Nope, it’s not a painted bunting, and I’m not Switzerland’s ambassador to the United States. As if.

It was, however, nice and cold last night, right here in Shorewood, so the snow and ice on the trail along the Milwaukee River was nice and firm this morning, and just as I approached the river at the very south end of the park, I glimpsed a full-on bald eagle, with white head, white tail, and sharp look in its eye, gliding south over the river about even with the tree tops. That’s definitely a first for me here in the park and perhaps a good sign for their continued recovery. I read that Milwaukee County is “the only county [in Wisconsin] where no active nests have been documented,” yet.

Sadly, with the grey skies we’ve been having lately and that seemingly will never end, any picture I took, even if I did have my camera with me, would have been just a black silhouette against a white background.

The usual crowd of mallards were scattered from there all the way to the north end of the park, and when I turned around to head back south, I spotted a bright white duck with a dark head on the water. I had seen it once before and thought maybe it was a mallard-muscovy hybrid, but it was too far away to get a good look. This time, he was closer to the eastern shore and I managed this shot with my phone.

Happily, it appears I was mistaken, and as far as I can tell, that is a male common merganser. It clearly is not a similarly colored goldeneye or bufflehead because of its distinctly long and narrow beak, which leads common mergansers to sometimes be “called sawbills“. In fact, I read further that “the word “merganser” comes from the Latin and roughly translates to “plunging goose”—a good name for this very large and often submerged duck.”

Anyway, I do believe we have seen a common merganser on the river before, back on July 29, but not a male in such full adult splendor. It appears that we are near the northern edge of their non-breeding range, and it is common enough for them to hang out with mallards in icy water that Cornell Lab of Ornithology even has a video of it from New York, of all places.

Sorry, Carolyn, no ermine pictures yet, but 2021 is off to a nice start anyway, eh?

Let’s hope it’s a good one, eh? We sure could use one of those right about now.

Anyway, the park has a fresh blanket of snow and is looking gorgeous. If you are nearby, I hope you get a chance to visit while it lasts. The lower river trail is especially nice.

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About 50% of the river through the park is covered with ice and snow these days, but I wouldn’t say “frozen over” because I’ve been watching how the surface forms from floating slush and chunks of ice that accumulates at the rapids. At one point last week, the river was so backed up by the ice jam that the falls were almost completely submerged, at least a 3-foot rise, but that has abated some.

I caught a glimpse of a muskrat in the river this morning just before it ducked back under the water, which has been especially clear lately. Pretty much anywhere you look in, you can see the bottom now, which is a pleasant change from the turbid summer flow. I’ve heard reports of an ermine sighting, which I read is the name for any “species in the genus Mustela … in its pure white winter coat,” but I haven’t had that pleasure yet.

There has been quite a steady crowd of mallards on the surface recently, and they don’t appear to be put off by the cold water very much.

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Till next time…

It was nice quiet in Estabrook this morning, and I almost had the place to myself. With all the leaves off the trees and even the bushes, it feels like walking through the skeleton of the biome we enjoyed throughout the summer. Everyplace seems much more accessible now, so I wandered into an area that I’ve seldom visited before, and look at who I woke up from their nap.

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I was as startled as they were, which wasn’t too much, and the first thing I blurted out as “oh, sorry” as though I had opened the bathroom door without knocking. There were two more that were a little more eager to put some distance between us, but these two hung around for pictures. I wonder if they are the quartet we saw on the soccer fields so many times over the summer.

Meanwhile, it is looking like a really rough winter to be a cottonwood tree along the river. The beaver have been busy as, well …

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Last, and perhaps least, size-wise anyway, is a critter new to these pages, and for all the world it appears to be a groundhog (Marmota monax), aka woodchuck or Canada marmot.

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That brings our mammal picture count to 9, if I remember correctly:
1. Deer
2. Beaver
3. Raccoon
4. Groundhog
5. Rabbit
6. Muskrat
7. Gray squirrel
8. Red squirrel
9. Chipmunk

Plus 4 that I spotted but could never capture “on film”, at least so far:
10. Mink
11. Possum
12. Bat
13. Mouse

And that doesn’t even count the coyotes that everyone and their brother have photographed trotting down the roads and sidewalks of Shorewood. I’ve heard reports of them in Estabrook, but never had the pleasure myself.

As for avians, there are still a few mallards on the river, I spot Canada geese overhead from time to time, and the trees are full of chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers chatting away amongst themselves.

I guess Estabrook’s a busy place after all, eh?

Ha! I was just as stunned to find this as you probably are to read about it. My best guess is that this is a hairy goldenaster (Heterotheca villosa) in bloom on DECEMBER 5TH at the top of the slope from the falls up to the beer garden. Surprise, surprise, eh?

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U up?

I haven’t been to the park much lately. Instead I’ve been riding my bike on the Oak Leaf Trail, and it is peak aster season right now. I hope you get a chance to get out and see them in all their glory. As luck would have it, there are even still a few butterflies around to make the pictures interesting. Mind you, I’m reduced to using just my phone, and I get people shouting “zip it up, buddy” as they ride by while I carefully wade through the flowers covered in bees on the side of the trail trying to line up a shot. In any case, here’s what I got.

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Finally, not everybody is so brightly colored, and this little guy blended in quite well with the pavement as it slowly crossed from the railroad tracks to the Brown Deer Park golf course north of Good Hope road.

I hope it finds a nice little pond to swim in.

turn out the light, turn out the light, turn out the light. We all knew this day would come, we just didn’t know when.

Today I walked up one side of the park and down the other and didn’t see a thing worth taking a picture of. Oh, I might see something fun or pretty to show you from time to time, and if I do, I’ll post it here, but until then, we’re gonna have to put this thing on pause.

Before I go, here are some pretty asters, probably New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), finally coming into bloom, but I’m sad to say that I couldn’t find an equally pretty butterfly, moth, or bee to pose on them for us.

Thanks for tuning in, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the show.

It is forecast to be nice and sunny this afternoon, but in the meantime it is still pretty grey, and there were only a few critters willing to sit, stand, or float for a picture this morning.

On the river, a couple of mallards and a blue heron were going about their business, as usual. Birds gotta eat, eh?

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On the pond, I didn’t see any frogs or turtles this time, but one wood duck hen was still there, and she was even willing to come in for a closeup.

Finally, at least one butterfly is still in the park, a monarch looking nice and fresh, and it appeared to be trying to dry out and/or warm up in what little sun there was poking through the clouds. It sure wasn’t getting any nectar from that ratty old fruit tree leaf, right?

And that’s all there was. Pretty slim pickin’s, but at least we got a splash of color, and there’s hope for the future.

It rained all morning so I stayed in. There was a break after lunch so I ventured out to see if anyone was about.

I was happy to see two wood duck hens, two painted turtles, and even a huge bullfrog on the pond.

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In the meadow by the boat launch, I found a bumblebee and a clouded sulphur (Colias philodice) on the goldenrod.

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Finally, on the river, there were a few mallards.

Then it started to rain again, and I headed home.

That is all.

Well, the rain seems finally to be taking a break, but it’s still cool and dreary out. Baby steps, right?

I was out earlier than usual and saw no deer nor anyone on the pond, but the river was pretty busy. One blue heron and one sandpiper were there along with a couple dozen Canada geese and maybe a dozen mallards, but we’ve seen them all before, so I’ll spare you the blurry pictures.

The beaver still appear to be stalled, and the mudflats were surprising empty. The orb-weaver is still there but tucked up in some leaves at the edge of its web.

Pretty much the only thing I’ve got to show for walking up one side of the park and down the other is this picture of some pretty asters coming into bloom amongst some brown-eyed susans starting to fade.

Better luck next time, I guess, eh? Maybe the beaver will get back to work, a Cooper’s hawk will finally catch some breakfast, or the mystery in the river will reveal itself. Fingers crossed.