It was one of those magical mornings when every footstep squeaks in the clean white snow packed firmly onto the path. If your trying to sneak up on something, you’d better step off into the deep soft stuff.

The lower river had most of the regulars, a few mallard pairs, a few female common mergansers, and the male goldeneye with three females.

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Hoar frost had formed some pretty patterns on stems over a couple of seeps that emerge from the bluff and even on the ice covering the little stream that runs down from the pond.

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I didn’t see a non-water bird until halfway to the falls, and was beginning to think that maybe it was just too cold for them to be active, but then a woodpecker and a few goldfinches gave some chirps to alert me to their activity. The woodpecker didn’t stick around, but this goldfinch was willing to sit still for a moment.

At the north end, this pair of mourning doves never budged from their branch in the sun.

By the pond, a couple of woodpeckers each had found something interesting enough to distract them from me. I could hear several red-bellied woodpeckers throughout the park, but could never spot one today.

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Meanwhile, this little trio kept their eyeballs on me.

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And finally, this little chickadee found something on that twig far more interesting.

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The park was crowded yesterday morning, I suppose with folks trying to get their visit in before the forecast precipitation came, so I wasn’t able to find much to show you. My best shots are of this raft of female common mergansers and one male common goldeneye on the lower river. I was bummed not see a female goldeneye with them.

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Today, the situation was markedly different, and maybe 10°F and 20 mph has something to do with that.

A pair of mallards were taking a break.

A pair of common mergansers were on the hunt for something good to eat.

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A young herring gull was chowing down on a fish, while its elder chilled nearby.

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A little further north, the missing female goldeneye situation from yesterday seems to have resolved itself, and today there were three! They all appeared be spending as much time under water as they physically could. Perhaps they were just really hungry, or perhaps the 32°F water feels a lot better than the 10°F air.

By the mudflats below the falls a red-bellied woodpecker appears to be sampling the snow.

On the upper river, there was a good group of mallards and one female goldeneye, but I didn’t see the buffleheads today. Let’s hope they found someplace warm to ride out this deep freeze.

Finally, as I was walking around the pond, I was super lucky to spot a Cooper’s hawk, perhaps the one we’ve seen at the pond last month, lurking in the bushes just over the water at my eye level. I managed to get off this one shot before it noticed me and bugged out.

I had the deep pleasure of walking home from campus late yesterday afternoon, along the river from Hubbard Park to Estabrook Park, after the clouds cleared out, the breeze calmed down, and the sun lit everything with a gorgeous setting glow. It was an absolute pleasure, but I wish I had brought my camera, as there was a good-sized group of mallards and mergansers settling in for the evening south of the Capitol Ave bridge with a couple of gulls silently gliding overhead looking for pre-caught fish, we can now suppose.

Well, my wish belatedly came true, because the perfect weather continued into this morning, so I got to enjoy it again with camera in hand. The first exciting news, that I know you are all anxiously waiting to hear, is that the pair of common goldeneyes, whom we first spotted together just yesterday, were still together this morning on the lower river. Yay!

Above the falls, the big crowd of mallards were back, along with the pair of buffleheads, one male goldeneye, and this newcomer, who appears to be an immature male goldeneye. You can see the start of his cheek patch, but the rest of his coloration still resembles is mom more than his dad. You can read other authors who have come to the same conclusion here, here, and here.

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Also, along the river, were this red-breasted woodpecker warming in the morning sun, and this chickadee trying to get a taste of a sapcicle.

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Finally, up on the bluff, this grey squirrel, the ubiquitous, bigger, and bolder cousin of our little cutie from yesterday, appeared and sounded to be in growling standoff with three others in the same tree.

Perhaps they were all waiting to warm up in the sun enough to begin chasing each other up, down, and around tree trunks.

First the loss. The raft of common mergansers were on the lower river again this morning, and it is tricky to count them all because of their movement and the convoluted topography of the river bank, but I’m sure there are at least a dozen or more, with roughly three to four females per male. Two different females had fish again today, and they both struggled a bit to get them lined up right, without using hands of course, just like soccer.

The first one appeared to fend off another hungry merganser successfully, who perhaps was just trying to help, but the second one was forced to give up the goods when threatened by, what looks to be, a herring gull. That’s right, this gull hovered, perhaps tried or threatened to peck, the merganser dove empty-billed, the gull snagged the fish, and here’s my best shot of the results, through the brush. The gull gulped down the fish pretty quickly, at least it didn’t go to waste.

Why they don’t arrange to stage these dramatic scenes where I can get a better view is anyone’s guess. Surely they understand that its all about the clicks these days, right? Anyway, based on the number of mergansers I’ve been seeing with fish lately, we can have a hope that there are plenty more fish in the river. The trick it seems is getting them into the belly.

Now, the love. We first saw a lone female goldeneye on the lower river back on January 23, and I’ve wondered repeatedly since then why she stays there, day after day, while the guys, as many as three of them at a time, stay on the upper river. Well, today it appears that we have our first love connection. Yay! Or maybe its just lunch. Time will tell, eh?

We wish the young couple much success in any case.

Finally, I spotted a little rascal by the pond today whom we haven’t seen in months, since the summer.

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That’s right, our elusive little pal, the very energetic red squirrel. He made at least three trips from the top of the willow tree to the ground and back while I attempted to capture a descent likeness.

So I guess that’s a lunch found. Talk about a happy ending.

Man, oh man, I sure hope you got a chance to get outside today, and not just to shovel your car out of a snowbank, because it was a stunner. I had to go to campus early, so didn’t hit the park till this afternoon when the sun came out and the sky turned that special, dry-winter-air, blue. Talk about lucky timing.

Anyway, the common mergansers are getting thick on the lower river. I counted 10 females and 3 males today. Here’s a few females and one male preening in the sun on an ice sheet.

Here’s a female struggling to land her fish as a female mallard looks on languidly.

Here they are, with the female still wrasslin’ with her fish, heading down river after my presence on the trail disturbed them. Sorry.

Further north, at the abandoned railroad bridge abutment, perhaps this nuthatch is getting its mineral supplement for the day. This entire site along the river was formerly a quarry for the Milwaukee Cement Company, hence the railroad bridge I suppose, and so the minerals are most likely locally-sourced and all-natural. I was looking just about straight up when I took this.

Next, just a bit farther north, on the slope up from the boardwalk along the river to the beer garden, I was treated to this magical sight.

As we’ve already discussed, we think that’s either a veery or a hermit thrush, depending on whether the full eye ring carries more weight than the cinnamon head and back.

I should have just gone home after that.

The buffleheads are still just above the falls, and the mallards were back on the upper river, but they have moved even further north so too far away for good pictures. I went by the pond, but have nothing to show for it. On my way home along the river, I did see a big gathering of common mergansers and even a male goldeneye with two females (finally! right?), but nothing worth posting. There was even a herring gull standing on the far shore with a big fish, but got it swallowed before I could even get my camera out. Next time!

Meanwhile, long-time reader and eagle-eyed Bonnie points out that the junco we saw recently by the pond has dark marks on its otherwise light-colored beak. These cause me to lean even more towards thinking that it really is a visiting Oregon dark-eyed junco, among whom this seems to occur often enough to be easy to find online.

Finally, it appears that we are not the only ones enjoying the antics of aquatic birds. Check out this video, surfing duck, shared by our Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UWM in his weekly status report. Don’t worry, it is safe for work, refreshingly brief, and you don’t need to have sound on.

I was all caught up on my schoolwork, so I ventured into the park while the snow was still coming down today, and I figured that the worst that could happen would be for me to get a little extra workout. Instead, what an absolutely marvelous audiovisual treat it was.

The thick blanked of fluffy new snow really deadens sound, so the river trail was spectacularly quite, and there were parts that appeared not to have felt even the slightest breeze, so that even the tiniest branches were stacked wonderfully high with snow.

One happy new sighting on the lower river was at least four female goldeneyes. Perhaps that’s what our heroine has been waiting for all this time.

Above the falls, I was surprised to find that everyone was gone except for the intrepid pair of half-pint buffleheads, who were busy going about their foraging for snails on the river bottom, as usual.

Further north, I was once again greeted by the cheerful chirp of a woodpecker, and it took me forever to find her. It turns out that she was right over my head, and she might even be the same downy woodpecker we saw yesterday in nearly the same spot.

Just beyond that, there was quite a ruckus in the tree tops, and this time it was grey squirrels, at least 5 of them, not a half-dozen starlings raiding a drey, and they were chasing each other around the tree trunks like crazy. Here are two of the culprits. I wonder what they were tussling over on such a peaceful day.

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Finally, beside the pond, I found most of the regulars making the best of it.

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It appears that getting a beak full of snow is a common thing when the conditions are right.

The thermometer said 36°F, but my skin said 23°F, and the sky was covered by a thick blanket of clouds. It sure wasn’t like the previous two beautiful days, but I was glad to be back in the park after taking a quick break to help kick off the spring semester at UWM.

Luckily, all the critters appear to have done just fine without me. At the south end, there were a couple of male common mergansers and at least eight females, which is more than I’ve ever seen before in one day, let alone in one place. The most I could get in a row, however, were these three:

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As I was trying to line up that shot, a bald eagle drifted overhead, but kept right on going. Just up river from the mergansers was our female goldeneye, a bit down river from her usual spot, and still unaccompanied. Come on, guys!

The usual crowd of mallards and interlopers were in their regular spot above the falls. The pair of buffleheads, at least four male goldeneyes, a couple more male common mergansers, and even a Canada goose or two were all there. No black ducks, though. Sorry Lou.

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Further north, as I paused on the trial for a moment, I heard the familiar chirp of a woodpecker, but closer than usual. I slowly turned around, and there it was, right at eye level and not even ten feet away from me. Usually, once they notice me looking their way, they take right off, but this one must have thought it had found the mother lode in that tree trunk because it just keep working on that spot of the bark while I took a couple dozen pictures in hopes of having one look nice.

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From the comfort of my dining room table, I’m gonna say that she’s a downy woodpecker because of the dark spots on her white tail feathers and her smaller beak relative to a hairy woodpecker. In the “after” picture on the right above, you can see how much bigger and deeper she had made the hole in the bark during the two minutes she allowed me to stand there taking pictures. That was a rare treat, and I sure hope she got what she was digging for.

Finally, as seems to be my habit these days, I swung by the pond to see who was about. There were goldfinches, cardinals, chickadees, juncos, and a bunch of that sparrow/finch we keep seeing, but this little character really stood out.

It looks similar to the other dark-eyed juncos we’ve been seeing lately, but not quite the same because it has a more distinct line between its black hood and white chest plus the noticeably brown back and sides. Therefore, I’m going to go out on a limb, despite the range maps, and suggest that this is an Oregon dark-eyed junco (J. h. oreganus).

I can’t wait to see how much snow we get this time. How about you?

If you asked me what could have made it a better morning in the park, I don’t know what I could say. It was just perfect, and right off the bat, I was surprised to see this flotilla of common mergansers on the lower river.

And, as seems to be the case with mergansers, they were not alone. Curious.

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By the abandoned bridge abutments, where the river freezes over, some little critter visited the west bank and then came back. Maybe a raccoon?

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Further north, above the falls, the pair of buffleheads, a couple of goldeneyes, and even a common merganser all continue to hangout with the main group of mallards.

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As I was trying to get a decent picture of the river, this little cutie was trying to get a sip of water from a seep coming out of the bluff behind me. I’m gonna go with a veery (Catharus fuscescens), a little bit north of its usual winter range, because of the uniform cinnamon-brown above with indistinct spotting on the chest, compared to other thrushes.

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Finally, I headed over to the pond, and was trying to capture a nice image of the many birds feasting on the staghorn sumac seeds, including this sparrow/finch and European starling, when they all suddenly took off.

Sure enough, the Cooper’s hawk had just flown in and perched high over the island.

Sadly, I was not able to get around to the other side to get what would have been a gorgeous picture before it took off again. Instead, I was left with this even dozen appearing to be waiting for a brave one to show that it is safe to go back to the buffet.

Wow! I wasn’t sure I’d even make it to the park today. Luckily, the snow finally petered out around 2pm, and the winds even let up, so I finally ventured in. No sense trying to take a picture of blowing snow, eh?

The big raft of mallards was in their usual spot on the upper river, and they were joined by the pair of buffleheads, a couple of female common mergansers, and these two goldeneyes. After all this time, I sure was surprised to learn that they have necks! Who knew, right?

After that revelation, I headed over to the pond, were I caught a nice image of a potential mate for yesterday’s female northern cardinal….

finally a decent chickadee picture….

And this little cutie, that I’m gonna say is a swamp sparrow (Melospiza georgiana) based on the generally brown complexion and the dark and intricate face coloration. Your mileage may vary.

After the oddly slow day yesterday, I was relieved to see a lot more activity in the park today. It’s the start of the spring semester at UWM, so maybe that’s what was going on.

First up was this lonely little female common merganser trying to get cozy with a few mallards on the lower river, and this one female mallard was simply not having it. I watched her try to get close only to be shooed away at least three times, so I’m pretty sure I was seeing what I think I was seeing, and this wasn’t just some random drifting with the currents. Nothing too aggressive on either’s part, at least that I saw, but pretty clear that something was going on. It must be tough to be a transfer student.

Next, the female goldeneye, that we first saw just this past Saturday, was back in the same spot and by herself again. Maybe she been to the upper river, where the crowd usually hangs out, and thinks it is just a meat market.

Not much further beyond that scene, I heard a bustle, no, not in my hedgerow, but high up in an oak tree. It took me a moment to find it and then another to figure out what was going on. As best as I can tell, about a half dozen European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), which I knew were here but hadn’t seen in the park before now, were raiding one of the many grey squirrel nests that dot the trees in the park.

I mean, they were really going to town on that thing, like maybe they don’t have these in Europe, or something. I took a ton of pictures, but I was shooting almost straight up against a bright white sky, and so the results aren’t the greatest, but I think you can get the idea. Half the time, all you can see is some tails sticking out, which doesn’t really facilitate identifying the birds. I wonder if they were just after a cache of nuts, or if they found something more-substantial? We may never know.

After all that excitement, I finally made it to the falls and was glad to see the upper river packed with dozens of mallards. Phew! Plus, the buffleheads and one male goldeneye were back, too, though they didn’t seem as happy to see me as I was to see them.

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Finally, I swung by the pond to see who might be about, and the place was lined with pretty little puffballs: a female northern cardinal, a dark-eyed junco, and a this time I’m going with purple finch because of the lack of “heavy brown streaks under the wings.”

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Lastly, on my way home along the Oak Leaf Trial, I encounter a few more juncos feasting on staghorn sumac seeds. Probably freshmen, right?