Our recent winter weather roller coaster, at least temperature wise, continued with a plunge back into the teens overnight after soaring into the balmy low forties yesterday afternoon. I arrived at Lakeshore State Park just after sunrise but in time to greet the few solstice revelers who had braved the cold to mark the occasion from front-row seats.
The lagoon isn’t quite completely frozen over yet, and one of the small patches of open water is still attracting goldeneyes, and here’s a drake bathed in the sun’s warm morning glow.
Same for this hen.
As the Milwaukee Birders began to congregate at the south entrance, Helen was the first to notice a pair of kestrels perched high above us on the lights hung from the back side of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, and she pointed out that they were even posing nicely for me, which they sure were. Here’s the female, and “Thanks, Helen!”
As we circled the park, we found that the American tree sparrows had retired from their usual spot in the tall grass to the willow tree growing out of the riprap at the water’s edge.
As I was busy trying to get a decent picture of a sparrow in backlight, the rest of the group had moved on a bit and were chatting with a gentleman who had a camera with him that could eat mine for a snack. By happy coincidence, it turns out that he had just seen a pair of long-tailed ducks (Clangula hyemalis), and after a brief search, we spotted them, too. They were both females in non-breeding plumage, which isn’t quite as flashy as a drake’s, but that’s still a completely new bird for me, so Yee Haw!
Finally, as we recongregated back at the south entrance to wrap things up, it seemed that the male kestrel was unhappy with the photo I had managed of him earlier, so he posed again and against the beautiful blue sky this time. “Thanks, Buddy! I hope you like this one.”
Lastly, the forecast calls for a warmup tomorrow morning, with temps in the low thirties, clouds, and a bit of a breeze out of the south, so not bad for the second half of December in Wisconsin. Based on recent outings, however, I can make no predictions about what we might see on our weekly wildlife walk, so if you want to be among the first to know, come on out and join us.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 