The thick clouds that have been making gray skies all week finally drifted away overnight, so we had a beautiful, if chilly, morning in Estabrook Park.
I was thrilled to see one of the mature bald eagles high over the far riverbank again, but with just one of them, I can’t tell if this is the female or the male. I even saw the youngster fly by later in the morning, but it wouldn’t stop for pictures.
The crows have been busy patrolling the park for raptors lately, and here’s one taking a well-deserved break to peck at some breakfast between its toes on that branch below it.
At the pond, the little red squirrel, whom we often see there, was feeling a bit shy this morning.
Finally, for Estabrook, how could I resist a northern cardinal feeding on sumac seeds in the gorgeous morning sun?
Now, about my visit to other parks yesterday afternoon. It appears that we have a visiting evening grosbeak hanging out at Grant Park, and I have never seen an evening grosbeak, so I set out to see if I could spot it, too. Well, after standing around for a solid hour with no sign of it, I decided to cut my losses and move on. I did get to see, however, the first red-breasted nuthatch I’ve seen in a while, so that was some consolation.
On my way back north, I stopped in at the South Shore Yacht Club and spotted my first lesser scaup in a while.
Next, I stopped in at Lakeshore State Park, and there I finally found our first goldeneyes of the season. I counted about a dozen, both males and females, and this drake image came out the best.
There were also buffleheads, which we’ve already seen this season, and red-breasted mergansers, but they kept their distance.
The forecast calls similar weather tomorrow morning, if a bit cloudier, so maybe a goldeneye will finally pay a visit to the Milwaukee River for a change. We’ll see soon enough.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 