Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

That pace picks back up in Estabrook…

It was a gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park. It was below freezing at sunrise, but just barely, and just enough to freeze up the river path mud nice and firm. Plus, the winds were nearly calm, and the sky was nearly clear, so I had high hopes. Best of all, the critters also seemed to be enjoying the change in the weather.

My first fun sight was this row of common merganser hens up on some ice between the islands and all working on their morning preens.

In the open water between us, I found my one and only goldeneye of the day, this drake. As you can see, there is still ice on the river, but it is disappearing quickly, and these birds will soon be heading to Canada to make more, so we’d better enjoy them while they’re still here.

As I scanned the rest of the river for a new bird, I heard a nuthatch behind me, which isn’t too surprising, given the number of white-breasted nuthatches we have in Estabrook, but this one sounded slightly different. Well, that’s because it was a red-breasted nuthatch, which we do get to see, but not very often, so I hustled up the bluff to see if I could find it. I had to chase it for a few minutes, as it foraged in one treetop and then the next, but I finally spotted it, and it let me sneak just one picture before it was gone. It ain’t my best, and it ain’t even my worst, but it is enough to positively ID our first red-breasted nuthatch butt of the year in Estabrook Park. Woo Hoo!

Then I headed to the pond, where this red-bellied woodpecker was drumming away on that metal plate before it that holds the streetlamp to the lamppost. That’s gotta be rough on his beak, but I guess he really likes the way it sounds, or he really hopes the ladies will like the way it sounds.

On the other side of the pond, another bird that won’t be with us too much longer this season, this female dark-eyed junco, gave us a real nice look.

Then I hiked back down to the river and found another new arrival, our first common grackle of the year. Yee haw!

Finally, I was all the way back at the south end, and back up on the bluff again, when I took one last look through the trees down to the river. I saw a bunch of mallards up on a little patch of grass on the far riverbank, and thought to myself, “there’s the dozen I saw a couple hours ago.” But then I noticed one bird didn’t look like the others, and that’s because it’s our first American coot of the year. Yippee Ki‐Yay! They’re not too rare on the lake, but we only get about one a year on the river, so this was a special treat.

Lastly, I’m heading over to Havenwoods tomorrow to help out at the Winter Break Milwaukee. I’ll probably visit Estabrook before then, but I might not be able to show you what I found until later in the day. Meanwhile, you could come out to Havenwoods yourself to check-out all the winter activities they‘ll be offering. It is even forecast to snow, which would be perfect timing, given the theme of the event.

Another solo performance…

It has clouded up now, but this morning was the nicest morning of the week in Estabrook Park, at least so far. It was a little cooler, and the clouds were pretty patchy, so the light was respectable, but the wind had finally died down, so I could really hear some birds for a change.

Speaking of birds, they just keep making my job easier, in a way, but I sure hope it isn’t a permanent trend. Once again, only one bird put in a photo-worthy performance, and this time I didn’t even have to move to get the shot I wanted. Oh, I took a bunch, don’t you worry, but just about the only differences between them all are slightly different head angles, and I picked the one that looked nicest to me.

So, here it is, your bird of the day, a white-throated sparrow sitting pretty by the pond.

The forecast for tomorrow looks nice, so let’s all hope the critters in Estabrook feel up to putting on a little more of a show.

A young Cooper’s hawk at the pond…

The holding pattern of weather we’ve been enjoying for the past few days continued in Estabrook Park this morning. Temps were in the low twenties again, wind speeds were in the low teens again, and the sun was able to poke through the clouds again. The geese and ducks continue to be on the river, and nobody new showed up today.

The most interesting sight, for me at least, was at the pond, where I spotted this Cooper’s hawk on the railing of the little bridge in the northwest corner. I continue to learn from my mistakes, albeit slowly, and I quickly took the shot I could, in case that would be my only opportunity, and then I backed up to see if I could get a better look if I approached from the south.

Well, I got lucky this time, the hawk stayed put, and I was able to get a little better picture, good enough to see clearly that it’s a young one. There were still sticks in front of its face, however, even when I sat on the lawn at the edge of the water, and I didn’t want to trust the ice, after the thaw we had, so I didn’t really have a way to get much lower.

So, I sat on the bench for a moment to consider my next move and finally opted to try sneaking up the paved path that leads to the bridge. Once again, the view was improved, but that black scrap of a leaf right in front of its chest wasn’t great.

I worried that if I approached on foot any farther, I would spook the bird, so I sat down and slowly crab walked up the path until I could get a clearer shot, and this is what I got. There are still a few sticks in the way, so I wouldn’t call it perfect by any means, but it’s a pretty nice look at a beautiful bird, nevertheless.

That’s the whole show for today, and I’m gonna treat it as an opportunity to practice being grateful for the sights I see and not worry about the rest. We’ll see how that goes.

A pretty morning in Estabrook Park…

The weather was nicer than I expected this morning in Estabrook Park. Sure, it was still plenty cold, but the wind wasn’t blowing too hard, at least for the first couple of hours, and the sun was shining pretty good, so it was quite pleasant.

The usual suspects were on the river again, and this goldeneye drake let me sneak one of the nicer looks I’ve had.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, there was a whole group of common mergansers who appeared to be still sorting out who was going to the prom with whom.

The biggest treat of the morning, however, was finding this bald eagle on the downstream island. We glimpsed one yesterday, but it saw us before we saw it, and it promptly took off. Maybe it was just hungrier today.

Even better, after I had gotten the picture I wanted and continued up the path, it did take off, but it only retreated to this branch over the far riverbank. There was no singing this morning, so perhaps they are beyond that stage of their relationship.

The forecast for tomorrow promises more of the same, so here’s hoping the critters are just as obliging.

A fond look back to a slightly warmer day…

It has warmed up a bit by now, the clouds have thinned, and the wind has abated, but it was pretty cloudy, cold, and windy at sunrise in Estabrook Park this morning. We even had a few nice lake effect snow showers. I did have one intrepid wildlife walker join me, but his excuse was that he had just dropped off his car for service and now had a couple of hours to spend before it was ready. It’s just as well, because most of the critters were also waiting out the morning, and my fun recent string of new faces was finally broken. Oh well.

Thus, here are some more faces from yesterday when it was also cold, but at least the sun was shining. By now, I hope many of you recognize this male red-bellied woodpecker, who really did appear to be simply basking in the sun by the pond.

And here’s his little distant cousin, a male downy woodpecker, who appeared to be more hungry than cold, or at least hungry enough to ignore the cold, and was hard at work chipping away at the bark on little branches.

Also at the pond, the little red squirrel was back in its favorite warming spot.

Out on the river, I was surprised yesterday by a seeming complete lack of mallards, who are normally quite common, if not ubiquitous. I had seen none on my way north and none around the islands. As I made my way back south, I encountered a long-time reader hiking the other way who reported that she had just seen a pair, so I kept my eyes peeled, and sure enough, I spotted exactly one pair just a little ways passed her. Before I could get a picture of the lucky couple, however, I noticed a third bird near them who turned out to be this common merganser hen with a fresh fish in her bill, and I figured you might like that picture better. Who doesn’t like fish, cold and fresh, for breakfast?

Finally, the cardinal I showed you yesterday toyed with me a bit before that picture, and he took his sweet time ascending to the peak of that clump of sumac seeds, so here he is again but before he hopped to the top.

The forecast for tomorrow morning calls for similar temps, but lighter winds and maybe even a little sunshine, so maybe we can hope that the parade of new faces picks up where it left off. I here there are grackles and a couple of merlins around. If you see ’em, tell ’em I’m waitin’ for ’em.

Old Man Winter ain’t done with us yet…

I could almost hear Old Man Winter chuckling to himself as I looked out the window this morning and sipped my coffee. It was snowing, although I’m sure most folks were glad we had almost no accumulation, the clouds were thick, the wind was stiff, and the cold was pretty bitter. He ain’t done with us yet.

Fortunately, the snow didn’t last long at all, the clouds blew out over the lake, and there are plenty of critters in Estabrook Park who are built for the cold and wind. Here are a pair of common merganser hens taking a break from fishing in the icy water to keep their feathers in tip-top shape.

Here’s a goldeneye drake catching his breath between dives to the river bottom for snails.

The huge surprise of the morning, however, was spotting this killdeer, who would normally still be in balmy southern Illinois, at least, but was now standing on the softball field and considering the error of its ways.

I’m sure it was as surprised to see me as I was to see it, but instead of fleeing, it opted merely to sink into the grass, like Homer Simpson retreating into his hedge.

I’m not exactly sure if it was escaping me, the wind, or both of us, but I was impressed by how far it could sink.

At the pond the house finches and house sparrows were thick in the bushes on the island again, after taking a week off during the thaw, but the funner sight for me was this opossum trotting across the ice.

Finally, this cardinal must have heard me grousing about the shy cardinal yesterday, and wanted to make sure I knew that some cardinals really are as bold as their plumage.

Lastly, the weather forecast for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning is even colder than today, with temps in the teens and winds pushing the RealFeel® temps into single digits. Yikes! On the other hand, I have been having a string of “first of the year” sightings this week, at least for Estabrook, and maybe it will continue tomorrow. Thus, when you contemplate coming out to join us, you really have to ask yourself, “do I feel lucky?”

An odd duck we haven’t seen in a while…

It was a pretty nice late-February morning in Estabrook Park. Temps were in the mid-twenties, so the river path was nicely frozen back up, the winds were light, and the sun even peeked through the cloud deck once or twice.

The big surprise of the morning was finding this greater scaup drake on the river between the falls and the islands along with some mallards, a few common mergansers, and a common goldeneye. We see plenty scaups on the lake during the winter, and we’ve seen them in Estabrook before, but my records indicate not since 2022. So, “Welcome back, Buddy, and don’t be such a stranger!”

The next biggest surprise was that no one else wanted to show their face today. I only caught this guy, I suspect, because he thought he was well hidden. “Not so fast, you handsome devil, you!”

Finally, instead of me dredging up some more pictures from Nicaragua, I propose that we just have a short post today and try again tomorrow.

One more returnee and many more to go…

The rain and wind did arrive, but the rain moved out by sunrise, and we didn’t get any of the snow that was threatened, so it wasn’t too bad a morning to go looking for wildlife in Estabrook Park.

The river ice is really starting to disappear, and the geese, mallards, and common mergansers are making the best of all the newly open water, but the exciting return of the day was this male belted kingfisher staking out his territory around the upstream island. I glimpsed one in January, before the river froze over, but I haven’t gotten a picture of one for you since early December. “Welcome back, Buddy, and let’s all hope for a better picture soon, eh?”

That’s it for pictures today, I’m sad to say, but you’ll be thrilled to know that we still haven’t yet exhausted the supply of pictures from Nicaragua, and this first one is a familiar face that we can hope to see in Estabrook in April: a Baltimore oriole.

Similarly, here’s an orchard oriole, which we do get to see in Estabrook but much less often, and I once thought was “the other” oriole.

This shy bird, which I found lurking in the shadows over that little river in Granada, had the pointy beak and orange color of an oriole, but the black eye mask and long black beard do not look familiar.

Thankfully, he was kind enough to turn around to show us, not only the white streaks on his black wings, but also the orange streaks on his black back, and that makes him an aptly-named streak-backed oriole (Icterus pustulatus), a first for me.

Here he is in partial profile so we can see the eye mask, beard, and back streaks all together. Sadly, they are primarily Central American birds and are “very rare in [even] the southwestern U.S.,” so our chances of seeing them in Estabrook any time soon are “slim to none,” as the experts say. In any case, you may be just as stunned to learn as I was that there are thirty-two (32!) species in the Icterus genus, the new world orioles. Good heavens, it’s gonna take some work to collect them all. Right?

Finally, every morning in Granada, when Deb and I would go up onto the roof-top patio to check for birds enjoying the bougainvillea growing in the neighbors courtyard, we would see blue-gray tanagers. I first saw them in Brazil, but this may have been Deb’s first exposure, and she was quite taken with them. This particular individual was taking a break from the bougainvillea, which you can see in the orchard oriole picture above, and was chillin’ instead on some nearby rebar sticking out the top of some structure, which is a common sight in Latin America.

I see that it is supposed to cool off further by tomorrow morning, but the wind is supposed to back down, and the sun might even peek through the clouds a bit, so it should be a pretty good mid-February morning in Estabrook Park. I can’t wait to see who shows up next!

Some early signs of the spring to come…

It was a gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park, with seasonably mild temps, mostly clear skies, and nearly still air. Not only could I hear a pin drop, but I could also finally identify the call I had just barely heard yesterday (the track from Ohio, May 12, 1980) over the roar of the wind in the radio towers. The red-winged blackbirds have returned, and I counted four along the river this morning, including this handsome devil. In 2025, I didn’t see one till March 1, but in 2024 they arrived by February 21, so they are just about right on schedule.

The next big surprise came on the river between the two islands, where I spotted these two beauties, our first hooded mergansers of the year. We haven’t seen one since that hen on the pond last October.

Meanwhile, there were at least a dozen common mergansers, and here are three hens all lined up as if to ask, “What are we, chopped liver now?” “Certainly not, Sweeties, but you’ve been in the spotlight for about twelve weeks already. It’s time to let someone else have a turn.”

Finally, a bald eagle was back over the river, and not only did it seem to ignore me, for a change, but the ducks seemed mostly to ignore it, too. I don’t know why, but I’ll take it!

It appears that we’re in for sloppy weather overnight and then for the wind to return tomorrow. Oh well. This brief respite was nice while it lasted, but I guess winter isn’t done with us just yet. At least there are no deep freezes in the long-range forecast,

Estabrook Park still surprises…

The rain did roll through during the wee hours of the morning, as advertised, and we even had a few claps of thunder before sunrise. The good news is that it kept right on rolling, and skies were nearly clear by the time the sun actually rose. It was quite windy, but it was also so warm that even the windchill was in the high forties. Pretty wild weather for February.

I don’t know if it was the crazy weather, or they were just busy making up for lost time, but I spotted two masked bandits at the pond when I arrived. They were quite skittish, as they are supposed to be, but I was able to catch one keeping its eyes on me from behind a bunch of sticks at the water’s edge.

Also at the pond, we had our first bunch of Canada geese checking out the place. I don’t know if our regular nesting pair was among them, but here’s one standing nice and still, just in case.

I saw the usual suspects at the river, but nothing especially film-worthy today, so I went back to the pond. The geese had already moved on, but look who had already found some open water under the bushes.

Then, as I was scanning the bushes and trees for an interesting sparrow, look who swooped in to do the same.

Finally, I took the path south of the dog park back down to the river for one last look around. The river path is very muddy right now, so I was avoiding it today and sneaking peeks from where I could access the river directly from inland. It’s still frozen all the way across there, so there wasn’t much to see, and I still had some time on the clock, so I did what I usually do when there’s not much to see, I’m bored, and it’s still too early to go home. I started picking up trash.

I had almost filled the bag I had picked up by the pond, and as I bent over for one more wrapper, I could hear a call from above, which sounded like turkeys, as much as anything. Listen to the track labeled “Flock calls (Western)”. I could not find the equivalent on YouTube. I glanced up just in time to spot through a gap in the trees a few large birds flying north, probably following the lakefront, and I got my camera on them just in time for only one shot. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s darn good enough to positively ID my first greater white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons) in North America, let along Estabrook Park. Yee Haw!

Long-time readers may recall that I saw plenty of them in South Holland a few years ago, and the fine folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology explain that this species “occurs across the [whole] Northern Hemisphere.” Their range map indicates that these birds are probably on their way to the northern half of continental Nunavut to make more geese on the arctic tundra. “Safe travels, you beauties!”

Lastly, I see we’re due for a cool-off, the skies should stay mostly clear, and the wind should wind down, so the river path might even firm up by tomorrow morning. Keep your fingers crossed!