We’re in for yet another beautiful blue-sky day in Estabrook, and I feel like Steve Martin doing the LA weather report saying that, but my buddy Max suggests this is partially due to the recent reduction in human activity, and some science seems to back him up.1,2,3
The activity on the river continues to evolve with the loss of ice, but our pair of redheads are still hanging around on the upper river just downstream from the southern island.
The mallards are just about everywhere now, and this female was looking especially photogenic this morning as the sun was making its way into the river valley.
It was also super nice out yesterday afternoon, as you may recall, and I had a little time, so I popped by the pond again just in time to find this pair of Canada geese doing the same thing. There was a lot of honking going on, and I think the consensus was that there was still too much ice, so off they went. It’s getting to be egg laying time, and the pond better hurry up if we’re gonna have goslings by the end of April.
Finally, and by popular demand, here’s your still-life art-shot.
While I was trying to get the red-winged blackbird to cooperate and sit still for a second, I spotted another black bird nearby, and this one turned out to be a common grackle. Sweet!
Meanwhile the water fowl remain as dense as ever on the river. Today I saw common and red-breasted mergansers, goldeneyes, mallards, the newly-arrived Canada geese, and even our newest arrival, the redhead. The water is finally open over the sandbar that forms downstream from the southern island, and the ducks were having a field day there.
Although the ice is mostly gone from the river, there are still some big patches to be found.
I’ve gotta proctor an exam at UWM this morning, so no time for a park visit. Skies are grey anyway today, and here’s hoping that the redheads will still be there tomorrow.
The good news is that it was crazy nice out yesterday afternoon, I got my chores done early, and a fellow park visitor yesterday had tipped me off about sights to see, so I took a field trip down to the open water around the Discovery World at the Milwaukee water front.
Sure enough, the water is full of fowl, including many of the mergansers, goldeneyes, gulls, and mallards that we see in Estabrook, but also a slew of these handsome devils with blue bills on. My sources tell me that they are greater scaup (Aythya marila) taking a breather on their way to breeding grounds way the heck up north.
The males were not on their own, of course, ’cause that would make the long trip kinda pointless, right?
Finally, here’s a happy couple foraging together.
Their “nonbreeding” areas are southern Illinois and south almost to the gulf, so this truly is an ephemeral treat, and I hope you get to see them in-person before they move on.
Finally, here’s a herring gull picture from a couple of days ago on the Milwaukee River that I didn’t use then, but I just can’t get the look on its face out of my mind.
Where to start? Where to start? Spring is really starting to spring, the sun was out, the air was calm, the temperature was mild, and the sky was blue, blue, blue.
Best of all, we’ve got three, not one, not two, but three new arrivals in the park to report!
First, and most exciting for me, because I’ve never seen this creature before, is the aptly-named Redhead (Aythya americana), another diving duck. There were two males and a female on the upper river with the mallards and goldeneyes. We are in their “nonbreeding” range, so these folks are just passing through, but we’re sure glad that stopped in, if only for a moment.
In other news, an eagle swung by the far north end and launch all the non-diving ducks into the air, but didn’t come south enough for me to take even a bad picture. Instead, here’s some mallards settling back down after it the coast was clear.
Here are some goldeneyes going about their business and not worrying about some stupid old eagle.
I did stop by the pond again to check on the ice situation, and it is still pretty icy, enough so for me to still walk on it. It’s gonna take a while still.
Finally, it was so beautiful out yesterday afternoon, that I popped over to the park just for a short visit, and look who I found.
As I mentioned yesterday, the quartet were not in their usually spot yesterday morning, but this one showed up for some solo work. She stood still for her close-up, below left, but when I kneeled down to try to get some blue sky in the background, she wasn’t having it, and slowly stamped her front hoof a few times. You can just make out that she has it raised in the image on the right above. When I finally stood back up, she decided we were done, slowly wandered off, and left us with the parting shot on the right below.
Yikes! And to think I thought it was cold yesterday. At least I was better dressed for it this time. Even the deer quartet we’ve been seeing lately appear to have sought someplace warmer. Otherwise, it was a beautiful morning in Estabrook, and the mergansers and goldeneyes were on the river at the south end as usual lately.
The first pretty picture I have, however, is of this female cardinal who was not only making herself visible but also making herself heard.
Beside the falls, I was surprised to find this grey squirrel apparently eating the buds off this tree, which identify.plantnet.org thinks is probably a pignut hickory (Carya glabra). Man, if it were an ornamental, or even a specimen tree, that I had planted in my yard, I would not be happy about this. Happily, it’s growing wild in the park so who cares, and bon appetit, my little friend!
Above the falls, there were plenty of goldeneyes, the pair of buffleheads, and a couple of geese, but I was surprised to see no mallards.
A bit further north, I might have spotted the reason why, but I’m sad to report that it took off before I could get any closer.
When I came back south, the male goldeneyes were doing their courtship displays again, and often more than one at a time would participate.
After a while, they appeared to quit that and resume foraging on the river bottom, so I headed over to the pond, and look who I saw there.
The park is full of cardinals right now, as it probably is all the time, so there is no reason in the world to think that she is the same one from earlier by the river, but I’m finding this side of their personalities fascinating.
Man, someone must have been watching the calendar because as soon as it turned March, the weather became “cold and blustery”, especially compared to that balmy last week of February. I checked the temps before I headed out this morning and thought to myself, “27°F ain’t bad”, but I failed to see the “real feel” temp was 14°F. Yikes! I had to come back in for more layers!
Anyway, the deer seemed unperturbed, and perhaps they were just thrilled to lying on leaves instead of snow for a change. It is fun to watch them simultaneously keep tabs on me and also check on who might be sneaking up behind them with those ears of theirs.
Down on the river, the birds are still doing their thing, though they seem to have abandoned the middle of the park. The mergansers now seem to favor the southern end.
And the buffleheads and some goldeneyes, along with plenty of mallards, a goose or two now, and even a young herring gull, are back on the upper river, just above the falls, now that a lot of the ice has cleared out and there’s some open water again.
As I was taking pictures of the ducks, it slowly dawned on me to notice that they all seemed to be hugging the shore, especially under overhanging trees. So I finally looked up, and sure enough, an eagle glided into view. It stayed high, though, and soon continued south, so no ducks bothered to take flight this time.
I hiked up to the north end and back with nothing really to report other than that much of the path along the river is now a lumpy sheet of ice, and that might explain the lack of other hikers, which is fine by me. As much as I’d like more people to get to enjoy the park live, it sure feels luxurious when I get to have it to myself for a while, even if that means picking myself up off the ground once or twice. I read that impact helps maintain bone density, and I sure gave my bones a workout this morning.
Finally, I swung by the pond, to check on the ice situation, if nothing else, as I have a hope that we’ll get some new visitors there as soon as there’s some open water to swim in or on. Last year, I spotted my first wood duck on the pond on March 26, which set off this whole operation, and that’s only three and a half weeks away! I’d say there’s still about 99% coverage, so far, with just some slivers of water along the northern shore, so we’ve still got a ways to go.
Anyway, there were no ducks there today, but I did see this handsome male hairy woodpecker working intently on a branch.
Anyway, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the deer since disturbing their nap back in December. No, I don’t believe they left, but they sure were lying low. This morning, they were still lying down, but not so low any more that I couldn’t find them for the first time in 2021. There were four of them, possibly the four we used to see cavorting on the soccer fields last summer, but only three would fit in this picture.
They all mostly kept a close eye on me…
except for this one, who had other concerns, and it’s nice to know that I’m as scary as ever.
Glad to see that they all look none the worse for the wear after our nice deep winter.
Next, the geese, who also went missing sometime in December, are back. I’ve seen a flight or two over the past week, but this is the first time they opted to land in our part of the river, that I know of, and some of them had a lot to say.
Here’s another pair apparently discussing where to build their nest. I think one of them wanted a spot with a view. I did not know geese could land in or on a tree.
They were still discussing it when I left, and maybe they are still discussing it now.
I did spot an eagle again, and I even thought I got a picture of it, but by the time my camera woke up and realized “we’re doing this now”, the eagle had already drifted out of frame, and I was left with just another shot of ducks. Oh well.
Not a whole lot to report today. I was enjoying the beautiful weather in the park both yesterday afternoon and this morning but took a total of only 15 pictures instead of my usual daily average of over 100. It seems as though all the actors are waiting for the scene change so they can start Act II. Some will be getting a costume change (goldfinch), a few are warming up their vocal cords (cardinals, chickadees, juncos, and even a blue jay or two), and we’re all anxiously awaiting a huge influx of new characters (wood ducks, orioles, warblers, etc.).
Meanwhile, I did spot another bald eagle this morning, drifting north along the river this time, and as I kept my eye on the tree tops where it went out of sight, ducks started filling the sky like hornets from a disturbed nest.
I am surprised by the recent boldness displayed by the female cardinals. This one was out in the bright morning sun and even chirping a bit. When I started taking pictures in March last spring, one of the most elusive birds I sought was a female northern cardinal. Maybe by late March, they no longer have any incentive to show off their finery.
Lastly, I spotted our cute little veery/hermit thrush below the falls again on Tuesday, but it didn’t make the cut after I spotted the pair of beaver later that morning.
It was a surprisingly quiet morning in the park today. With the weather so nice, I figured everybody and their brother would be out, but that was not the case, and even the beaver were laying low. That’s just as well. Wouldn’t want to get bored of seeing them, right?
Instead, we’re left with the regulars as we wait for the new spring arrivals. Here’s a fun little scene that captures a slew of females relaxing on the river ice for a moment, including common mergansers, common goldeneyes, and even a bufflehead. It is the first time I’ve seen either a goldeneye or a bufflehead out of the water, which reminds me of an old ZZ-Top song.
Here’s a dark-eyed junco and a Cooper’s hawk. I was surprised that the junco stayed still as long as it did, and perhaps it felt that the sticks in the foreground gave it enough cover. The Cooper’s hawk has usually been willing to pose if I show some respect.
Here’s a grey squirrel, who I managed to trap with that eye-contact trick like an atom in a laser beam, and who’s now wondering if I am ever going to be done and set it free.
Finally, here’s a black-capped chickadee performing some serious gymnastics on a birch tree, and it stuck the landing, as usual.
The one beaver we saw on Sunday must have reported back to the burrow that the deep freeze has indeed broken because today there were two of them, seeming to nuzzle and snooze together on the river ice in the bright morning sun.
Sorry for all the pictures. I can’t decide which is the cutest.
And the beaver are not the only ones who appear to have noticed a change in the weather. Here are a pair of chickadees who thought it was warm enough to wrestle in the snow!
Here’s a pretty little nuthatch who was paying far more attention to its other three companions flitting around in the tree than to me.
Here’s a pair of common mergansers also enjoying a snooze on the ice in the sun, although I did catch her keeping tabs on what I was doing across the river.
By popular demand, here’s your art-shot of some fancy river ice that can’t seem to decide whether it is freezing or thawing.
Finally, here a shot of the whole river “valley” with the two beaver just to the left of dead center. Still plenty of ice left, but I stayed off of it today, mostly.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 