Our February thaw was quite short lived, and temps were back in the teens again this morning with overcast skies and a nice stiff breeze out of the north, but we didn’t get any of the snow that this system is dumping to the south of us. Oh well.

Just as the warmth seems to have drawn in dozens of mallards yesterday, the cold seems to have sent nearly all of them away, and I only counted five today. Plus, they took the buffleheads and the mergansers with them and left us with only a few goldeneyes. Here’s a sole drake right above the falls.

I spotted the kingfisher flying by, and there were plenty of little birds about and sticking close to the ground. Here’s a white-breasted nuthatch, …

A red-bellied woodpecker, …

A black-capped chickadee, …

And a downy woodpecker.

At the far north end, I was pleasantly surprised to find our pair of red-tailed hawks on the east side for a change to grant me an rare audience. Perhaps the coyotes put in a good word for me. “He’s clumsy and noisy but slow and harmless.”

I only spotted one at first, and it patiently waited as I inch-wormed my way across the frozen ground to get this shot.

By then, however, a murder of crows arrived and flushed the second hawk out, which then glided across to the island as the crows followed.

Meanwhile, the first hawk seem to ignore the fracas and let its mate deal with them.

Eventually, the crows gave up their campaign, and the second hawk came back to the east side.

After all that, I left the love birds alone and continued north a bit to check on where I had spotted the second large flock of mallards yesterday. Today, however, that entire patch of open water was frozen back over and there wasn’t a fowl to be seen.

Tune in tomorrow to find out if the hawks stick around, any of our fowl return, or any new-comers show up.

Wow! What a change in the weather. It was 45°F and sunny by the time I got to the park late this morning, and most the regulars were on the river, but the big difference was the number of mallards. I counted close to 100 birds!

The nice pictures, however, are of the bufflehead drake drying his wings, …

A goldeneye hen, …

And a goldeneye drake.

I also saw the common merganser hen, but not the hooded merganser hen, the kingfisher, nor the kestrel. At the far north end, I watched the pair of red-tailed hawks head out together and soar south over the west side.

Since the trail was so muddy, I opted to swing by the pond for a change and see how might be around. There were chickadees, juncos, house finches, and northern cardinals, but this female was just about the only one willing to sit still for a second.

Finally, I spotted a bird I’ve seen plenty of times before, but not in the park until today, a house sparrow (Passer domesticus). Here’s a male with is signature “black bib”.

And here’s a female in more-subdued colors.

Lastly, if you’ve been thinking, “Sure, it’s warm now, but it’s been so cold for so long that the ice got nice and thick, and it must still be plenty thick enough to walk on today,” you’d be mostly right. Most of the ice was still plenty thick enough to walk on today. It was just that one spot, where it must have been thin from only finally freezing over just recently, that was the problem. Be careful out there.

The forecast suggested there might be some sun, seasonably cold temps, and no wind this morning. Well, the sun never made it, but as the dearly departed Meat Loaf used to say, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad“.

The nice still air made for great listening, and the birds are really starting to get into the swing of spring. The cardinals, chickadees, and robins were all starting to sing their old favorites.

The river, however, was surprisingly empty, with only a few mallards, the common merganser hen, and one goldeneye drake, but no buffleheads, hooded mergansers, or gadwalls. It will be interesting to see if the coming warm-up brings them back or chases more away.

In any case, the top story this morning was the return of our kestrel, and here she is perched again on one of the guywire flying saucers right over the river.

I didn’t manage to take any other pictures today, which means I can show you more of the pictures from yesterday. Yay! Here’s another herring gull, at the far north end, who found a morsel on the ice in the middle of the river.

There were a few goldeneye hens on the river yesterday, and here’s one with a drake resting in a little sliver of open water at the far north end.

From the island with all the little birds, here’s a goldfinch gleaning the littlest seeds.

And here’s a dark-eyed junco who somehow failed to evade my camera for a change.

Finally, here’s a female red-bellied woodpecker excavating a hole in a tree trunk.

I read on the Pedia of Wik that “The male red-bellied woodpecker takes the initiative in locating a nest hole. He will then seek approval from his female mate by mutual tapping. The female red-bellied woodpecker accepts the nesting hole by completing the excavation and entering the nest hole.” Here’s hoping that’s what we’re seeing here, although he sure did leave her a lot of excavating to complete. Sheesh! Perhaps he has other assets she found sufficiently attractive.

I took my sweet time getting to the park this morning, but the critters didn’t seem to mind and were still quite plentiful when I finally rolled in, and as soon as I got to the river at the south end, I caught a glimpse of this young-looking Cooper’s hawk as it appeared to make a try for a mourning dove.

I saw a few ducks on my way north; some mallards, a few goldeneyes, a couple of merganser hens, and a pair of buffleheads; but it was still pretty dark, and I figured I’d get to see them later, so I kept moving. At the grassy area, I found this pair of red-bellied woodpeckers going about their morning but not necessarily together.

There was no sign of our kestrel, and I was way too late for the coyotes, but I did see the largest assembly of mourning doves I’ve ever seen, over 30 birds all together. Perhaps they were discussing the recent problem with Cooper’s hawks.

At the falls, there were just a couple of mallards and this one herring gull.

Above the falls, I finally succumbed to the temptation and hiked across the ice to the southern island, which was abuzz with little birds. Here’s a downy woodpecker.

And here’s an American tree sparrow again.

From the island, I hiked back across the ice and continued north along the eastern shore. Suddenly I heard a whooshing noise, and I don’t know about you, but sudden sounds really make me jump when I’m walking on river ice. Happily, the sound was not the whooshing of water up onto the ice, but instead the whooshing of two birds heading north, one chasing the other, right over my left shoulder. I figured the second one to be a raptor of some kind, so I followed after in hopes of spotting it where it finally perched. I made it almost to the Port Washington Road bridge and was on my way back before I spotted it in a tree atop the bluff.

Holy Moly! That’s a peregrine falcon! We’ve only seen one in the park before and it was on the big tower at the very south end back in July. What a pleasant surprise, at least for us. The doves and pigeons are probably less than thrilled.

On my way back south, this chickadee was checking out the blossoms ready to bloom on a maple tree.

Back beside the southern island, I ran into Lisa, who found the owls for us, and we continued south. In short order we found this red squirrel just chillin’.

South of the falls, I spotted a rabbit at last who didn’t immediately flee out of sight.

Finally, we were trying to spot the winter wren near the seep at the base of stairway 9 that Brian reported seeing yesterday, when Lisa spotted a hawk perched quite a ways back up river. We couldn’t quite make out what kind it was, so we headed back north, of course, for a closer look.

It turned out to be a young-looking Cooper’s hawk again, with the characteristic tail but a brown back, perhaps the same one I saw earlier at the south end, and it seemed to be fascinated by all the mourning doves hanging around over the grassy field.

It hopped around a few times, even landing for a moment on the Friends of Estabrook Park bench along the trail.

But it eventually gave a couple more looks around and then headed east with empty talons.

What a pretty bird and great spotting again, Lisa! By then, however, it was almost lunchtime, so we called it a day, and I hustled home.

Sure, it was cold and grey this morning, but the air was so still I thought I might get a lot of pictures anyway. The critters had different plans, however, and I saw very few of them today.

One fun picture I did finally manage to capture is this one of the two merganser hens up on the ice at the same time. Now you can really see the difference between a hooded merganser, on the left, and a much-larger common merganser, on the right.

Also, the bufflehead pair were back on the open water again. Always a treat to see.

Finally, a goldeneye hen almost repeated the photo shoot the drake offered up yesterday.

But just while she caught her breath. Then she went right back to foraging on the bottom.

I did not see a coyote today, I am sorry to report, but the audience they so generously granted me yesterday yielded so many pictures that I still have some to show you today.

What magnificent creatures, eh? I am so glad to finally see them in Estabrook.

I read that coyotes can act as keystone predators and so “play an important role in regulating the herbivorous mammals and hence may provide similar ecological benefits in urban/suburban forest fragments through trophic cascades.”

Based on reports that I’ve heard, I’m sure they’ve been here all along, but I somehow managed to miss them until recently. I have no idea what has changed all of a sudden, but I’ll take it!

When I headed out to the park this morning, it was 10°F and the forecast was for mostly- to partly-cloudy, so I didn’t really have great expectations, but Holy Mackerel, what an amazing visit it turned out the be.

The far south end is pretty frozen up these days, so not a lot to see there, but as soon as I got far enough north for some open water, I spotted a pair of buffleheads, whom we haven’t seen in a couple of weeks. Plus, I’ve never seen them this far south on the river.

At the north edge of the open water, I spotted our kingfisher across the river waiting for the sun to come up.

Back on the east side, there was a trio of blue jays, uncharacteristically quiet, and foraging amongst the branches. Here’s the one that I caught out in the open for a second.

At the southern edge of the grassy field, where we’ve seen the kestrel several times before, I started looking for her, but didn’t see her today. Instead, look who I spotted marking his territory across the river again. Yup, our wily coyote was back.

Best of all, it appears that he’s getting used to me and granted me the following rare audience.

Then, as if that wasn’t already astounding enough, things got even better!

“Who’s that, Dear?” “Oh, just some dude I met, Darling. He seems harmless enough.” “Well, so long has he’s respectful and keeps his distance, I suppose it’s okay, but you make the weirdest friends.” “It’s my natural animal magnetism. I can’t help it.” “Sure. You just keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, where’s my breakfast?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll get back to work. Now where did I see that rabbit?”

I simply cannot believe my luck.

Anyway, I eventually moved on and soon bumped into another nature lover, Brian, who was checking out Estabrook for himself. We hiked all the way to the north end and back and saw a lot of little birds along the way, but I didn’t manage a picture today. When we returned to the open water, Brian headed back north, where he proceeded to spot a winter wren and a young bald eagle. Good spotting, Brian!

I continued south, and the sun was finally up by then, which really brings out the color in this common merganser hen.

Here’s a goldeneye drake also looking sharp in the bright sunshine.

Finally, as I was walking back up the bluff at the south end, this red squirrel had something to say, but I couldn’t quite make it out.

Lastly, here’s a gray squirrel munching on maple tree seeds over the Oak Leaf Trail.

I wonder if red-tail hawks can taste the difference between squirrels that feed on acorns, walnuts, or maple tree seeds. “Ooh, Karl! You’ve gotta try this one. Tastes like Canada!”

I had every intention of going to Estabrook today, but sometimes life just gets in the way, and I don’t mean to rest on my laurels, I swear! Luckily, for us, however, nature came to find me instead.

I had just started on my trek to the grocery store this afternoon, when I noticed a couple across the street pointing at something over my head. It turns out that long-time reader Austin was pointing out to his neighbor a red-tailed hawk in the oak tree right above me. Ever the gentleman, Austin credited his wife with the original spot. Either way, I immediately ran back home to get my camera, and this is what I have to show for it.

It’s clearly a good-sized hawk with some gray mammal. At the time, the hind foot made me think rabbit.

From this side, we can finally see the name-sake red tail on the hawk and the long tail on the squirrel, not rabbit.

Here’s just a nice profile view of the hawk.

As I was standing in the middle of the street trying to get the best picture I could, a Shorewood Police vehicle pulled up, and the officer asked me what I’d found. I pointed out the hawk, the officer said, “I won’t scare it away on you”, rolled up his window, and rolled away, at which point the hawk promptly took its catch to another tree up the block. Fickle bird.

Anyway, it worked in our favor because up the block, I was able to catch it with its gorgeous wings extended.

Here’s one more shot of some plumage you might not otherwise get to see.

Finally, here’s a better look at one of its awesome claws.

Of the umpteen varieties of red-tailed hawk cataloged by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, I’m leaning toward “adult (borealis)“. How about you?

Sure, it was -5°F out this morning, -20°C for our European audience, but the sun was up, the sky was blue, the snow was white, and the forecast wind hadn’t come up yet, so it was quite a nice time to visit Estabrook. Plus, this just happens to be post number 500, so there’s that.

Anyway, down on the river, the open water continues to shrink, but the birds continue to forage in it. The first one I saw was a common merganser drake partially obscured by the thick steam fog coming off the water.

A bit beyond him, I started seeing goldeneyes. I counted at least two drakes and four hens, and here are a pair together. He might be having a front defroster issue, as the gadwall drake did a while ago, but I can’t say for sure.

At the north edge of the open water, the sun started to reach down to the surface, and lit up this frosty common merganser hen for us.

As I was busy counting the mallards, looking for the gadwall, noticing the hooded merganser hen, and seeing who else was there, look who was methodically going about his rounds and marking his territory on the far shore.

Sadly, I can’t say for sure whether this is the same coyote we saw back in December, but I loved seeing him nevertheless.

He didn’t stay long, and my fingers were too numb to take any more pictures, so I put my heavy mittens back on and continued north. I didn’t see a bird at the falls, which might be a first, and kept right on going to the north end. There I was thrilled to find yet another marvel, this Cooper’s hawk looking out over the frozen river and soaking up some sunlight.

Here it is again showing off those long tail feathers that supposedly “help them maneuver through trees in pursuit of songbirds.“

It was certainly as big as a crow and not as small as a blue jay, so definitely not a sharp-shinned hawk.

On my way back south, I finally found one of the many busy chickadees willing to pose just for a moment for this portrait.

Now the other side.

Back at the open water, the common merganser hen, was taking a break from fishing and appeared ready to take a nap.

Lastly, back at the south end again, I heard the kingfisher but couldn’t spot her. Instead, here’s a female hairy woodpecker fishing something out of a branch with her tongue. Yum!

I see we’re in for a warmup tomorrow, back into the 20s, and I bet almost no one will mind.

It was a picture-perfect morning in Estabrook, but I had to go to school today, and thank goodness I did. Look who I saw along the way in Cambridge Woods.

That little cutie, ladies and gentlemen, is an eastern screech-owl (Megascops asio), and here’s a close-up.

As I rode by bike to campus this morning, a guy, who’s name I didn’t catch, was taking a bunch of pictures of it, and I did my best to do the same with my phone. On my way home, I couldn’t believe my luck to find it was still there, so I hustled home to get my real camera. Miracle of miracles, it was still there on my 3rd visit.

I was surprised by how small it was. The fine folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describe it as “an owl no bigger than a pint glass”. Now that I know what to look for, you can bet I’ll be scouring our trees in Estabrook with renewed vigor.

Meanwhile, back in the park, here are a few images that I couldn’t fit in yesterday’s report. A herring gull decided it was bath day, no matter the weather.

It splashed under the water a few times.

Then hopped up onto the ice.

Shook itself off just as a dog would.

And that’s it. All done. Clean as a whistle.

Tomorrow morning, I expect to resume our regularly schedule program.

It was still snowing when we had breakfast, so I waited a bit for it to peter out before venturing into Estabrook, and it was worth the wait. I didn’t see anyone at the south end, at first, and I was already composing the story in my head, when I found that my alarm was premature.

The first creature I saw was our hooded merganser hen, who was busy fishing away in the little ribbon of open water that remains.

Soon after that, a male red-bellied woodpecker checked to make sure I kept it moving up the trail.

Then a male northern cardinal parked itself right over the trail and gave me the same look. Okay, okay! I’m going.

Back on the water, the crowd of goldeneyes is growing, and I counted 4 drakes and 5 hens this morning. Here’s the largest group I could squeeze into one shot.

Near the north end of the open water, I finally found a big group of mallards and one common merganser hen all resting on the ice together.

Finally, just before the river ices over until the falls, our gadwall drake is starting to show his shiny white speculum feathers. I first caught a glimpse of them yesterday, but he hid them again before I could get a picture. I would love to know if they have been there all along, and he just hides them, or if those are new feathers that have just come in for breeding season.

I was thrilled to spot our kestrel again just a bit further north and across the river from where we’ve seen her with a couple of small rodents.

As I walked past, keeping to our side of the river, she opted for a different perch, and I’ve been taking pictures of those huge, flying-saucer-looking things, which are part of the guywire system for a tower across the river, but never found one worthy of showing, until now.

At the falls, I found about a half dozen mallards and one poor goose who appears to be out of the flying business.

At the north end, I was rewarded for making the trek, even though there’s hardly any more open water, by our kestrel again, who let me get a much better picture this time.

On my way back south, I glimpsed and eagle soaring very high, but it drifted south before I could get a picture, and here’s one critter who was probably relieved to see it go.

Finally, back beside the open water, this female hairy woodpecker made sure everyone, including me, knew she was there.

Lastly, I heard and caught a glimpsed of a kingfisher at the south end again, but it was on a mission today that did not include photographs. Maybe next time.