Pea soup for the soul…

The weather must have heard me complaining about how dark it was yesterday morning and took that as a challenge because the fog is as thick as pea soup this morning. If a coyote was fighting a bald eagle over a green-winged teal on the pond that they both wanted for breakfast, I don’t think I would be able to capture a single image for you. Therefore, I propose instead that we start the fun process of looking back on some of the amazing sights we got to see in 2023.

Speaking of green-winged teals, I got to be the lucky soul to first report seeing one in Estabrook Park, bird number 201, and I even managed to get it on film, though on the river, not the pond.

This was also the year that I was stunned to discovered that we have spiny softshelled turtles living in our little stretch of the Milwaukee river. Who knew, right?

I had been hoping to spot a legitimate “greater” yellowlegs ever since I spotted my first lesser yellowlegs, but it took until the surprise snow on Halloween forced a quintet of them to wait out the weather on the river.

I also discovered, while standing in nearly the same spot beside the river at the north end, that such a butterfly as the hackberry emperor exists, and they visit Estabrook Park.

I’ve known for years that red-breasted nuthatches exist and visit Estabrook Park from time to time, but I only glimpsed one for the first time this year, and soon after I the good fortune to capture this image of one.

Finally, to round out this sextet of firsts, this was the year that I got my first picture of the infamously elusive, and soon to be renamed, Wilson’s snipe. What a cutie, eh?