This morning in Estabrook Park was prettier than I had been led to expect. Temps and winds, however, were both in the low teens, so the windchill was right around 0°F, and there were not many critters out and about.
Sure, there were plenty of ducks on the river, including common goldeneye and merganser hens, but they can’t really pose in front of the nice blue sky, and we’ve seen them a lot lately. Instead, the one bird who had chosen a spot in which to hunker down that did make a nice picture was this American robin.
Finally, I see the forecast for tomorrow morning is down to -13°F, with winds at 15 mph, for a combined windchill of -36°F, but at least the sun should be out. If I can’t get any new pictures for you, however, I will be sure to dig up a couple from the archives. Don’t worry.
It did snow again overnight, it did warm up into the twenties, and the wind did stay light, which was all very nice, but I sure could have used a little sun to coax the birds out to bask in its warmth.
On the other hand, I did get to see my first blue jay in Estabrook Park for the year, so the conditions were just right for something. The little “rascal”, since “sweetie” doesn’t quite sound right, given their reputation at the bird feeder, even perched right there for as long as it took for me to fiddle with my camera and focus in on it. That was likely due, however, to its having not yet shaken off the overnight cold, more than kindness, but I’ll take it!
Finally, here’s another look at the red-tailed hawk, also from yesterday. And yes, it is facing a slightly different direction, so it really is a different picture. You can check it yourself if you don’t trust me.
I see we’re due for a little more snow overnight and then a little more cold and a little more wind in the morning, but there might be more sun, and that’s a trade I’m willing to make.
This morning in Estabrook was just as cold as yesterday, but the breeze was much lighter, and the sky was just as blue, so it was a very nice morning for a walk in the park.
The common merganser hens are still with us, and either they are getting used to people walking up and down the riverbanks or the sun just felt too good to give up because they stayed parked on the ice for a change.
The surprise guests of the morning where these two Canada geese. Sure, the water around the islands will be full of them in a couple of months, as they vie for nesting spots, but they’ve been staying away for a while, and these are the first ones I’ve seen in Estabrook this year.
The pair of common goldeneye hens are still on the lower river, as well, and I’d love to get a nice picture of the two together, but the best I could manage this morning was one being photobombed by another merganser hen. At least it gives us a chance to see how similar their body plumage is. Fun, eh?
Finally, the biggest surprise of the morning was spotting my first red-tailed hawk in the park of the year. It was perched near the top of a pine tree at the north edge of the southern soccer fields, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one there before. Anyway, I’m also glad that somebody finally posed in front of that beautiful blue sky. Yay!
I see that we’re due for some more snow overnight and then it should warm up all the way into the twenties. A heat wave! Plus, the winds should stay light, and the sun might even show its face, so it could be another very pretty morning. Keep your fingers crossed!
Well, it certainly was colder and windier than yesterday, with temps below zero and the wind chill in the negative twenties, but the sky was blue, and the sun was shining bright, so that was a very pleasant surprise. The critters were keeping close to the ground to keep out of the wind, which made eye-level shots easy, but that didn’t give me much of a chance to capture any of that pretty sky on film, unfortunately.
The first critter I found appearing to soak up a little of the warm sun was our red squirrel by the pond. I didn’t see any walnuts this time, so I sure hope it has more stashed somewhere.
There was also a female cardinal, and based on the strategic placement of that stick in front of her face, she could well be the same one we just saw on Wednesday.
On the other hand, this downy woodpecker was by the river, so it is unlikely to be the same one we saw on Saturday. You can almost see some blue sky in the background, at least.
Finally, the pair of common goldeneye hens were still on the river, and the nice light gave me an chance to get some new pictures with a prettier reflection on the water and some flecks of ice on their feathers.
I see we’re in for similar temps and skies tomorrow but with much less wind, so I’m looking forward to that, and I bet I’m not the only one.
Temps were in the single digits this morning, with a nice breeze out of the west that pushed the “feels like” temperature down into the negative teens. I’d even call that “brisk”, if not necessarily “bad news”. This is the middle of January in Wisconsin, after all. The unambiguous good news, on the other hand, is that the sky was mostly clear, so there was plenty of light to work with, and the water looked a pretty blue instead of the steely gray we’ve been seeing lately.
This isn’t a portrait, by any means, but a crowd was already gathering at 7:15am, and I didn’t want to be “that guy” or even one of “those guys”, so I took a few shots from across the field, about 200 yards away, and high-tailed it out of there. I’m sure I’ll get a better chance someday, but this will do for now.
From there, I moved north to Grant Park, in hopes of spotting the titmouse that had been reported there yesterday, but I had no luck. Instead, I did find the mute swan reported at the South Shore Yacht Club. I had glimpsed it in the distance on my previous visit, and I hoped to get a picture today, but the bird wasn’t really in a cooperative mood. We’ve seen them in Connecticut and South Holland, of course, but this is my first one in the Milwaukee area.
Finally, I stopped in at Lakeshore State Park, and as I was trying to count the goldeneyes and scaups in the lagoon, one duck was not like the others. That’s because it is our first redhead of the season. Woo hoo, and I sure hope we get to see one in Estabrook Park soon!
I see that the weather tomorrow is supposed to be colder, windier, and cloudier. Brrrr. That’s not the best news ever, but at least it won’t be raining!
After a short warmup following the snow yesterday, it cooled back down, we got another 3-4 inches overnight, temps are back down into the teens, and it has continued to snow lightly all day. Plus, I see we are not due to get above freezing for the rest of the month, so winter is back and back for a while. Nice.
The rest of the critters were similarly seeking shelter from the snow, and here’s a female downy woodpecker working on the bottom side of a branch by the pond.
The pair of goldeneye hens were still on the river, but no drake has joined them yet, and here’s another image from the nice viewing I had yesterday. They dive for their food in 32°F water all winter long, so snow doesn’t seem to faze them.
I see we’re due for less snow, more cold, and about the same cloud cover tomorrow morning, so nobody’s gonna be out basking in the sun, but at least they shouldn’t be hiding from the snow. Time’ll tell, eh?
The promised snow did arrive this morning, and it kept me out of Estabrook Park till 10:30am. Happily, not all the critters were done with their mornings by then, and I was able to see a few. Here are the ones I managed to capture on film:
A mature bald eagle over the far riverbank. They are not even considered “infrequent” on ebird, I noticed for the first time today, let alone “rare”, so let’s hope that’s really as good a thing as it sounds.
A male red-bellied woodpecker picking sumac seeds from a bunch over the pond.
A dark-eyed junco bathing in the stream that flows from the pond to the river. The air was just above freezing, after all.
One of the two goldeneye hens on the river below what’s left of the falls.
I see it’s supposed to be cold, cloudy, and windy tomorrow morning, so maybe that will entice a goldeneye drake to fly up from the lake for a visit. One can dream, right?
It was a gorgeous, if cool, morning in Estabrook Park, with even nicer weather than predicted. The critters, however, must have had something else on their minds, because they were not in a cooperative mood today.
For example, this is the best look a fox sparrow on the island in the pond would let me have. Boy, it would have made a beautiful picture, with the sun shining like that, if it had only come out of the bramble for a second. Oh well. Partial looks are better than no looks, right?
Speaking of partial looks, this white breasted nuthatch, in an oak tree beside the pond, really took that to the extreme, especially compared to their favorite pose. At least it gave me an excuse to get some of that blue sky on film.
Finally, and this came even earlier than yesterday, here’s a second look at the red squirrel from yesterday after it had retrieved that walnut and got to work on it. I’m not sure I even laid eyes on a single red or gray squirrel at all today. Sheesh!
I see that we’re due for some more snow overnight and a bit of a warmup, so maybe the critters will be too distracted by the change in scenery to worry about lil’ ol’ me.
What a fine Wisconsin-winter-weather welcome home I had this morning! When I landed at Mitchel late yesterday afternoon, I could tell it was warm out, and we saw on the news last evening that Milwaukee missed the record high temperature for yesterday’s date by one degree. And that’s a thin degree, on Herr Fahrenheit’s scale, not one of those wide degrees cooked up later by Prof Celsius. By the time the sun came up this morning, however, it was well below freezing, the wind was stiff, and snow was falling. Wow! Winter is back!
Anyway, the snow petered out by about 8am, so I headed out to see if anyone was up and about in Estabrook Park. I sure wish this little cutie, the first winter wren we’ve seen in a while, had waited for a nice sunny day to show its face, but I’ll take what I can get and like it!
As luck would have it, there was a brief break in the clouds by the time I reached the pond, and it lit up this female cardinal perfectly. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t let me sneak a bit to my right to get that little stick out from in front of her face, but not every picture has to be a portrait. Right?
Soon after the cardinal picture, the clouds drifted back across the sun, and a little red squirrel had taken her place to check on that walnut. As we’ve seen before, the nut was probably wedged into that spot by a red squirrel and quite possibly this one.
Finally, and I was thrilled even to reach four presentable pictures today, here’s a black-capped chickadee that had just finished eating a sunflower seed out of its shell and was now shouting about something that I couldn’t quite make out.
I see that we are forecast to have more sun, more cold, and less wind tomorrow morning, and that sounds good to me.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be sitting a lot today, in cars, airports, and airplanes, so we have to go back to the archives for pictures. Plus, I did a terrible job of reviewing the amazing sights we saw in 2025, so here’s a look back at some highlights from Jordan.
When we got to the Dead Sea, I was thrilled to get another chance to see common hoopoes. We have seen hoopoes before, in Malawi, which I believe would make them African common hoopoes, but since I read that Jordan is technically on the Asian continent, perhaps these are Eurasian common hoopoes. I did ask, but it wouldn’t say.
Finally, a visit to Jordan just wouldn’t be complete without seeing its national bird, the Sinai rosefinche (Carpodacus synoicus), and here’s one at Wadi Rum. Thanks again to Anne for making this whole trip possible, and if you ever get the chance to visit Jordan yourself, I hope you jump at it. We found it to be just wonderful.
If things go well today, I should be back in Estabrook tomorrow morning, and I see it is forecast to be windy there, so who knows what I’ll see, but I’ll be sure to let you know.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 