First winter Iceland Gull/Larus glaucoides. Presumably the kumlieni subspecies (of three). Rare here, and rarer still to get such close-up looks. With the Usual Suspects, Ring-billed Gulls/Larus delawarensis. Note the whiteness of the Iceland’s wings. Ring-billed, American Herring, and Great Black-back, the standard local gull species, all have black wing-tips, as the passing Ring-billed shows…

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At Brooklyn Bridge Park amid Mallards, Black Duck, and Gadwalls. A female Green-winged Teal. (I couldn’t see the green speculum until I looked at my photos, so I was wondering what this not- Bufflehead not-Ruddy Duck was….) Fintan O’Toole, who has written a fantastic history of modern Ireland, is one of our most astute chroniclers…

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Cooper’s in the ‘hood. A rare sighting (above) while being out and about. More typically lately the bird is on a nearby fire-escape. (So I’m photographing through a dirty window in these shots, the cold being too much to have the window open.) This fire-escape is out of the prevailing wind and facing the morning…

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And then “hatch”-ing the prize open.

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Baked goods edition. With a piece of bread scored on the street, this squirrel raced down the sidewalk, shot up a tree and leaped to the roof deck of this 2.5-story corner house. Then dashed like a Muybridge horse across four parallel roofs, then angled under the one with solar panels on it to the…

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And ice….

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