First, thanks to all of you who came out to the Friends of Estabrook Annual Meeting last evening. We had a great turnout for such a cold day, and I’m sorry that I didn’t get to show as many pictures as I had expected, but Harold had a lot of ground to cover.
Now, on with the show. As you may recall, I mentioned going on a field trip yesterday in my previous post, and the destination was the fabulous Buena Vista Prairie Chicken Meadow in southwestern Portage County, WI. It was a cold day, with temps below zero until lunch time, and a stiff breeze, but at least the sun was mostly out. I’ll spare you all the details, because I’ve got a lot to show you today, but the end result is that we did get to see quite a few greater prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido). They are quite skittish, however, even when they were a couple hundred yards away, and we stayed by the car, so this is about the best image I could muster.
We also saw at least two rough-legged hawks (Buteo lagopus), which I have glimpsed once before, at County Grounds Park last winter, but now I have a presentable picture to show you.
Finally, while trying to get a better look at some prairie chickens, we did stumble upon my very first northern shrike (Lanius borealis). As you can see, the prairie is quite expansive and gave the birds plenty of room to keep their distance. That would explain all the blinds they had set up, which I hear can be reserved for getting closer looks. Maybe I’ll give that a try next time. Thanks to John for leading our group and Jenny for all the driving!
In Estabrook Park this morning, the weather was a bit warmer, the wind was a bit lighter, and the sun was a bit brighter, so it felt a lot more comfortable. It took a while, as might be expected after a long, cold night, but a few birds did show their faces today, and here’s a male northern cardinal foraging on the snow that covers the ice on the pond. For comparison, I cropped this picture exactly the same amount, to 2000 pixels wide, as I cropped the shrike and chicken pictures above.
While I was at the pond, all the little birds suddenly got quiet, and that’s because they all watched this Cooper’s hawk swoop in. The hawk didn’t stay long, though, and soon left empty talloned.
On the river, the ice cover continues to grow, but there are still slivers of open water, and our interesting-looking goldeneye was there again today. Even better, it appears that the bump on his bill was indeed an accumulation of ice, which had melted off by this morning. Mystery solved!
Finally, the star of the show today, for me at least, was our first fully mature male goldeneye in Estabrook so far this winter. Woo Hoo! Ain’t he a handsome devil! I read just this morning that ice cover on the great lakes has surged in the past couple of weeks, and Lake Michigan is at 35%, while the long-term average only peaks at 28%. Thus, since ice accumulates first along the shore, the diving birds that visit us during the winter may be finding that they now have to dive farther than they like. Whatever the reason, I’m sure glad he chose to give us a visit at last.
Lastly, I see we are currently forecast to have snow showers tomorrow morning, so who knows what I’ll get to see, but I’ll be sure to let you know.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 