Breaking News!

It is a soaking wet morning again, and I don’t know if and when I’ll be able to get into Estabrook today, but I’ve got some great news to report, in case you don’t enjoy the Journal Sentinel with breakfast as Anne and I do.

Paul A. Smith reports on the front page of the sports section that “Bald eagles [are] nesting in Milwaukee County”! Woo Hoo!

You may recall when I got all excited about seeing an eagle flying with a stick back on March 5, and until now, Milwaukee County was the only county in the state not to have a breeding pair of bald eagles.

Well, Mr. Smith’s article explains that one pair of eagles “have been observed sitting on [their nest on public land in southern Milwaukee County] around-the-clock.” Furthermore, “eagles have been seen this year working on three other nests in Milwaukee County [including] one on private land in the east-central and one on private land in the northeast.” Either one of those could well be the eagles we’ve been seeing in Estabrook Park. Hot diggity dog!

I’m pretty sure we’ve been seeing two different adults, and here are the best portraits I’ve got so far.

This is the one from March 14, with some gray smudges on its beak, and who also took off with a branch in its talons.

And here it is again, a day later, with the same gray smudges on its beak.

Here is a different eagle, I believe, without those gray smudges and with a distinct crease on the side of its beak from March 18.

And here’s that second one again, still without the smudges and with the crease, the very next day. That’s also when we got to see its ankle bracelet.

If you squint, you could even say you saw it here first, right? How exciting is that?

PS. You’ll not be surprised to learn that Lisa, our owl spotter, saw the newspaper article last evening already and tipped me off with a text message. Thanks again!