A sneak peek at sights to come…

The air was very mild and still this morning, but the sky was pretty full of clouds at sunrise, and some of them even leaked on me a bit, so the weather in Estabrook Park was sort of a mixed bag. I wanted to join the Milwaukee Birders for their visit to the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, so I didn’t have a lot of time, and the most interesting sight I saw was this little cutie putting in a rare daytime appearance.

I read that opossums don’t hibernate, but they do stay in their dens during extreme cold, and after the winter we’ve been having so far, I bet this one was hungry. If you are not yet a fan of opossums, consider the fact that they eat small rodents and ticks, thereby helping to keep those populations in check.

Then it was time to get up to Schlitz. They had a great turnout, with at least a couple dozen folks, and the skies had cleared up by then, so the weather was just beautiful. If it wasn’t for this handsome, male bluebird, however, it would have been a shutout for me, picture wise. We heard plenty of birds, and I’m not sure why they kept mostly out of sight, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.

Since I’ve still got plenty of room, and we haven’t yet exhausted my supply of Nicaragua pictures, if you can believe it, let me show you some of the birds we saw there that we might expect to see here in a month or three.

This little darling is a Philadelphia vireo, and we last saw one in Estabrook last May.

There were also rose-breasted grosbeaks, and here’s a male. We saw a female in Estabrook last September.

Probably the most common “northerner” we saw was the yellow warbler, and here’s a female.

Finally, in the little puddle behind our cabin on Ometepe, which was usually full of stilts, gallinules, lapwings, and jacanas, this pair of blue-winged teal hens put in a brief appearance. One was even kind enough to flash us that teal wing patch. We saw a pair of drakes just last March, so these two better get a move on.

Tomorrow morning is forecast to be even warmer than today, and just as still, but maybe the clouds won’t clear out quite as nicely. It will be crazy nice weather for mid-February, anyway, so if you’ve wanted to come out for our wildlife walk, but the cold has been holding you back, this is your big chance. Look for me in the beer garden parking lot at 8am.