As promised, Anne and Deb did indeed go to Spanish class this morning, but we had breakfast before they went, and even before that we had a solid hour to look for wildlife from the rooftop patio of our hotel as the sun came up over Granada.
There was plenty to see, but the best new sighting from that stretch was this Hoffmann’s woodpecker (Melanerpes hoffmannii), who posed beautifully on this post in front of a bright red wall, and whose range is limited to just Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
There was also a swallow that we kept seeing overhead and that we couldn’t get a good enough look at to identify. But when I set out after breakfast, look who was waiting for me on a wire over the sidewalk just outside our hotel. It turns out not to be a swallow at all but is a martin instead, and a gray-breasted martin (Progne chalybea), to be exact. They have a much larger range than the woodpecker, and it extends from Mexico all the way to Argentina.
From that sidewalk, I hiked down to the shore of Lake Nicaragua, and I followed the shore until I hit a small river that empties into the lake. On the river is where I found only my second ever least grebe.
I saw plenty more, but it’s getting late, and those are the highlights. Our plan for tomorrow is about the same as today’s, which is great because I’ve found it usually takes me a few days to find all the wildlife lurking in a place like this. I’ll keep you posted.
Sorry this is so late today, but Anne and I finally arrived at our initial destination, Managua, Nicaragua, just after midnight this morning. We hustled to our hotel by the airport, woke up my sister, Deb, who had arrived earlier yesterday, and hit the sack as fast as we could.
This morning, we were woken right around sunrise by a wonderful cacophony of great-tailed grackles, melodious blackbirds, and white-winged doves, which we’ve seen plenty of already.
Then we had to break for breakfast, go pick up our rental car, and drive down to Granada, where Anne and Deb will be taking Spanish lessons all week. Before classes start tomorrow morning, however, we got to stroll around the beautiful, old Spanish colonial city. The bird life wasn’t quite so rich, if only because it was mid-afternoon, but we did spot this darling little cinnamon hummingbird (Amazilia rutila).
I have glimpsed at least one before, but this is the first one to allow a decent picture. In fact, I was a little surprised by how it just sat there and let me take pictures, but as we watched it, we came to learn that it was probably a recent fledgling who appeared to be still being fed by a parent, who would pop in for just a few seconds every few minutes. Amazing!
I hope to get back to a more normal schedule tomorrow, while Anne and Deb are busy with their lessons, so wish me luck!
The forecast lake effect snow held off till after 9am today, and the weather was otherwise relatively mild, compared to what we’ve been enjoying lately, so it was a pleasant morning in Estabrook Park. The critters, on the other hand, seemed to act as though heavy snow was imminent, and I only had one decent photo opportunity. The good news is that the bufflehead drake is back in one of the slivers of open water on the river, and he was the one who allowed me to sneak a nice picture.
Finally, as far as Estabrook Park is concerned, the robins were pretty thick again this morning, after being absent for a while this month, but I had this nice picture from yesterday of one taking sips of river water when the sun was out, so I left them alone today.
Now, back to Portage for a moment. At one point, as we were scanning the fields for prairie-chickens, three raptors put on quite an aerial show, and two of them were pretty clearly rough-legged hawks, the one at the top and the one on the right in this picture, but the third one was a mystery. Candidates included a “dark-morph” rough-legged, but it is clearly bigger than the other two, which wouldn’t be the case with a simple color morph; a common raven, which we did hear a couple of times, but they also are not this big, and they have a different tail shape; a “dark-morph” red-tailed hawk, which do exist, but they still have plenty of light feathers in their wings. So, who could it be?
Finally, after a fine lunch at the Plover Cafe, in Plover, WI, we took a quick swing through the fantastic Schmeeckle Reserve “on the campus of UW-Stevens Point”, in hopes of seeing the pileated woodpecker that has been spotted there recently, but we had no luck with that, and the nicest sight I saw was this deer lounging in the sun.
Lastly, if you’ve been wondering when Anne was going to whisk me away on another fabulous adventure, well, tomorrow is that day. I won’t have time to stop in Estabrook before we go, so I’ll post something from the archives to wet your whistle while we travel, but I hope to have new content as early as Sunday. Wish me luck!
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.
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.
Our current deep freeze remains quite persistent, and the weather this morning in Estabrook Park was nearly the same as yesterday. Things were pretty quiet along the river, and on my way upstream I saw a couple of goldeneyes, a few common mergansers, and a few mallards, but no pictures I felt compelled to take.
The excitement started, however, on my way to the pond, when a pair of coyotes crossed the paved path on their way to the river. I wasn’t walking with camera in hand, so I missed the first one, but I was ready when the second one trotted by. I don’t think it even glanced my way.
At the pond, things were also quiet at first, and I had a hope of spotting a Cooper’s hawk, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, the little birds slowly started chirping as I walked around, and the first one to pose was this male red-bellied woodpecker.
As I checked the sparrows to see if any were not house sparrows, I did see a couple of white-throated, but this American tree sparrow gazing into the distance, and perhaps dreaming of warmer days, made the nicer picture.
There were also a couple of downy woodpeckers, and here’s a male, pausing briefly from his work on that little hole to check for predators.
Back at the river, I noticed for the first time that the two goldeneyes do not have the same orange tip on their bills. The best information I can find is that that they are both females and the orange tip is simply optional.
The big surprise, on the other hand, is that there was a third goldeneye today, and this one is clearly showing the beginnings of breeding male plumage. His flanks are turning white, and the white patch on his cheek is beginning to appear. I suspect that the odd kink in the top of his bill, similar to that of scoters, is simply some ice accumulation, and I suppose he could be a hybrid, but goldeneye-scoter hybrids are said to be “exceedingly rare.” Maybe if the slight warming trend we’re experiencing continues, this ice will melt, and we’ll get a better look. Meanwhile, if you have a better idea, please don’t hesitate to share it with me!
Finally, I’ll be taking a little field trip tomorrow morning, if things go right, but I’ll definitely be back in time to show some pictures at the Friends of Estabrook Annual Meeting. The weather is supposed to be just about the same again, so I hope you can join us.
It was a beautiful, if chilly, sunny morning in Estabrook Park, and the early light let me get to work nice and early today. What a great way to start the week.
On my way upstream to meet the weekly wildlife walkers, I heard first, and then soon spotted, the one mammal I saw all morning: this little red squirrel busily gnawing a black walnut shell open.
When 8 am rolled around, I was happy to have two crazy people join me. One was crazy enough for about 20 minutes at the pond, and the other was good for at least an hour and a walk along the river all the way from the Port Washington Bridge downstream to the pair of radio towers. As we passed back through the parking lot on the way to the river, we found four crows appearing to be warming up in the sun, and here’s one stretching its wings before turning around to warm up the other side.
Below the falls, the river is now completely frozen over, and someone has even left cross-country sky tracks in the snow up the middle of it. When we got to where the river ice opens back up again, just a bit downstream from the towers, there was quite a congregation of birds on the water, which comprised at least a dozen common mergansers, including this handsome drake, …
a goldeneye hen, …
and the bufflehead drake we first saw just yesterday. It’s nice to catch a glimpse of the colors that the sun brings out of the dark feathers on his head.
Even better, I accidentally managed to get them all in one picture, which gives you some sense of the bird density, although I was aiming at the bufflehead, so he’s the only one in focus.
Lastly, our fearless leader at the Friends of Estabrook Park, Harold Schmidt, is currently stuck in Boston due to the huge weekend storm, but he’s expecting to be back home by Tuesday, so we’ve decided to forge ahead with our annual meeting on Wednesday, and they’ve even sent out a final email reminder to members.
To sweeten the deal, besides refreshments, snacks, and door prices, we’re even gonna try to get into the building early to give the furnace a chance to warm the place up for you. So come on out, if you can, member or not, to see pictures of the new wildlife spotted in 2025, Kenneth Gass talking about the Milwaukee Formation, and Peter Bratt explaining the repair and proposed usage of the old Maintenance Building.
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.
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.
Somehow yesterday I thought it would be warmer this morning, and it is a little bit. But the thermometer’s only at -11°F, and the breeze is pushing the wind chill down into the negative twenties, so when I asked my camera if this was warm enough, it wouldn’t even answer me. Thus, I have one more excuse to revisit a warmer time and place from 2025.
After visiting the spectacular Arches National Park later that day, we stopped for the night in Loa, Utah, and the first big treat of the next morning was our very first sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus), who was quite persistent in getting his message out.
Even better, at least for me, there were a few common loons (Gavia immer), which look anything but common.
Our last stop in Utah was the breathtaking Zion National Park, where this Anna’s hummingbird kept coming back to the same perch, probably to watch for interlopers into its territory, but also to give me more chances of a decent picture. We have seen one before in Sedona, but that was a female or immature male, and this handsome devil is an adult male in all his breeding finery.
The star of the show, however, at least for my sister and me, was this American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), “North America’s only truly aquatic songbird.” What made it even sweeter was the fact that we had already spent a bunch of time earlier that morning chasing one by sound at the creek behind our hotel without getting even a single glimpse.
So as we hiked along the Virgin River that runs through the park, I scanned almost every rock along the way, but my sister hit pay dirt first at the very far end of the Riverside Walk. I realize that it may not look like all that much, but wait until you see it in action, because dippers hunt for their food like no other bird I know.
Check out this video, which I miraculously thought to capture, of it repeatedly jumping into the rushing water to snatch insect larvae from the rocks on the bottom. Astounding!
This time the forecast calls for temperatures above zero tomorrow morning, so my camera and I will be back in Estabrook for sure. Mark my words!
Well, the forecast extreme cold did arrive, and I’ve been out in colder, but I’ve noticed that my camera doesn’t like it much, so that’s my excuse for staying in this morning. Instead, let’s look back at another great trip to a warm place I had the good fortune to take in 2025: Arizona.
If you were following along then, you may recall that things got off to a great start when I found my first Costa’s hummingbird (Calypte costae), feeding from the plantings in the nice xeriscaping they added in front of the rental car center at Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix. How’s that for reinforcing my mantra of “always be birding!”
Later that day we drove up to Page, AZ to visit Antelope Canyon the next day, but before we headed out on that adventure, we visited the golf course in town where we found dozens of gorgeous white-faced ibises (Plegadis chihi) frantically foraging for morsels in the grass.
Lastly, we eventually had to go for our scheduled slot-canyon tour, which was amazing, and when we emerged at the “upstream” end of the slot, look who was there to greet us, our very first lark sparrow (Chondestes grammacus). Ha!
Things are supposed to warm up a bit in Estabrook by morning, and the wind is supposed to die down a bit, so the wind chill should only be in the negative 20s. I’ll see if I can’t get my camera to cooperate, and I’ll let you know if I see anything pretty or interesting.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 
