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.

Sorry that I’ve been away. My time and attention have been needed elsewhere.

It seems that quite a few birds made like trees and leaved since the last time I’ve been in Estabrook. I saw a blue heron glide overhead as I approached the pond, but if it had stopped in, it would have been the only one there. All the wood ducks appear to have moved on, even though we are supposed to be in their “year-round” region.

The river was quieter, too, but not empty, thank goodness. There were no geese, wood ducks, mergansers, or any of the visitors we see once in a while, but the kingfishers are still flitting from tree to tree, the killdeer are still foraging on the sandbars, and mallards are still dabbling just about everywhere.

Happily for us, however, there was one brand new bird in town.

In case you don’t immediately recognize that handsome face, our new hunter is an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) with the nice big fish it just caught and on some rocks exposed by the low water between the two islands at the north end.

I tried to give it enough room to feel comfortable, but it definitely saw me on the shore and soon took off for a branch on the far shore where it could continue working on that fish.

I had heard of Osprey sightings in Estabrook recently, and I might have even glimpsed one myself already, as it flew upstream, but I am really glad I got to see this one for sure with my own eyes before they all headed to the Gulf Coast for the winter.

And that’s all I’ve got for you today. I doubt that I can be back fulltime yet, but I’ll do my best and post when I can.

I had a hope of a little sliver of sun light this morning, so I hit the park nice and early to take advantage of it, if and when it came.

When I got to the pond, I was pleasantly surprised to find a blue heron and a quartet of mallards, but no sun yet.

There are still a few wood ducks around, but far fewer than earlier this week.

As I circled around to the north end of the pond, the sun made an effort to come out, which provided a nice background for the blue heron.

I didn’t see anything else interesting, so I went to check on the river. On my way, this white-throated sparrow posed as if in a painting. All that was missing was a little sunlight.

When I did reach the river, this little wren finally got the royal treatment from Old Man Sol.

The trick, however, is I can’t tell what kind of wren it is. Northern house wrens are greyer and have much less of a light stripe through the eye. The browner house wrens don’t come this far north and don’t have a light eye stripe either. Winter wrens are brown and do have the eye stripe, but also have short tails and barring on the belly, which our mystery wren does not. Carolina wrens are reddish-brown and do have a bright white eye stripe, but also have a long, “decurved” bill. Does anyone out there know their wrens?

Update: Thanks to Greg O., math professor and self-described “bird nerd”, who pointed me towards the marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris), which we’ve seen before, but only at Kohler-Andae State Park.

A short ways north along the river, there’s a little sandy beach that fishermen like to use, so I stopped to see if they had left anything behind for me. While giving the shore a quick scan, I was lucky enough to spot this critter on the far side and a bit upstream.

I couldn’t tell right away who it was, but it soon showed me a bit more profile, which looks a lot like the beaver we’ve seen in that area.

Best of all, it soon clambered up the tiny waterfall where the stream from the so-called “blue hole” drains into the river. Ta Da! That’s our beaver, all right.

There was nothing new to see at the north end, the sun disappeared, and the crew reconstructing the “Westabrook-MATC Trail” on the west side was running some compacting equipment that made quite a racket, so I quickly headed back south.

Happily, there was one more friendly face to greet me before I headed home. This cute little yellow-rumped warbler.

The forecast for tomorrow morning is 45° and nothing but sun! Woo hoo! I’m happy to accept the former to get the latter.

I can see dawn trying to peak through the clouds, and the forecast is for partly cloudy skies for about an hour before the showers begin, but I’ve gotta go to campus, so we’re stuck with some more pictures from yesterday.

Here’s another instance of a yellow-rumped warbler by the pond sitting still for a millisecond.

Before I saw the geese on the river and their little friends, I came upon this interesting sight, an impressive leopard slug (Limax maximus), which I read “literally means ‘biggest slug’.” It must have been 6 inches long, and you may be thrilled to learn that they are edible. Bon appétit!

At the north end, as I was trying to photograph the blue heron resting on one leg at the top of a tree on the northern island…

it suddenly put both feet down and stood up very tall…

and here’s why: a young bald eagle came cruising up the river at treetop level! They’re back, baby!

Sorry about the blur. I was trying to get a nice shot of the stationary heron in bright sun, so I had the shutter slowed way down, to keep the ISO down, when suddenly I’m trying to shoot a soaring eagle. I’m actually surprised and thrilled it came out as good as it did.

This one’s a little better because it is moving nearly straight away from me. It’s already among the trees on the far shore where the river is at its widest. That is one big bird!

Here’s another, closer shot of one of the slate-colored dark-eyed juncos with its beak full of something. I would have thought seeds or even gastroliths (yup, that’s really the name for them, and you’re welcome), but upon closer inspection, it looks like leafy vegetables from that little plant growing at its feet, doesn’t it? Healthy! No wonder its feathers look so nice.

On my way back south, here’s another thrush, and I think this one is a hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus), based on its bright cinnamon-colored tail. If so, then it’s on its way from northern Wisconsin to southern Illinois.

Here’s yet another, ever-acrobatic, golden-crowned kinglet, and no, I didn’t rotate the picture for dramatic effect nor photoshop out its legs. I don’t even have Photoshop, so I suspect they are tucked safely inside its belly feathers until needed.

Here’s one more shot of that adorable and inquisitive red squirrel.

Here are more pretty-looking mushrooms that I can’t identify. Sorry!

Finally, here’s one more butterfly sipping from a dandelion, of all things, while there are still butterflies to see. Who knows when we’ll have seen the last one?

Well, the forecast is for partly cloudy and 49° tomorrow morning, so Holy Smokes! It’s time to get out my fleece hats!

After all the recent sogginess, it was a very nice morning in Estabrook. The crowd of wood ducks on the pond has subsided a bit, but the surprise sighting was this giant snapping turtle appearing to try to climb up onto shore.

I wasn’t able to get close enough, sadly, to tell if it is the same one that we saw last Friday, but it was huge. I wonder what’s instigating all this activity?

Anyway, there was also a pretty little yellow-rumped warbler flitting between the trees and bushes at the north end.

After that, it was on to the river for me, and north of the falls there was a bunch of geese just off the tip of the southern island and looking nice in the morning sun. Our pair with three good wings between them is in this sextet, and I think the one on the far right has the bad wing. It is nice to see that it still seems to be otherwise healthy, and it has a nice group of companions.

As I was trying to get the best composition of birds, and pretty reflection off the water, a whole flock of additional geese steamed in.

And then I notice there were a couple of interlopers photobombing my goose shot. Here’s one of them.

Yup, there was a pair of tiny blue-winged teals calmly foraging amongst the giants. Here are the little cuties together and from a different angle.

When I reached the north end, between the two islands, a raptor shot across overhead accompanied by the rattle of a kingfisher. When the raptor perched on a tree across the river, I could finally see that it was a young Cooper’s hawk.

Also perched, but at the top of a tall tree on the northern island, was this blue heron.

When I looked again a bit later, I was thrilled to see that there were two of them. The place is starting to look like a rookery. How cool would that be, eh?

Back on shore, the dark-eyed juncos are really getting thick on the ground, literally, and a whole flock were foraging in the gravel of the path along the river. Here’s a shot showing two of the seven subspecies: an “Oregon” (Junco hyemalis oreganus) on the left, and a “slate-colored” (Junco hyemalis hyemalis) on the right. We’re lucky enough to be in the winter range for both.

On my way back south, I was greeted by this little red squirrel, of whom we haven’t seen much lately, and it seemed almost as curious about me as that young deer from just over a week ago.

It actually climbed down that tree trunk a bit to get a better look.

All the recent rain certainly seems to have brought out the mushrooms, and besides the shaggy manes scattered about, this big clump was growing out of the lawn by the southern playground, but I don’t know what they are. Do you? The big one in the foreground was about 3 inches across.

These tiny ones, also a mystery to me, are growing out of a crack in an old log. The caps were an inch across at best.

Finally, here’s yet another bumblebee on yet another yellow flower. It was nice and warm by the time I walked by, so it was quite active.

I’ve gotta go to school in the morning, so I’ve saved a couple of pictures from today to show you tomorrow. Tune in then to get the rest of the story.

Once again, the day lit up pretty quickly, I suspect as the sun finally rose over a cloud bank on Lake Michigan, and I tried my best to take advantage of it.

The pond is still full of wood ducks, and here are three handsome drakes in a row. Well, the one in front looks like he has just a little more maturing to do, but you get the idea.

They seemed to avoid the water with pretty reflections this morning, but here’s another shot from yesterday, when they were more obliging.

The river had the usual contingent of mallards, geese, and a couple of herons, but nothing that I could make look photogenic today. Instead, here’s one more picture of that amazing red-tailed hawk from yesterday morning.

I did manage to capture an image of this sweet little ruby-crowned kinglet hard at work foraging for the calories it needs to fly to Kentucky.

Finally, that purple coneflower still had a bumblebee on it, but I’ve already used it twice, so here’s one on a common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) blossom,

and another one on a yellow coneflower.

I read that they could be females caught out by the cold and waiting for things to warm up or males hoping to mate with a new queen. Based on the warm temperatures lately, the latter sounds more likely. Best of luck, guys!

It was dark until 7am, and then, as if someone flipped a switch, it became light out, so here we go. It’s a short one, though, because the front edge of a thunderstorm started dripping on us by 9am already.

The pond was chock full of wood ducks, I counted 18, and they were all excited about something. There was a lot of calling, little groups forming, and swimming around. It was fun to watch, and here are a couple of the prettier pictures.

Then I hiked over to the river, and the treat at the north end was another red-tailed hawk.

It kept swooping from tree to tree, and I eventually lost sight of it, so I turned my attention to the other birds. Here’s a yellow-rumped warbler in a willow tree over the river.

And a killdeer on the water.

The bumblebee on the purple coneflower was still there and now has a friend.

Then a bunch of crows on the far shore all started calling, and I had a hunch what that meant. Sure enough, after a bit, the hawk finally relented took off for another perch with a couple of crows in hot pursuit. There was nowhere near enough light to capture that action, but this one image, where the hawk is slowing down to land, at least gives an impression of the scene.

By then, I could hear rumbles of thunder, so I high-tailed it back home, but this little cutie was worth a quick pause.

And that, typos and all, is all I’ve got time for this morning. Let’s all hope for better weather and more light tomorrow.