The sky was crystal clear at dawn this morning in Estabrook Park, and the winds were nearly calm, so I got in nice and early, despite it being cold enough to frost the grass.
At the wide and slow part of the river below the falls, I could see both kingfishers at once, which doesn’t happen often, and this time it was the male who made the better picture.
On my way to the pond, I was alone, so the screech-owl was in its nook.
I didn’t see anything at the pond, which seems to be the norm these days, so I headed back to the river, and here’s a red-bellied woodpecker watching the sun come over the top of the bluff to shine down into the river valley. Also, just look at that beautiful blue sky we had for a while.
One of the great horned owls put in a somewhat rare appearance, but its attention was elsewhere again, and so was that blue sky.
I couldn’t find any of the recent fancy waterfowl out on the water, but there were a pair of eastern phoebes hunting for bugs in and just above the grass back onshore, and here’s the one who struck the better pose.
The hermit thrushes are still here, and they’ve started to sing, which is an extra treat. They sound like a quiet robin, who is a thrush after all, but singing only the ethereal parts of its song.
On my way back south, I did finally spot the pied-billed grebe, who has been with us for a while.
On my second swing by the pond, I did get to see one more yellow-bellied sapsucker, and I just can’t resist these beauties.
Finally, as I was walking up to the pond, a couple jumped out of their car, and they turned out to be a couple who had just joined us for the wildlife walk on Monday. They had come looking for the horned grebe I saw yesterday, so gave them all the details I had, and I hoped them better luck than I did with it today.
But they also had just come from the lakeshore where they had seen the eared grebe (Podiceps nigricollis) that someone had reported seeing just yesterday, and which ebird considers to be “rare” for Milwaukee, because we are completely outside of its usual natural range. They said it was right where it had been reported and was easy to find, so I took a chance, hustled home, hopped on my bike, and rode down to the lakeshore to see if I would be as lucky.
Whelp, it was just as they said, and there were even a couple of other spectators already there to make it even easier to find. The only problem was that the water around the bird was reflecting a huge, bright, white spot in the sky where the sun was trying to burn through thin cloud cover. So I fiddled with the exposure, and this image didn’t come out too bad. You can clearly see the classic football-shaped grebe body covered in shaggy grebe feathers, a razor-sharp bill, and just a hint of its bright red eye and the golden feathers that fan out from behind it to form its namesake “ear”. “Welcome to Milwaukee, Dearie! We hope you like it here.”
Lastly, there was a whole flock of Bonaparte’s gulls feasting on something in the shallow water right at the shoreline. We’ve seen them before off the shore of the Shorewood Nature Preserve, but I have yet to see one in Estabrook. In fact, the last time someone reported seeing a Bonaparte’s gull in Estabrook was April 19, 1994, so perhaps we’re due. Keep your fingers crossed!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 