Classic Wisconsin Winter Weather, and a short Havenwoods Recap

Temps were in the low twenties, and it was windy, cloudy, and snowy this morning in Estabrook Park. Happily, the clouds and the snow they were dropping moved out by about 8:30, and it turned into not too bad of a morning. By then I had reached the pond, and this septet of mourning doves were lined up on a railing to greet me.

A bit closer, this male downy woodpecker was busily checking the sticks for something to eat.

I did see the young white-crowned sparrow and a few white-throated sparrows in the woods on the east side of the pond, but they were still busy foraging, so I took a picture instead of this female cardinal, who appeared to be on break and perhaps digesting a belly already full of seeds.

Finally, on my way back south, I got a nice look at one of our hermit thrushes as it warmed its toes in the seep that comes out of the side of the bluff near the bottom of stairway nine, and which it seems to have started treating as its own personal hot tub.

Lastly, the  Winter Break Milwaukee event at Havenwoods State Forest yesterday afternoon appears to have been quite a success, despite the snowy weather. I saw folks outside on dog sleds, fat-tire bikes, and snow shoes. There were plenty of activities inside, too. Kudos to Kate Pociask for organizing it.

We even had about a dozen takers for our bird walks. One of the highlights for me was the small flock of American tree sparrows, which we do get to see in Estabrook from time to time, but not very regularly. They seem to really like to forage for seeds in tall grasses, of which Havenwoods has acres.

That open grassland also attracted this darling American kestrel, and his orange breast and blue cap mark him as a male. He even bobbed his tail for us as he perched there, as advertised.

Lastly, here’s a Queen Anne’s lace blossom, long gone to seed and then picked clean by birds, that did an impressive job of capturing a snowball.

For folks who came on the bird walk, I’ve posted on flickr all the pictures I took but didn’t use here.

As for the weekly wildlife walk in Estabrook tomorrow morning, the current forecast calls for sun, but +1°F with 13 mph winds, so it is expected to feel like -17°. I’ll be there, of course, ’cause the critters still haven’t learned to count themselves, and ya’ll are welcome, but I hope no one feels obligated to join us.