Wow! What a gorgeous morning in Estabrook it turned out to be. To be honest, I didn’t have high expectations when I stepped outside because the clouds were back, and it was pretty dark out. The temperature was just around freezing, however, so mild for this time of year, the wind was calm, the trail was firm, and then the sun came out. Pow! It was like being in a postcard.

Best of all, I wasn’t the only one enjoying a break from the deep freeze. I hadn’t even started hiking down the bluff to the river when I just happened to notice that one branch of a bare tree seemed to have a lot of leaves. So, I took a look with my binoculars.

Ha! Those aren’t leaves! Those are a couple dozen cedar waxwings! Holy Moly, what a sight! Some were preening, some were chirping softly, but mostly they were just hanging out. I’ve seen a few do this before, but nowhere close to this many. Incredible.

When I finally got to the river, I saw our common mergansers, who are usually there, but didn’t see a way to get a good picture. Instead, farther north, around where the river bends west, there was a large group of mallards with our goldeneye couple hiding amongst them.

Above the mild rapids, at the southern edge of where the river is frozen over, I searched for our kestrel and found her on the other side, perched on one of the tower guywires.

Above the falls, another red squirrel was out, but less interested in me than the one yesterday.

At the far north end, I arrived just in time to watch another pair of love birds, red-tailed hawks this time, glide north to perch across the river on the copper-clad cupola atop the former Eline’s Chocolate company building, constructed in 1920 and supposedly “inspired by Bromley College, the Apethorpe Orangery, and the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary.“

On my way back south, I happened to catch this grey squirrel crossing the river, without getting wet this time.

Back at the falls, a bunch of mallards were posing so nice, I just had to take their pictures.

Back below the falls, I was finally able to capture a scene that has eluded me several times before: a downy woodpecker, male this time, foraging amongst the leaves on the ground. I guess they’ll go wherever the bugs take them.

A bit south of the abandoned bridge abutment, yet another sparrow caught my attention, a white-throated, this time. We’ve seen these before, but not in a while.

When I got back to the grassy patch, where I had spotted the kestrel across the river on my way north, I was thrilled to find that she had come over to the east side. Plus, now the sun was out, and the sky was blue, blue, blue.

Just south of there, at the base of stairway 9, a male northern cardinal was practicing his song that we’ll be hearing all spring.

Back along the open water, I found one of the common merganser hens swimming with a hooded merganser hen, probably the one that caught the huge fish yesterday.

Meanwhile our gadwall drake was taking a well-deserved nap on the ice.

Finally, atop the bluff at the south end, I didn’t see our acrobatic red squirrel again, but this gray squirrel seemed to suggest that “I’ll give you as long as it takes me to finish this nut.”

The warmup came as forecast, and the critters in Estabrook came out to enjoy the reprieve.

Our belted kingfisher, who I’ve heard all along but couldn’t spot recently, was fishing over some newly open water across from the boardwalk below the beer garden.

Just north of the southern-most stairway, down the bluff from the playground by the middle parking lot, there is a flat patch of ground about the length and width of a football field and only a couple of feet above the river. Last year it was often flooded, and I referred to it as the “mud flats”. This year, the river was lower, on average, this spot flooded much less often, and the grass grew well and tall. At the southeast corner of this patch, water seeps out of the side of the bluff, and this “running” water attracted little birds like a magnet this morning.

The first one I saw was our little winter wren, farther north than I’ve ever seen it.

Then a black-capped chickadee.

And then another new one for us, an American tree sparrow (Spizelloides arborea), if you can believe it, solidly in its winter range.

Here’s a dark-eyed junco foraging on ice formed at the base of the seep.

And here’s a dark-eyed junco, perhaps the same one, all wet from just taking a bath in a tiny pool of liquid water! Can you even imagine how much it must have felt like it needed a bath to splash around when the water and the air are both about 33°F?

Plus, it wasn’t the only one! There was nearly a line, and here are a couple of goldfinches who hopped in next.

I thought for sure I’d see mammals today, and here’s a gray squirrel finally willing to prove me right.

Finally, at the far south end, just before I headed east, I spotted this fun ice formation over the river.

I thought that was going to be my last picture, but I still had a few minutes, so I checked out the ravine that runs under a little pedestrian bridge at the crest of the bluff, and look who I found. A little red squirrel who has never seen a creature as mysterious as me, I guess, and who appeared to be nearly beside itself with curiosity.

Despite a scarier forecast, the weather in Estabrook was just like yesterday morning, cold as heck but not too breezy and with plenty of sunshine, so not too bad. All the mammals were absent again, and many of the little birds were absent, too. Perhaps they are also fed up with the cold and taking the morning off, but luckily for us, there are plenty of other birds in the park to see!

I heard the kingfisher and saw two pairs of common mergansers right away at the south end, but thought I’d have better light later. A bit farther north, I watched a mature bald eagle circle down to land on the ice, but before I could line up a shot, a herring gull glided by and told it to “keep movin’, Buddy.” Darn. You’d think an apex predator like that could get a little more respect, right?

Finally, about where the river bends west, I spotted a lone goldeneye hen, and it turns out, as with the kestrel, she was willing to pose for a bit if I was willing to lie down for a bit. I guess it’s better late than never to learn that trick, eh?

At the top of the mild rapids, before the river is frozen from shore to shore all the way up to the falls, there was a large group of mallards, and our intrepid gadwall drake was still toughing it out amongst them.

Meanwhile, this trio of mallard drakes was settling down for a morning nap on the edge of the ice.

I didn’t see the kestrel today, and I didn’t see much else either, all the way to the north end and back to the falls, where this cardinal finally greeted me. There was a female nearby, as well, but as soon as I turned in her direction, they both took off. Shoot!

On the open water above the falls, there was another bunch of mallards and this lone common merganser hen in bright sunshine this time.

As I was trying to get the best shot of her that I could, I noticed this amazing row of robins lining up at the edge of the ice for sips of water.

On my way back past the frozen part, before I could reach the open water again, I spotted this little cutie, the smallest bird of the morning and a completely new species for us! Say hello to a fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca), red morph, at the very northern edge of its year-round range. I did not see that coming. Did you?

Here’s a slightly different view, which is not quite as crisp, but which better shows off the red and gray pattern on the side of its face that clinches the identification for me.

When I finally got back to the open water, there were a couple of odd ducks among the mallards, and they quickly headed down river once they saw me.

One turned out to be this hooded merganser hen, whom we’ve probably already seen a few times this winter.

This time, however, as I was looking for the other odd ducks, she caught herself a relatively huge fish. That’ll warm your belly, won’t it?

I did finally catch up to the other ducks, and they turned out to be a pair of common goldeneyes. I’d like to think she’s the same hen we saw earlier, and she finally found herself a drake.

By the time I reached the south end again, the common mergansers were still there, but I already had a nice hen picture, and the kingfisher was long gone. Maybe I’ll have a better chance tomorrow when it is supposed to be a balmy 30°F. We’ll see soon enough.

It was a bit chilly this morning, and the only mammal I saw on my entire walk through Estabrook, to the north end and back, was this hapless little rodent that our new huntress had caught for her breakfast. I’m sure glad to see that she seems to be making herself at home. “Help yourself to whatever you find in the fridge, Sweetie, but the toaster oven has been on the fritz lately.”

Other than that, I didn’t even see a single gray squirrel venturing out into this cold, but there were plenty of birds up and about, and here’s a black-capped chickadee, …

a northern cardinal, …

a downy woodpecker, …

a house finch, …

and a goldfinch.

Meanwhile, on the water, there were just two groups of mallards, one at the top of the rapids, and one right above the falls. The gadwall drake was still with the first group, and I heard the kingfisher at the south end, but I couldn’t spot her this morning. Instead, there were about a half dozen pairs of common mergansers around, and here’s a hen fishing in the open water above the falls,…

and here’s a male showing off his iridescent green head feathers at the bottom of the mild rapids at the south end. I don’t see that from them nearly as much as I do from the mallards.

This cold snap is due to last another day, so perhaps all the ice forming upstream will send more eagles our way in search of open water. Keep your fingers crossed.

PS. Welcome aboard, Jordan!

The weather this morning was a real mixed bag. Not too cold, but a wind chill near zero. Blue skies and sun, but dropping temps and a gale warning. I did not expect to see much.

This little cutie, however, had other plans.

Yes, indeedy, our American kestrel was back and farther south into the park than last time. She and I have learned to get along better this time, and when I was willing to crawl on my belly in the snow, she was willing to let me take this much nicer portrait.

By then the wind was already picking up, and I hardly saw another bird all the way to the north end and back. When I returned to the top of the mild rapids, where the open water resumes, a large group of mallards had accumulated, and I found our gadwall drake among them again. His front defroster still looks problematic, but it clearly works well enough for him to stick around and continue to look healthy.

A bit farther south, there was a common merganser drake fishing all by his lonesome. I had seen two pair at the south end when I started, but there wasn’t much light yet, and I thought I’d have a better opportunity later. I thought wrong this time, however.

Instead, near the south end, just about where the rapids peter out, I spotted this amazing phenomenon. The ice has slowly built up in layers to create a dike at least a foot tall to hold back the running water.

Finally, since I took so few pictures today, I can at last show you the amazing shots long-time reader, Lisa, who also pointed out the pair of great horned owls a while back, has sent in. On December 20, before all the ice and snow came, she spotted a swan, I kid you not, on the Milwaukee River near the southern island at the north end of Estabrook Park, and here’s the evidence.

It’s bill certainly doesn’t look yellow, but it’s not quite black either, nor are the feathers particularly white, which suggests it is either a juvenile trumpeter swan or juvenile tundra (aka whistling) swan. Lisa only had her phone with her, so we don’t have enough resolution to see if it has pink at the base of its bill, which would confirm it to be a tundra juvenile.

A look at their range maps, however, suggests that it is either a migrating tundra swan or a vagrant trumpeter swan. In any case, it is one fantastic find. Thank you, Lisa!

I can hear the wind whipping outside as I type this, and the weather channel leads off its hourly forecast with “Gale Warning”, so maybe it’s just as well that I don’t have time to visit Estabrook today. Luckily, there’s been so much to see lately that I often haven’t been able to fit all the pictures in, so let me show you some that didn’t fit, instead.

Here’s a fun shot of a bunch of mallards and geese above the falls keeping their eyes on the sky from all the way back on Wednesday, December 22, soon after the eagles started showing up.

Here’s a male, hairy woodpecker from the same day.

Here’s another one of the three bluebirds at the north end from Monday, January 3.

Here’s another picture of the Bufflehead drake from Tuesday, January 4.

Here’s another picture of the white-breasted nuthatch at the north end from yesterday, Friday, January 7.

Finally, here are a couple shots of another black-capped chickadee at the south end from Friday, January 7, and this one is nibbling on a snack it has hauled up to that branch and is now grasping between its toes

And here it is taking a quick break to make sure I’m not getting any closer.

Lastly, I expect that I’ll be able to resume our regularly schedule program tomorrow, so see you all then.

It was another blue-sky morning in Estabrook with temps above 0°F. What more could I ask for? The thin layer of snow on the path along the river had a wonderfully crisp crunch underfoot this morning, so I wasn’t gonna be sneaking up on anybody today.

I saw the common mergansers again first thing, but it was still a bit dark out, and I thought I’d get better pictures later on my way back south. The hooded merganser hen was a little farther north and swimming with a pair of mallards this morning, which I didn’t expect to see again, so I took her picture while I could.

At the top of the southern rapids, I was surprised to hear the belted kingfisher, and I spotted her on the far shore after a quick search. She is one tough little bird, eh?

From there, the river is frozen over all the way to the falls, so not much to see there these days. Above the falls, I only saw mallards and one goose, so I continued to the far north end, where I found this one common goldeneye drake foraging all by himself. The relatively warm water was generating a thin layer of fog in the cold air, so these long shots were a bit problematic, but I think you can get the general idea. The good news is that there’s a goldeneye hen around somewhere.

After a few days of these temperatures, the ice along the east bank is pretty thick up there, plus the water is very shallow, just in case, so I came back south on the ice to keep the sun at my back as I searched for birds in the trees and brush on the riverbank.

I didn’t see any woodpeckers today, and perhaps they’ve all retired up river, where I hear the red-headed and pileated woodpeckers hang out. Instead, here’s a little nuthatch who just found itself a tasty-looking morsel.

Here’s a mourning dove hugging the ground to keep those toes out of the breeze as much as it can.

As I approached the falls again, I could hear a gull or two calling up ahead, and I soon glimpsed the source of their excitement: a bald eagle circling over the mallards in the open water above the falls. Before I could get close enough for a picture, however, it appeared for all the world that another raptor was suggesting to the eagle that “these aren’t the ducks you’re looking for.” By the time I finally arrived on the scene, all that remained was `this red-tailed hawk high up in a tree on the far shore. It’s not always the size of the bird in the fight that matters, but the size of the fight in the bird, I guess.

Farther south, at the top of the mild rapids, where the open water resumes, I spotted our gadwall drake with a slew of mallards again. “Hang in there, Buddy. Only about two more months of this to go.”

At the south end, I did have better light for capturing the common mergansers, and here’s a couple of drakes, a hen, and the hooded hen tagging along with them now. I find it fascinating to see which birds are “of a feather“, and which are not.

Finally, as I headed up the bluff and back home, look who I spotted leaving no nook or cranny unexplored: an energetic little black-capped chickadee.

Now that’s how you do it.

Sure, it was cold this morning, but there was much less cloud cover and wind than forecast, so my visit to Estabrook was far more pleasant than I anticipated. The birds seemed to enjoy it, too, because they were out in droves.

I had just walked past the common mergansers at the south end, whom we first saw yesterday, when I spotted another familiar face for the first time this winter, a common goldeneye hen, and she was in about the same place on the river as the one who hung out there for weeks last year. Perhaps she’s the same bird, and she found that spot works well for her.

As I was trying to get a better picture of her, and maybe also one of the common merganser drake she was hanging out with and you can see right behind her, there was suddenly a commotion up above.

A few crows were expressing their displeasure with the perches of one mature and one young bald eagle, both of whom soon headed back north. Happily, the mature one circled a couple of times before gliding out of sight.

Below the falls, I didn’t see the beaver today, but I did see the gadwall drake, and I’ll show you a better picture below, which I got on my way back south when the sun was a little higher in the sky. Above the falls, there were a couple of geese and a bunch of mallards, but no buffleheads today.

At the north end, the sun was finally warming things up, and a lot of little birds were either sunning themselves or already busy rustling up their breakfasts.

Here’s a black-capped chickadee pausing from its foraging for just a moment in the soft morning glow.

Here’s a mourning dove still soaking up the sun.

Here’s a male hairy woodpecker who thinks he’s found something…

And here’s the female, red-bellied woodpecker who swooped in to chase him off and grab the grub before I could even take a second shot. I have not seen that sort of pecking order between woodpeckers before.

Here’s another shot of the female after she opened her eyes to get a look at what she had just confiscated.

Finally, here’s a female downy woodpecker who steered clear of that whole power struggle.

On my way back south, I did get a better picture of the gadwall drake, as promised, and it looks as though his front defroster still doesn’t work as well as the ones all the mallards appear to have. Who among us hasn’t struggled through at least one winter with a bad front defroster, eh?

Lastly, just about at the south end again, I happened to capture this fascinating little scene of a diminutive female hooded merganser who surfaced right between a common merganser drake and hen. There appears to be honor, camaraderie, or at least tolerance among diving birds.

Just about all the winter birds have now arrived. The only hold out I can think of is the red-breasted merganser, but now that winter really seems to be here, I bet we’ll get to see one soon enough.

The weather was what one might call suboptimal for taking pictures this morning, with temps around 20°F, winds around 20 mph, heavy gray skies, and light snow, but these pictures aren’t going to take themselves, so off to the park I went to see if anyone was up and about. Holy Smokes! I’m sure glad I did.

Right off the bat, I got to say hello to our newest arrivals, a quartet of male common mergansers, and here’s three of them hovering around a lone hen.

Some of the males would jostle for position, periodically.

And one just opted out of that whole scene, preferring to snooze on the ice instead.

Farther north, but well below the falls, I spotted one of our beaver on the far shore still up having its version of a midnight snack before heading off to bed.

Then it came across to the east side and slowly made its way home.

As soon as I turned around after that last beaver shot, and before I could even take another step north, look who I found foraging at the water’s edge: our favorite little winter wren.

After that, I was finally able to continue north, and I didn’t see a thing until I got above the falls, where a slew of mallards were hunkering down for the storm.

And that’s it. At the far north end, I only saw one gull and one Canada goose, but by then it was snowing hard enough that I had no hope of taking a picture, so I turned around and hustled on home. I didn’t see our gadwall drake nor the pair of buffleheads today. Maybe tomorrow, eh?

This morning was a bit warmer, at 21°F, a bit cloudier, and a bit breezier than yesterday, so not quite as magical, but also not bad by any means.

I was glad to see that our gadwall drake was still here on the lower river and suffering from much less of an icing problem this morning.

Meanwhile, the sturdy mallards were going about their business as usual.

Above the falls, I was happy to see the pair of buffleheads, although they don’t quite seem to be sticking as close together, recently, as the pair did last winter. Maybe they just didn’t hit it off or one of them is holding, out for now, to see who else might fly in. With any luck, we’ll see soon enough.

I think I saw our kestrel rocket north over the water, and I had a hope of finding it again at the north end, but had no luck today. Maybe tomorrow. Instead, I did see the bald eagle yesterday morning in just about the same spot heading north at a more leisurely pace.

At the far north end, I didn’t see the mergansers or bluebirds this time, but there was a young ring-billed gull out on the ice, and it looks like this is its first winter. Welcome to Estabrook, Buddy. Try the fish.

On my way back south, just as I approached the falls again, a bunch of robins flew across the river to forage among the brush and leaves on the side of the bluff, and here’s one just taking in the view for a moment.

Further south, there was a nice male cardinal who didn’t want his picture taken today, so here’s a female from yesterday who was more than happy to oblige or was just too darn cold to move.

While I’m mining the leftover pictures from yesterday, here are a pair of mourning doves on the ice appearing to be getting a sip of water.

Finally, the beautiful morning sunlight yesterday even made this goldfinch’s drab winter coat look a bit more golden.