It was a greyish morning in Estabrook Park, with bright spots in the cloud cover, and a bit warmer than the previous two days, but still cool enough to firm up the mud in the river path.
As I hiked north along the river, I was thrilled to find our American coot again, in the same spot as yesterday, even though I was a bit late today. Better still, the lights over the UWM parking lot above the far riverbank reflected beautifully off the water. Best of all, the coot’s shadow on the water surface lets us have a glimpse of its amazing, huge, and almost-webbed feet.
At the far north end, I spotted our common merganser drake, but he stayed out past the island, so I left him alone. The red-winged blackbird was singing from atop the island again, while a couple dozen geese were still sorting out nesting sites below. The exciting show, however, was our white-bellied red-tailed hawk swooping low over the river and appearing to make a try for a mallard, at least the mallard sure seemed to think that was the plan, but coming up empty. Finally, the hawk parked over the island where I could get a picture.
At the pond, I could hear another red-winged blackbird and a couple of white-throated sparrows, but this white-breasted nuthatch struck the best pose.
From the pond, I hiked back down to the river, just to see what might have changed since my first pass, and look who was up on shore for their naps. The near common merganser hen even seems to have something to say about the goose photobombing her portrait.
As I headed back to stairway number 8 to climb back up the bluff, I found at least a half dozen robins taking turns bathing in the stream that drains from the pond into the river.
Finally, right at the base of the stairs, this winter wren, whom I’d been hearing and occasionally glimpsing since last week, finally gave me a chance. “Hello, Cutie!”
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 