It’s amazing what a little warmup can do…

Before I get into today’s post let me tell you about the Friends of Estabrook Park Annual Meeting, which is open to everyone, member or not, on this Wednesday, January 28 at 7pm in the Blatz Pavilion at Lincoln Park. I’m on the schedule to show some wildlife pictures, so if you’ve always wanted to grill me on my species identifications or my camera settings in front of a live audience, and you haven’t yet made it to one of my talks, this is your next big chance!

Okay, on with today’s post. As promised, it was above zero at sunrise this morning, for the first time in days, the winds weren’t too bad, and we were getting a nice fresh coat of lake effect snow. It was quite nice, but the snow really limits my picture taking, and it lingered till almost 9am, so I didn’t head out till then.

As I walked upstream beside the river, I kept my eyes on the water to see if the mergansers and goldeneyes were still with us, and they are, but look who else I found: our first bufflehead in the park this winter! Yee Haw! I can’t say I knew they would come, but I sure did hope they would.

Anyway, Estabrook Park is being considered as an International Union of Geological Sciences Heritage Site, and Kenneth Gass, Honorary Curator at the Milwaukee Public Museum, will join us Wednesday evening to walk us through the significance of the Milwaukee Formation, the richest and most diverse Devonian fossil site in America. I expect that to be fascinating.

I did see a red-tailed hawk at the north end, who did not allow pictures today, and a Cooper’s hawk at the pond, who did allow a couple poor shots at long range, and then I headed back downstream along the river. It was then that I noticed a large dark shape on the ice up ahead, and as I tried to get a picture, it stood up! Say “hello” to our first beaver of the year! Woo Hoo!

Back to Wednesday evening, Peter Bratt, the Milwaukee County Parks Facilities Director, will also join us to report on the repair and proposed usage of the beautiful old Maintenance Building by the middle parking lot in Estabrook Park. Boy, it sure would be nice to have a year-round indoor meeting space right in our own park, wouldn’t it? I don’t know yet if that is in the plans, but one can dream, eh?

Anyway, the beaver finally did manage to grab a stick and proceeded to gnaw the bark off of it.

Finally, as far as Wednesday evening goes, Harold Schmidt, founder and president of the Friends of Estabrook Park, says “warm up with some hot apple cider and homemade cookies. Or have beer and savory snacks. Or both! Enter the drawing for door prizes. And more! Don’t miss this wonderful yearly event.”

Back at the river, before I could get a better shot of the beaver, it slipped into the water, and before disappointment could even register in my brain, I saw why: our first Coyotes of the year were trotting down the trail on the far riverbank! Holy Moly!

The coyotes either didn’t see the beaver, they simply weren’t interested, or they knew better than risking getting wet in today’s weather, because they kept right on loping down the trail, and the beaver soon clambered back up onto the ice.

It didn’t stay long, however, and was soon swimming upstream, perhaps to look for more bark to gnaw or just to go sleep off breakfast in its burrow.

Finally, the bufflehead had not moved much, and it let me get a nicer picture on my second pass. “Thanks, little buddy!”

Lastly, I had the good fortune to represent Friends of Estabrook Park at the Milwaukee County Parks “Friends Summit” yesterday in the Boerner Botanical Gardens yesterday. It was a fabulous experience, I learned a ton, and I made some great connections, so I’d like to thank Julien Phifer, the North Region Community Engagement Coordinator for Milwaukee County Parks, and the rest of the Parks team for hosting such a helpful event.

PS. I see we’re forecast to be back below zero tomorrow morning, but only by a bit, and the wind shouldn’t be too bad, plus the sun is supposed to be out, so I will definitely be back in the park. With weather like that, though, I can certainly understand if you can’t join me for a wild life walk, but I will swing by the beer garden parking lot at 8am, just in case anyone is crazy enough to try.