It was an extraordinary morning in Estabrook Park, and not just for the spectacular weather, but also for the amazing variety of critters out and about. Perhaps last week reminded them that winter is on its way, and they are taking advantage of one more nice warm day to get ready.

First up is this hungry muskrat busy grabbing some plant from onshore and carrying it to the water to chew on it. I watched it make at least three trips, and it reminded me of a similar scene further upstream last spring.

I barely got on the move again, when a walnut rolling down the hill caught my attention, and it was soon followed by this adorable little red squirrel, who perhaps dropped it and now appears to be wondering if I’m gonna eat that. Nope, it’s all yours, little buddy.

I had barely gotten past the abandoned bridge abutment when my trifecta came in with this beaver swimming down the middle of the river.

How’s that for a way to start my day, eh? But wait, there’s more! Now for some birds.

Here’s a male downy woodpecker who swooped onto a thin tree hardly 6 feet from me, looked me up and down, and went right back to foraging.

There are still plenty of autumn colors to be found, and this quartet of mallards steamed through a pretty reflection of some.

As I finally approached the north end, I spotted this blue heron fishing off the east bank up ahead.

I did also see one kingfisher, one goose, a few killdeer, and a lot more mallards, but nothing I could get a good picture of, so I headed back to the pond to see if my luck would continue there.

This dashing cardinal did her part.

And this grey squirrel snuck down to the water to give us this scene of it taking a sip.

As I was about to head home, long-time reader Tamar and her man happened by, and they reported seeing a big raptor by the Congress Street underpass, so I hustled over there in time to find our osprey fishing yet again.

Here it is keeping tabs on me.

Here it is back to looking for fish in the river below and showing us the pretty off-white feathers on the back of its head that Tamar had noticed.

And here it is just before it swooped down to the river and out of sight. Let’s hope it caught something big enough to keep it around for a while longer.

You gotta love it when you think that must be the last encore, and the band comes out to play a masterpiece like this, right? I can’t wait to see what they’ve got for us tomorrow!

I know it’s late, and I’m sorry about that. A buddy asked for my help installing a kitchen sink today, and that’s a life pleasure I just couldn’t let get away.

I did, however, get to the park early this morning and here are the highlights.

First, the buck from yesterday must have wanted a better picture and brought his doe friend with him to the soccer fields.

Second, it appears that the kingfisher chased by the hawk yesterday has lived to fish another day. Lisa also reports seeing that chase scene, and she said she heard it again only a few minutes afterwards.

Finally, our osprey is still around, and/or another has taken its place, and you can see it here about to tak its fish to a more-secluded place to dine.

I expect to be able to post tomorrow at a more reasonable hour, but with the end of daylight saving time, I don’t yet know what hour that will be.

It was a beautiful morning in Estabrook, warmer than last time, but still cool enough, with the crystal-clear skies overnight, to frost the grass. My outing got off to an exciting start when this buck darted across the parkway and then kindly paused in the brush for me to catch up.

I didn’t see a soul at the pond, so continued straight to the river, where a few mallards were taking advantage of the lack of fishermen at the falls for a change.

In fact, mallards were the only birds I could find on the water today. No geese, mergansers, or other odd ducks. As I searched, however, this hawk, a young Cooper’s hawk I think, looked as though it made a try for one of the mallards. At least they reacted that way, but the hawk had no luck and perched on this branch to consider its next move.

As I made my way back south along the riverbank for a closer look and a better picture, it took off again and ended up chasing a kingfisher down river, but I was not able to see how that turned out.

Instead, I found this little puff-ball of a white-throated sparrow with breakfast still on its beak.

From there, I took one more swing by the pond, and this time the little birds, at least, were up and about. Here’s a female cardinal keeping an eye on me.

Here’s a goldfinch feasting on what look like seeds from a speckled alder (Alnus incana).

Here’s a young-looking robin striking a dramatic pose.

Finally, here’s a cedar waxwing taking a break from picking berries on the island. We’re in their year-round range, so maybe we’ll get to see more of them over the winter.

The forecast for tomorrow morning is just as nice as today and even a bit warmer, so let’s all hope we see some fun sights before I have to start getting up an hour earlier.

We had another cold morning today, but I had to go to school, so here’s more of the story from yesterday morning.

The cold snap helped loosen many of the leaves that had still been clinging to their branches, and they were raining down all over the place. There was a little stream of bright yellow leaves from a maple tree on the southern island steadily flowing down the middle of the river surface. In other spots, they gave the impression of one of those snow flurries we sometimes get with huge flakes falling slowly.

Here’s one of the few mallards enjoying the open water on the pond while it lasts.

The little junco I showed you yesterday wasn’t sure which pose it liked best and tried several. Here’s a nice profile shot.

The river deer did check out the northern island briefly but must have found it wanting because they soon wandered back to the eastern shore. Here they are checking to see if I’m still watching them, and yes, yes I am.

Here’s the hawk just before it glided across the river to a tree on that same island. I must have gotten too close and/or it must have felt warm enough. Let’s hope for the latter, eh?

Here’s another look at one of the killdeer on some freshly fallen leaves instead of fresh ice.

Here’s one of the rusty blackbirds doing that thing where they pick up leaves to see who’s hiding under them. I hope they don’t mind frozen food.

Finally, here’s that blue heron again on the same branch as when I went by on my way north. I must have successfully kept sufficient distance and/or it was still just too damn cold to move. I’m hoping for the former!

The forecast is for above-freezing temps and bright sun tomorrow morning, so I’m looking forward to seeing some pretty sights. Wish me luck!

The air temperature was below freezing in Estabrook this morning, and November is starting to act like it’s gonna stick around for a while. There was plenty of frost on the ground, the puddles were frozen over, the pond had ice around the edge, and there was even some ice along the riverbanks where the water flows slowly. Here’s a maple leaf frozen into some of that river ice.

Here’s a blue heron on the east side of the river warming its bones in the bright morning sun.

A pair of river deer were back checking out the shallow water between the northern island and the eastern shore. Apparently their toes don’t mind freezing water.

Mallards are ubiquitous and the drakes are all in full plumage now. Here’s a drake keeping an eye on me while his hen, or the hen that allows him to swim around with her for now, continues foraging. Gotta love that iridescent green, eh?

The dark-eyed juncos have also made themselves at home, and I keep coming across large groups of them foraging together. Here’s one taking a break to look at the camera.

At the north end, in the tall trees between the meadow and the river, I spotted two big, light-colored shapes. One turned out to be the sun-bleached wood of a barkless stump of a branch, and the other turned out to be the white belly feathers of this red-tailed hawk, perhaps also warming itself in the sun. Notice a theme?

On the river, a bunch of rusty blackbirds were back, and here’s one striding through the shallow water like it’s a deer. We’re right at the northern edge of their winter range, so it’s possible the ones we saw back in October have stuck around, and I just haven’t seen them for a while, or this is a new batch that just arrived from the north side of Lake Superior. They wouldn’t tell me which, however.

Finally, the killdeer are still here, mixing it up on the river with the rusty blackbirds, and here’s one standing on some of that river ice. It appears they only have to fly to the southern half of Illinois to reach their winter range, so maybe they’re just waiting for prices to come down.

I find it comforting to see that somethings still work the way they’re supposed to. The weather gets cold as the year comes to an end, the leaves fall off the trees, and the birds fly south: some from here, some through here, and some to here. I hope you do, too.

I won’t have time to visit Estabrook this morning, and now I can blame it on the crazy late sunrise, at 7:28 am, so here are a couple of mysteries we can finally solve, instead. I’m sure they’ve been gnawing at you just as much as they have at me.

The first mystery is this wren from way back on October 15 that I couldn’t quite pin down any further. As is often the case, Greg O. on Instagram pitched in and pointed out that it looks like a marsh wren, maybe even the one we saw at Kohler-Andrae back in July, taking a break in Estabrook on its way to the Gulf coast. I wonder how far it has gotten by now.

The second mystery is this little cutie from Saturday, who turns out to be yet another red-eyed vireo, whom we have seen many times before, but just more poofed up that I’m used to seeing, I guess.

Finally, one I got right. Phew! The experts have weighed in, and they all agree that this visitor from yesterday really is an American wigeon. Yay! It’s always exciting to spot an odd duck.

Well, that’s the mystery roundup for today, and the current weather forecast is for 30° and sunny with light winds for tomorrow morning, so I’m looking forward to another great outing.

It was literally a frosty morning in Estabrook. Temperatures didn’t get below the mid-thirties overnight, but the crystal clear skies allowed for enough radiant cooling for a nice coating of hoar frost to form on the grass and leaves. That’s our first frost for the season, I believe.

Our resident osprey was in one of its favorite spots again, on a tree overlooking the river where the path is separate from the parkway by just a guardrail.

There were a few mallards on the pond, but I may have overexposed them yesterday, so we’ll give them a pass today and let the river do the heavy lifting instead. Besides dozens of more mallards and a pair of geese, I saw up to six kill deer foraging together, and these three were kind enough to arrange themselves for this portrait.

I am also thrilled to report that we seem to have another new guest, and I believe she is an American widgeon hen (Mareca americana). Her plumage looks right, with a “warm brown body and a dark smudge around the eye“, and we’re in her migratory range. My only hesitation is that her bill doesn’t look light enough above the dark tip, but perhaps that’s just due to the lighting on the river this morning. This picture, from Bird Watch Daily, matches our visitor better.

She stuck close to the mallards, but she was super shy and would take off as I approached the shore while the mallards would barely even bother to look my way.

I soon left her and the rest of the birds on the river alone and headed back south. Just north of the falls, this herring gull was far less shy for the camera.

The river valley provided a nice respite from the brisk breeze out of the west, so I continued south along the eastern bank, and this blue heron, who may have been thinking the same thing, provided one more pleasant surprise.

Lastly, as I exited the park, I saw that the parks department has opened the barricades on the parkway, so it appears the “active streets” program has come to an end, at least for the season, which is a shame. Worse, I heard a rumor that they may not close it again for next summer, so watch this space for a chance to sign my new petition urging them to close it again next spring.

You may have heard that there was a chance that the aurora borealis would be visible in Milwaukee last evening, and the skies were crystal clear, so Anne and I took a stroll through Estabrook to look for them. We didn’t see the northern lights, I am sorry to say, but we did see a deer or two calmly strolling across the soccer fields instead, which was almost as eerie.

It was a happy omen, however, because the skies were pretty clear still this morning, and when I got to the park nice and early, I was greeted by three deer right at the end of the southern parking lot. They looked perhaps like a doe and two young ones. Best of all, I was on my bike for a change, which I believe allowed me to roll up closer than I could have gotten on foot, and they seemed quite unperturbed. The background was the parkway, so not very pretty, but this close-up of Mom keeping her eyes on me came out nice.

I was able to roll away leaving them in peace.

A little further north, where the park gets real narrow and there’s a guardrail between the parkway and the path, I had to stop again. This time for an osprey in a tall tree on our side of the river.

I was able to capture a couple of images through the branches, but by the time I was able to line up a big enough gap for a clear image, it had had enough of me and glided to another perch over the far shore. It was a much longer shot, but the background was much nicer. Either way, that is one fierce looking bird, eh?

When I finally got to the pond, I could only see a half dozen mallards, but long-time reader Lisa soon stopped by, and she pointed out the kingfisher and thought she heard a bluebird. I was unable to line up either in my viewfinder, however, so I told her about the osprey and headed for the river.

Just as I got to the stairway down to the falls, the osprey came gliding north at about treetop level with what looked like a small fish in its talons, and I just enjoyed the sight. Then, as I approached the north end, I could see it on the water in the middle of the river again, but by then it was onto all my tricks, and I couldn’t get close before it retired to a branch on the far shore.

The consolation prize is that as I came to the clearing beside the northern island, Lisa was already there, having wisely skipped the wild goose chase I had suggested, and so I was able to point out the osprey in person.

We didn’t see anyone else there besides a slew of mallards and a few geese, so I headed back south. Since I had parked my bike by the beer garden, it was easy to make one last swing by the pond, where I was surprised to find a quartet of geese. We haven’t seen the likes of them on the pond since May.

At that point, the sun was out, and the water was pretty, so I took a couple of mallard pictures, too. I figured, “what’s the harm, right?”

Nope. No harm at all.

I hope you have a safe Halloween, and I’ll see you in November.

It still looked dark as midnight out at 7am this morning, but the sun did eventually rise and poke through the clouds a bit, so I headed over to Estabrook to see if there was anyone around.

I am happy to report that there sure was! It seemed that all the little birds forced to lay low by the recent wind and rain were making up for lost time this morning.

The first one I saw, along the river, is another mystery bird, whom I suspect was just passing through. It was about the size of a warbler or kinglet and flitting around as they do, but without wing bars or a crown, and with two distinctive black stripes across and over the eye for which I cannot yet find a match. Please let me know if you can.

Here’s another brown creeper giving itself away on some bright green moss.

The goldfinch were thick in the gone-by flowers at the north end, and here’s one in its drab, juvenile plumage.

And here’s an uncharacteristically bold dark-eyed junco beside the beer garden.

On my way north, there were a couple pair of mallards on the pond.

At the river, there were more mallards and some geese between the islands, but I was surprised to find no one north of the islands, and a quick scan revealed the likely cause, a big raptor, probably a red-tailed hawk, in a tree on the far shore. Sadly, it was too far away, and the lighting was no good to capture a presentable image, so you’ll just have to take my word on that one.

I figured I was done for the morning and headed back south only to find a blue heron resting in the sun on the pond. What a pleasant surprise.

The forecast looks nice for tomorrow morning, if about 10° cooler, so here’s hoping I’ll be so lucky again.

I didn’t make it to Estabrook before the rain started this morning, but I do have one more nice image from Wednesday. After capturing all I could of the osprey, I looked around on shore a bit and spotted a few golden-crowned kinglets foraging closer to the ground than usual. They were still just as acrobatic as ever, but I managed to catch this one nearly motionless for just an instant.

For scale, that appears to be little more than a dried-out blade of tall grass it is perched on. It appears that we are just inside the northern edge of their winter range, so maybe we’ll get to see them for a while.

The current forecast for tomorrow morning is dryer and might even include some sun, so keep your fingers crossed.