With temperatures in the 50s this week, ice is leaving the Esopus Creek. Today, the open water attracted some visitors: a mixed flock of waterfowl numbering in the hundreds. Mostly Canvasbacks and Ring-neck Ducks. Over fifty Green-winged Teals. Two male Buffleheads and one female. Two pairs of Northern Shovelers. Faint cooing was audible from the flock. A few dozen of the teals preferred to stand on the edge of a remnant of ice. They went along for a ride as the ice floated down the creek and by the lighthouse.