I see the sun trying to poke through the clouds now, from the comfort of my kitchen table, but there was no sign of the sun earlier this morning. That, plus a stiff breeze, made 21°F feel like 7°F, and I failed to check on that second number when I dressed to go out this morning. Oof. No wonder everyone is starting to look like they are done with winter.

I hardly saw a sight worth photographing, but there were a bunch of goldfinches busily working some alder cones at the north end of the pond, and here’s one of them.

Luckily, I’ve a enough good pictures left over from recent visits that I still have something to show you today. Here’s a pretty mourning dove foraging yesterday beside the little stream that flows into the pond.

Here’s one more look at the goldeneye hen yesterday preening on the water just above the falls.

And here’s another look at the bufflehead drake yesterday in the same spot.

Finally, here are a couple more looks at the coyote who posed so nicely in the morning sun for us on Friday.

Lastly, here’s a mystery from yesterday when I was trying to get a good picture of the bluebirds. These two looked like they had blue wings, and they got excited about something just as I aimed my camera their way, but they sure don’t look like bluebirds. I’ve asked around and heard everything from prothonotary warblers to scarlet tanagers to goldfinches, but nothing looks like a perfect match yet. Do you have any suggestions?

It was easily 20°F warmer this morning than yesterday, and plenty of critters were taking advantage of the relative warmth in Estabrook.

The river is still mostly empty of birds, but the ones still there were in surprisingly posy moods this morning. Here’s the bufflehead hen all by herself near the southern edge of the open water far below the falls and up for a breath from foraging on the bottom.

Here’s the drake foraging above the falls and looking fancier than we may have ever seen him.

Also above the falls was this single goldeneye hen busily sprucing herself up.

At the far north end, I heard one of the red-tailed hawks and could just make it out in the trees on the far shore. I risked the ice, perhaps for the last time, and hiked out to the northern island, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a trio of bluebirds, perhaps the ones from January and December.

The big surprise, however, came as I crossed the softball field between the beer garden and the pond. On my way, I checked the few pine trees along the north edge of the path, and look who I found foraging on the ground below them: about a half dozen white-winged crossbills (Loxia leucoptera)! This is the first time I’ve ever knowingly seen such birds. Ha!

The folks at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology describe them as “a gem of the northern woods,” and explain that they “spend most of their time prying into spruce cones with their twisted bills.” In fact, “individual white-winged crossbills can eat up to 3,000 conifer seeds each day.” What a treat to find them right here in Estabrook.

I didn’t see anybody new at the pond, so I returned to the river and found our mallard hen, who appeared to be done with winter, up on the path again and heading for a seep in the side of the bluff to have a soak.

Further south, the river is still completely frozen, so I was on the upper path, halfway up the side of the bluff, and that’s where I found this white-breasted nuthatch behaving as I’ve never seen them behave before. They are usually in constant motion, similar to chickadees, but this one stayed put, only about 10 feet above me, and struck several heroic poses for us.

There were even a pair of nuthatches nearby noisily chasing each other from tree to tree, but this one ignored them and stayed put. I wonder what its game is.

Finally, just as I neared the south end, this red squirrel didn’t quite know what to make of me and stretched out to get a better look.

It was colder than forecast, just 5°F, but the air was still, and the sun did come out for a bit, so nice enough. The critters in Estabrook, however, were a lot quieter than I would have expected. They were certainly quieter than yesterday. Perhaps there’s a tipping point between the 10°F of yesterday morning and the 5°F of today.

We did get another dusting of snow last evening, and the ground was covered with tracks this morning: canids, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, mice, and even beaver. The most surprising, however, were of a couple of people hugging the riverbank where I usually find none. I followed for a while and finally caught up to them at the north edge of the open water. They turned out to be long-time readers Bridget and Jimmy, and it was great to finally meet them in person. Jimmy posted some amazing pictures on instagram of a bald eagle right in Shorewood back in December.

Anyway, I was also glad to see the hooded merganser hen back on the water with the buffleheads, mallards, and goldeneyes.

I wonder where the mergansers had gone yesterday and thought how great it is that wherever they went, the hoody decided it would rather come back to Estabrook.

Bridget, Jimmy, and I hiked north to the falls, which they hadn’t seen in the winter before, and then we parted ways. They headed to the pond, and I continued north.

As I approached the northern island, I simply could not believe my luck to catch the coyote trotting out across the ice again. It looks like the same one as yesterday, if slightly more disheveled, and it was in a little bit more of a hurry today with no time to pose for my camera. I threw my gloves on the ground as quickly as I could and held my breath as I tried to squeeze off a couple of shots before it disappeared into the woods on the west bank.

There were no raptors at the north end today, nor hardly any little birds, so I turned back south and veered towards the pond.

The house finches were there, as usual, and I gave them all a second look in hopes of finding a redpoll among them, but no luck. They were all house finches with a couple of house sparrows in the mix.

Plus, a cardinal or two.

Finally, I swung back by the open water on the river to see if anyone new had arrived, but only found this poor mallard hen resting back up on shore again, without her drake this time, and looking like she is so ready to be done with winter.

I didn’t have the heart to disturb her, so I backed up the trail, took the other way around, and hiked on home.

It was quite a pleasant morning in Estabrook. Sure, it was only 10°F, but the air was still, and the sun came out for a while, so the sky was nice and blue.

The biggest surprise for me was finding not a single mallard on the river. That might be a first. Perhaps an eagle came through earlier and spooked them all off. The only water fowl I spotted were diving birds: the pair of buffleheads, three goldeneye hens, and one or two goldeneye drakes. Very curious.

The first bird willing to sit still for a second was this blue jay, oddly enough.

There was no sign of our kestrel, but at the north end of the grassy area, the sun was starting to shine down into the river valley, and these goldfinches were doing their best to take full advantage of it.

North of the falls, a couple of red squirrels were excited about something, maybe each other, but paused for a picture when they noticed me walking by. Gotta love that warm sunlight and bright blue sky, right?

At the far north end, I could hear some crows squawking again, and I had a hope of finding a raptor or two, but I couldn’t see anyone but the crows by the time I arrived. Then this beauty trotted out across the ice heading west from the northern island.

The lighting is a lot different, but it doesn’t look as dark as the first coyote we saw last week, nor as gray as the second one, so maybe it’s a third. How exciting!

After that thrill, everything appeared more vibrant, and it seemed that there were birds everywhere. Here’s a red-bellied woodpecker, …

Here’s a hairy woodpecker, …

And here’s an ever-acrobatic, black-capped chickadee.

I swung by the pond, just to see if anyone new was around, and found the usual contingent of shy house finches, house sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, and this one intrepid American tree sparrow.

Finally, from the pond, I dipped back down to the open water on the river to see if anyone had returned, and I was stunned to find a single pair of mallards so far up onto shore that they were parked right on the lowest segment of the river trail. I snapped this picture of the drake, while the hen hid behind some tall grass just to his left, and then I turned around to let them hide out in peace from whomever they were hiding out from.

“Good luck, kids, and we hope to see you again next time.”

I haven’t made it to the park yet today because I had to come to campus this morning, but on my way, I checked on the screech owl we first saw last week, and it is my absolute pleasure to report that there are in fact two screech owls sharing that same hole in a tree! I don’t yet have a picture of the two of them together, but the second one is obviously different from the first. Go ahead and see if you can spot that difference.

Here’s a close-up, in case that helps.

Nope, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, nor have I doctored the film. That is indeed a “red morph (northern)” screech owl, and it sure is a beauty, eh? I was so excited, I hurried home to get my camera even before class started, instead of taking the risk of waiting until after class, as I did last week. I will keep monitoring the situation and bring you updates as the story develops.

Meanwhile, speaking of “red”, Paul Smith has a nice article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today about the irruption of redpolls he and others are seeing here in southern Wisconsin. I haven’t seen any of these little cuties yet in Estabrook, but I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled, and I’ll go for another look this afternoon. Wish me luck!

Our February thaw was quite short lived, and temps were back in the teens again this morning with overcast skies and a nice stiff breeze out of the north, but we didn’t get any of the snow that this system is dumping to the south of us. Oh well.

Just as the warmth seems to have drawn in dozens of mallards yesterday, the cold seems to have sent nearly all of them away, and I only counted five today. Plus, they took the buffleheads and the mergansers with them and left us with only a few goldeneyes. Here’s a sole drake right above the falls.

I spotted the kingfisher flying by, and there were plenty of little birds about and sticking close to the ground. Here’s a white-breasted nuthatch, …

A red-bellied woodpecker, …

A black-capped chickadee, …

And a downy woodpecker.

At the far north end, I was pleasantly surprised to find our pair of red-tailed hawks on the east side for a change to grant me an rare audience. Perhaps the coyotes put in a good word for me. “He’s clumsy and noisy but slow and harmless.”

I only spotted one at first, and it patiently waited as I inch-wormed my way across the frozen ground to get this shot.

By then, however, a murder of crows arrived and flushed the second hawk out, which then glided across to the island as the crows followed.

Meanwhile, the first hawk seem to ignore the fracas and let its mate deal with them.

Eventually, the crows gave up their campaign, and the second hawk came back to the east side.

After all that, I left the love birds alone and continued north a bit to check on where I had spotted the second large flock of mallards yesterday. Today, however, that entire patch of open water was frozen back over and there wasn’t a fowl to be seen.

Tune in tomorrow to find out if the hawks stick around, any of our fowl return, or any new-comers show up.

Wow! What a change in the weather. It was 45°F and sunny by the time I got to the park late this morning, and most the regulars were on the river, but the big difference was the number of mallards. I counted close to 100 birds!

The nice pictures, however, are of the bufflehead drake drying his wings, …

A goldeneye hen, …

And a goldeneye drake.

I also saw the common merganser hen, but not the hooded merganser hen, the kingfisher, nor the kestrel. At the far north end, I watched the pair of red-tailed hawks head out together and soar south over the west side.

Since the trail was so muddy, I opted to swing by the pond for a change and see how might be around. There were chickadees, juncos, house finches, and northern cardinals, but this female was just about the only one willing to sit still for a second.

Finally, I spotted a bird I’ve seen plenty of times before, but not in the park until today, a house sparrow (Passer domesticus). Here’s a male with is signature “black bib”.

And here’s a female in more-subdued colors.

Lastly, if you’ve been thinking, “Sure, it’s warm now, but it’s been so cold for so long that the ice got nice and thick, and it must still be plenty thick enough to walk on today,” you’d be mostly right. Most of the ice was still plenty thick enough to walk on today. It was just that one spot, where it must have been thin from only finally freezing over just recently, that was the problem. Be careful out there.

The forecast suggested there might be some sun, seasonably cold temps, and no wind this morning. Well, the sun never made it, but as the dearly departed Meat Loaf used to say, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad“.

The nice still air made for great listening, and the birds are really starting to get into the swing of spring. The cardinals, chickadees, and robins were all starting to sing their old favorites.

The river, however, was surprisingly empty, with only a few mallards, the common merganser hen, and one goldeneye drake, but no buffleheads, hooded mergansers, or gadwalls. It will be interesting to see if the coming warm-up brings them back or chases more away.

In any case, the top story this morning was the return of our kestrel, and here she is perched again on one of the guywire flying saucers right over the river.

I didn’t manage to take any other pictures today, which means I can show you more of the pictures from yesterday. Yay! Here’s another herring gull, at the far north end, who found a morsel on the ice in the middle of the river.

There were a few goldeneye hens on the river yesterday, and here’s one with a drake resting in a little sliver of open water at the far north end.

From the island with all the little birds, here’s a goldfinch gleaning the littlest seeds.

And here’s a dark-eyed junco who somehow failed to evade my camera for a change.

Finally, here’s a female red-bellied woodpecker excavating a hole in a tree trunk.

I read on the Pedia of Wik that “The male red-bellied woodpecker takes the initiative in locating a nest hole. He will then seek approval from his female mate by mutual tapping. The female red-bellied woodpecker accepts the nesting hole by completing the excavation and entering the nest hole.” Here’s hoping that’s what we’re seeing here, although he sure did leave her a lot of excavating to complete. Sheesh! Perhaps he has other assets she found sufficiently attractive.

I took my sweet time getting to the park this morning, but the critters didn’t seem to mind and were still quite plentiful when I finally rolled in, and as soon as I got to the river at the south end, I caught a glimpse of this young-looking Cooper’s hawk as it appeared to make a try for a mourning dove.

I saw a few ducks on my way north; some mallards, a few goldeneyes, a couple of merganser hens, and a pair of buffleheads; but it was still pretty dark, and I figured I’d get to see them later, so I kept moving. At the grassy area, I found this pair of red-bellied woodpeckers going about their morning but not necessarily together.

There was no sign of our kestrel, and I was way too late for the coyotes, but I did see the largest assembly of mourning doves I’ve ever seen, over 30 birds all together. Perhaps they were discussing the recent problem with Cooper’s hawks.

At the falls, there were just a couple of mallards and this one herring gull.

Above the falls, I finally succumbed to the temptation and hiked across the ice to the southern island, which was abuzz with little birds. Here’s a downy woodpecker.

And here’s an American tree sparrow again.

From the island, I hiked back across the ice and continued north along the eastern shore. Suddenly I heard a whooshing noise, and I don’t know about you, but sudden sounds really make me jump when I’m walking on river ice. Happily, the sound was not the whooshing of water up onto the ice, but instead the whooshing of two birds heading north, one chasing the other, right over my left shoulder. I figured the second one to be a raptor of some kind, so I followed after in hopes of spotting it where it finally perched. I made it almost to the Port Washington Road bridge and was on my way back before I spotted it in a tree atop the bluff.

Holy Moly! That’s a peregrine falcon! We’ve only seen one in the park before and it was on the big tower at the very south end back in July. What a pleasant surprise, at least for us. The doves and pigeons are probably less than thrilled.

On my way back south, this chickadee was checking out the blossoms ready to bloom on a maple tree.

Back beside the southern island, I ran into Lisa, who found the owls for us, and we continued south. In short order we found this red squirrel just chillin’.

South of the falls, I spotted a rabbit at last who didn’t immediately flee out of sight.

Finally, we were trying to spot the winter wren near the seep at the base of stairway 9 that Brian reported seeing yesterday, when Lisa spotted a hawk perched quite a ways back up river. We couldn’t quite make out what kind it was, so we headed back north, of course, for a closer look.

It turned out to be a young-looking Cooper’s hawk again, with the characteristic tail but a brown back, perhaps the same one I saw earlier at the south end, and it seemed to be fascinated by all the mourning doves hanging around over the grassy field.

It hopped around a few times, even landing for a moment on the Friends of Estabrook Park bench along the trail.

But it eventually gave a couple more looks around and then headed east with empty talons.

What a pretty bird and great spotting again, Lisa! By then, however, it was almost lunchtime, so we called it a day, and I hustled home.

Sure, it was cold and grey this morning, but the air was so still I thought I might get a lot of pictures anyway. The critters had different plans, however, and I saw very few of them today.

One fun picture I did finally manage to capture is this one of the two merganser hens up on the ice at the same time. Now you can really see the difference between a hooded merganser, on the left, and a much-larger common merganser, on the right.

Also, the bufflehead pair were back on the open water again. Always a treat to see.

Finally, a goldeneye hen almost repeated the photo shoot the drake offered up yesterday.

But just while she caught her breath. Then she went right back to foraging on the bottom.

I did not see a coyote today, I am sorry to report, but the audience they so generously granted me yesterday yielded so many pictures that I still have some to show you today.

What magnificent creatures, eh? I am so glad to finally see them in Estabrook.

I read that coyotes can act as keystone predators and so “play an important role in regulating the herbivorous mammals and hence may provide similar ecological benefits in urban/suburban forest fragments through trophic cascades.”

Based on reports that I’ve heard, I’m sure they’ve been here all along, but I somehow managed to miss them until recently. I have no idea what has changed all of a sudden, but I’ll take it!