As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be sitting a lot today, in cars, airports, and airplanes, so we have to go back to the archives for pictures. Plus, I did a terrible job of reviewing the amazing sights we saw in 2025, so here’s a look back at some highlights from Jordan.

When we got to the Dead Sea, I was thrilled to get another chance to see common hoopoes. We have seen hoopoes before, in Malawi, which I believe would make them African common hoopoes, but since I read that Jordan is technically on the Asian continent, perhaps these are Eurasian common hoopoes. I did ask, but it wouldn’t say.

A little less exotic-looking, but still dramatic with a black head and white eye-ring are the white-spectacled bulbuls (Pycnonotus xanthopygos).

I’m always fascinated by sunbirds, who have evolved to play the role of hummingbirds in Eurasia and Africa, and we’ve seen them before, in Malawi and Comoros, but here’s my first Palestine sunbird (Cinnyris osea).

Another bird we saw first in Comoros, is the bee-eater, specifically the Madagascar bee-eater, but in Jordan we got to see the blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops persicus).

We have to go back further to find our first lapwing, to South Holland where I learned that there is such a bird as a northern lapwing, and Jordan provided an alternative once again in the form of this spur-winged lapwing (Vanellus spinosus) at the fabulous Aqaba Bird Observatory.

We get martins, the purple variety, right in our own backyard, at Lakeshore State Park, but of course, the ones in Jordan have evolved to thrive in the desert, so here’s a pale crag-martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) at Wadi Rum.

Finally, a visit to Jordan just wouldn’t be complete without seeing its national bird, the Sinai rosefinche (Carpodacus synoicus), and here’s one at Wadi Rum. Thanks again to Anne for making this whole trip possible, and if you ever get the chance to visit Jordan yourself, I hope you jump at it. We found it to be just wonderful.

If things go well today, I should be back in Estabrook tomorrow morning, and I see it is forecast to be windy there, so who knows what I’ll see, but I’ll be sure to let you know.

This morning was jammed full of doctor’s appointments for my folks, so I didn’t get out to look for wildlife until after lunch. I went straight to the Fresh Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary across the river, but by then, it seems, most of the critters were already down for their naps, so the sightings were few and far between.

Near the end of my walk, however, I did find this gorgeous creature, a red-tailed hawk, who appeared to be getting an early start to hunting its dinner. As you can see, we were having a beautiful blue-sky day, and I was able to get the sun at my back, so the lighting was perfect.

And that was the one good picture I was able to scrounge up this afternoon. Thus, with so much room to fill, here’s one more look at the wigeon drake from yesterday at Hannover Pond.

And that’s the whole show for today, I’m afraid. Tomorrow, I travel back to Milwaukee, which will take most of the day, so I highly doubt that I’ll have anything new for you, and I’ll dig up a few more highlights from 2025 instead.

In other news, I’ll be showing pictures at the Friends of Estabrook Annual Meeting, at 7pm on Wednesday, January 28, in the Blatz Pavilion at Lincoln Park. In previous years, I was able to borrow a projector from work or use the one brought by the main presenter, but neither seem to be an option this year. Thus, if you know of a projector that I can borrow for that evening and that takes HDMI from a laptop, please let me know.

My sister and I went out looking for more open water on the old Farmington Canal this morning, but we completely struck out. The pond where we’ve seen river otters, green herons, and cormorants, was still completely iced over. So, we checked out Hannover Pond again after lunch, and before we even got there, we spotted this pretty face on the side of the road. It’s a turkey vulture, and it must have heard me gushing about the black vultures yesterday.

When we finally did reach the pond, I was stunned to find another odd duck, two of them in fact, this pair of American wigeons. We’ve seen them in Estabrook, but these are my sister’s first ever and my first in Connecticut. Yippee!

While working on getting a good wigeon shot, I spotted yet another odd duck dabbling at the far shore. They’re not quite as easy to see, but those are green-winged teals, which are also a first ever for Deb and a first in Connecticut for me. Holy Moly!

Not to be forgotten, the gadwall drake was still there, and here’s a new look.

Not all the action was out on the water, and there was a small raptor mixing it up with all the fish crows that congregate there. At first, I thought it was a Cooper’s hawk, because of how it looked in flight, but once it perched, I could see that it was a Merlin, and another first for Deb.

The merlin didn’t stay perched on the branch for long, but was soon back in the air playing “chase me, chase you” with the crows, and as I was trying my hardest to capture some of that action, a red-tailed hawk drifted over the pond. Unbelievable! It was chaos in the skies! This is the best action shot I managed.

Finally, here’s a pretty nice look at just the hawk.

We’ve got a lot of appointments tomorrow, starting in the morning, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to for a walk, but if and when I do, I’ll be sure to let you know what I see.

Well, the snow I had expected did not arrive this morning, mostly because I was checking the forecast for Shorewood instead of for Cheshire, where I am presently located. Thus, it was no problem for my sister and me to go out looking for wildlife today, and this time, we really did go looking for waterfowl.

We checked Broad Brook Reservoir first, which has been very fruitful in the past, and we were quite surprised to find it still completely frozen over. The next stop was Hannover Pond, and there we finally found some open water. Beside the mute swans, Canada geese, and mallards, I was happy to find common mergansers, which my sister did not remember seeing before. There were at least four hens and four drakes, and here’s one of the latter.

The big surprise, for me at least, was spotting this handsome devil standing on the ice amongst the ring-billed and herring gulls. For those of you who don’t remember, or who were not yet along for the ride, this is an aptly-named black-backed gull, similar to the one we saw in South Holland, a couple of years ago, but this one is a “great” (Larus marinus), while the Dutch one was a “lesser” (Larus fuscus).

Another treat was spotting this quartet of hooded mergansers, which we have yet to see in Estabrook this winter. The three drakes were all doing their best to impress the hen, but nothing seemed to be working today. Maybe it’s just too early in the year. “Don’t give up hope yet, guys!”

My sister was especially thrilled to find a bald eagle, who looked a little wet. It soon flew off, and Deb tracked it to a tree not too far off where another eagle was perched. Perhaps they are the pair that nest over at the reservoir, and they had just come to the pond to check the open water buffet.

The next big surprise was finding this gadwall drake on the Quinnipiac River, which flows out of the pond toward New Haven harbor. We’ve seen at least one drake in Estabrook over the winter, but this is my first Connecticut gadwall. Woo Hoo!

Finally, we took a peek at the little pond in the old Farmington Canal, which I thought might also have some open water. It did, and there was one goose and a dozen mallards taking advantage of it, but the bigger surprise was spotting at least 60 (yes, 5 full dozen!) black vultures nearby in the trees, on the ground, and even bathing in what is left of the Farmington Canal. They are large birds, so it was quite the show. Here’s one who had just hopped up onto a branch at about eye-level to start drying off. Doesn’t it have a beautiful brown eye?

I’m not sure what our schedule is for tomorrow, so I don’t know when I’ll get out to look for more, but I’ll do my best.

I never did make it to much open water this morning, where I had hoped to find some waterfowl, but I did make it into the nature preserve next to my folks’ place again, where I found several new faces for the year.

Before we get there, however, the song sparrow that was on a fencepost a couple of days ago was in a prominent perch again this morning, as though it was keeping watch over its territory. “Good luck, Buddy!”

Once I got into the woods across the river, the first pleasant surprise was spotting my first yellow-bellied sapsucker of the new year, a female. Unlike Estabrook, which is just “fly-over territory” for them, it appears that we are in their “nonbreeding” or “year-round” range here, depending on your ability to distinguish two similar pastel shades of blue.

The sapsucker was quickly followed by another fun winter sight, this male northern flicker. The official map makes it look like both locations are in their “year-round” range, but my experience has been that they definitely clear out of Estabrook for the winter.

The woodpeckers were nice, of course, but the biggest treat of the morning has to be a little bunch of eastern bluebirds. I only saw one, at first, but then there was a second, and at least a third. Here’s a male, who really made me work for this shot, …

and here’s a female, who gave me several nice poses. We do get to see them during the winter in Estabrook, but very infrequently, and not yet this winter, so it’s great to get a glimpse to tide us over till spring.

As I was following the bluebirds, they eventually retired to the top of a tree, and then the tree was suddenly full of birds. At first, I thought they were all bluebirds, but I was eventually able to get eyes on some that clearly weren’t. Instead, they were cedar waxwings. I have seen them as recently as December in Estabrook, but I sure don’t mind getting another look in January.

Finally, the sunlight and blue sky, which you can see in some of the pictures above, didn’t last long, so this white-throated sparrow, which we have been seeing in Estabrook all winter, got a nice moody shot.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for snow all morning, so I have no idea what picture-taking opportunities might come up, and you’ll just have to watch this space.

The sun came up on a gorgeous morning, here in the Nutmeg State, and my sister and I did find an entrance to the fabulous Fresh Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, just across the Mill River from my folks’ new place. We saw many of the same characters I had seen yesterday, but the star of the show had to be this red-shouldered hawk basking in the sun’s warm glow. I see that they do get spotted in Milwaukee, from time to time, but I have yet to see one there, so I’m glad for a backup location.

With pictures of a Cooper’s hawk and a red-shouldered hawk already “in the can,” it didn’t take long for a red-tailed hawk to show up, as if to ask “what about me?”

Finally, with tufted titmice aplenty, I figured I should practice taking their picture so that when the opportunity comes for me to do so in Estabrook, I don’t flub my shot.

I see it is supposed to cloud up by tomorrow morning, but the wind should be very light, so I’m gonna go looking for some waterfowl. Wish me luck!

It was rainy and foggy when the sun came up this morning out here in Cheshire, CT, so my sister and I went to breakfast with my mom and dad, and I pinned my hopes on this afternoon. As luck would have it, the sky did clear up after lunch, and I got my chance to take a look around outside the complex my folks moved into last fall.

There was a busy bird feeder a few doors away, and I was thrilled to see a tufted titmouse again. I’ve heard them a couple of times in the Milwaukee area, but I haven’t managed to get a picture of one there, yet. Just as soon as I managed this shot, however, a shape swooped in, and all the little birds scattered.

The shape turned out to be this Cooper’s hawk, which we do get to see in Estabrook year-round, and it perched in the middle of a nearby tree, but it must have been hungry, because it soon took another pass at the feeder.

Its next perch gave me a closer look, but by then, its advantage of surprise was long gone, so it took off again nearly as fast as it had swooped in.

I moved on, too, and around the next corner, I found this song sparrow perched on a fence post. It was just sitting there, not calling, and certainly not hunting, so I don’t know what it was up to, and I just took its picture. I did manage to see one a few times back home late into the fall, but not once since the deep freeze at the start of December.

Finally, I was fascinated to spot about a dozen black vultures soaring high over the nature preserve next door. The turkey vultures we get in Estabrook have long flown south for the winter, so it was a treat to find vultures toughing out the winter here.

The weather’s supposed to be a lot better tomorrow morning, so it will be interesting to see who’s out and about after the sun comes up.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m traveling back to Connecticut today to see my folks, and I don’t expect to get any pictures until tomorrow. I don’t want to leave you in the lurch, however, so here are a few more highlights from 2025 that I didn’t manage to sneak in before the new year started.

An absolute favorite has got to be the three curious river otters who paused from their fishing to check me out on March 13, 2025. Then, as if seeing them in Estabrook for only the second time ever wasn’t enough, we had a hungry one visit again on August 8, 2025.

After many “false positives” I finally saw my first, for-sure, “raspberry red”, male purple finch on April 22, 2025.

Long-time readers may recall that I see vesper sparrows now and then at Anne’s mom’s place out in Waterford, but I finally found my first one in Estabrook, on April 7, 2025, and it happens to be the first one ever reported there.

Another bird that evaded me for years is the ovenbird, and I not only got to see one this year, on May 16, 2025, but I even had a second chance, just a few days later, to get a nicer picture, on May 22, 2025.

Finally, just when I thought we might be done with firsts for the year, my first yellow-billed cuckoo popped in to say “hi”, on October 3, 2025.

The weather forecast looks good for Cheshire on Wednesday, so I have a hope of finding some new content for you. Wish me luck!

It was a mild but gray morning in Estabrook Park, with temps near freezing and calm air, and we had a nice turn out for the weekly wildlife walk, but even five pairs of eyes struggled to find many birds today. Perhaps we’ve all come down with a bit of the post-holiday blues.

One of the birds that was still managing to go about its business was the white-throated sparrow, and here’s one picking berries from a bush beside the pond. I read that “white-throated sparrows are unable to produce yellow, so the birds depend on a diet rich in carotenoids—pigments manufactured mainly by plants—to provide this golden hue. Their fall and winter diet of seeds and fruit … give the sparrows a carotenoid boost.“

Another bird that needs carotenoids to help make its characteristic plumage is the American robin, and here’s one searching the bushes along the river for berries. They’ve been oddly scarce in Estabrook since the first of the year, so I was glad when we spotted at least a dozen today.

And that’s all I could scrounge up this morning. I’d like to say that I’ll try harder tomorrow, but I’m off to the east coast to see my folks again, and I probably won’t get back outside until Wednesday.

As promised, I joined the Milwaukee Birders this morning in their quest to “go find some birds,” and our first stop was the Windpoint Lighthouse in Racine County. There, we were lucky enough to get eyes on the purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima) that has had folks all atwitter lately. This is certainly a new bird for me, and I read that we need not be alarmed by its seeming predicament because they “breed on arctic tundra[, and] they spend winters on North Atlantic shores, farther north than any other shorebird,” so this scene appears to be right up their alley.

Next, we stopped by the bird feeder at Grant Park in hopes at getting a fresh glimpse of the evening grosbeak for the new year. There was little chance of that happening this morning, however, because there was a pair of Cooper’s hawks perched high in the trees above, and they may have been hoping for something along those same lines.

Finally, as far as the presentable pictures go, we moved a bit north in Grant Park to where screech-owls have been heard and spotted lately, and after a nice stroll through the woods, John Kasper found us this gorgeous creature. “Thanks, John!”

From there we continued north along the waterfront and spotted six bucks beside the road, a wild turkey, a mute swan, a hooded merganser, an American coot, and a pair of long-tailed ducks, but most of them were far beyond the reach of my gear, so you’ll just have to see them in your mind’s eye for now.

Thanks to Donna and Katie for putting together this tour of the lakefront, Donna providing transportation, and John for taking the lead once we were on foot.

I see that the winds will be light and the air will be seasonably warm tomorrow morning, so come on out, if you can, to help us find wildlife in Estabrook Park. We’ll start at 8am in the beer garden parking lot.