Cold wind at the river this morning raising foamy whitecaps, so I wasn't sure, but yes, way out at the end of the piling field, a lone male bufflehead diving and bobbing. Because they're black and white and stay far off shore the males are easy to mistake for whitecaps or even herring gulls. You have to watch closely; their white is brighter and they appear and disappear as they fish. The females are brown and hard to spot swimming among the pilings, but I looked and looked and I think this male was alone. Not surprising; they often migrate alone, and even when they come down in a flock, each one, especially the bachelor males, will take off in the morning for his own fishing territory.

High overhead in the last few weeks I've seen a few messy migratory V's that can only be Brant geese. Our locals haven't landed yet, but I saw a few in Brooklyn on Sunday, including one young guy who was still small and spotted, swimming with two adults clearly his parents. He must have been born late, and I'm impressed as all hell that he made it down here. Because the Brants breed up north and only come down to spend the winter (it's warmer here than somewhere, I guess) he was the first immature Brant I've ever seen. Cute, too.