A cold day…

Before it shut itself off, my phone reported -9°F, with windchills to -25°F, in Milwaukee at 8:00am this morning, and local schools, including UWM, have canceled classes for today. The sun was out, however, and the sky was mostly clear, so it was still a nice day for taking pictures of the critters in Estabrook Park.

I found my first suitable subject beside the river at the north end, and as seems to be their habit, this Cooper’s hawk was perched only a couple of feet off the ground and in a spot out of the wind but still in the sun. They’re no dummies. You can just make out a couple of frozen drops of water on its eyelashes, especially if you click on the image so you can zoom in. The bird appeared to have no interest in moving, and it stayed put for my two passes. Plus, I know Harold walked his dog, Fritz, past there just before I arrived.

On my way back south, I stopped by the pond again to see if anyone new had arrived, and I found this nuthatch, who also preferred to stay right where it was.

These two characters, a fox sparrow in the left, and a white-throated sparrow on the right, on the other hand, hardly stayed put for a moment, and I was thrilled to catch them both stationary for an instant.

Back at the river, the cold air over the relatively warm open water causes evaporation fog to form, and here’s a goldeneye hen paddling through it.

The breeze quickly blows it away, however, and here are a couple of my favorite drakes, a common merganser in the lead and a common goldeneye at his seven o’clock, out in the open.

There is not a lot of open water left, and here’s a common merganser hen in a channel so narrow that you can see one side on her immediate left, and a bit of the other side just a foot or so to her right.

Finally, I believe it is that evaporation fog drifting over ice that causes these huge snowflakes to form. Each is an inch or more across.

We’re due for a warm up, and it’s forecast to be all the way up into the positive twenties by 7pm tomorrow, when the Friends of Estabrook Park Annual Meeting kicks off in the Lincoln Park Blatz Pavilion, so come out, if you can. “All are welcome!”