Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

A cold and quiet start to the new year…

It was cold and cloudy this morning in Estabrook, but the wind was light, we already have a nice new coating of snow on the ground from the previous couple of days, and the snow that is coming down now hadn’t started yet. Plus, the park was nearly empty of people, and traffic noise was low, so my stroll along the river was a very nice and quiet way to start the new year.

Despite the cold and them having stayed up late to ring in the new year, there were still a few critters out and about today, and here’s an American red squirrel who looked a little chilly.

I did see one goldeneye, a few common mergansers, and a slew of mallards on the river, but the water was pretty empty around the two islands, and this mature bald eagle perched high over the far riverbank and looking quite hungry was probably the cause of that.

I didn’t take a picture of the goldeneye today, but here’s another one from yesterday that came out pretty well.

I didn’t see a fox sparrow today, but here’s one from yesterday, when the lighting was just about the same.

It was quite a bit warmer yesterday, right around freezing, so a bunch of house sparrows were taking the opportunity to bathe in a bit of open water in the pond. Their wet feathers looked so much darker than they do when dry, I was all excited for a moment about spotting a new bird.

Finally, here’s a male northern cardinal to provide a festive splash of color to an otherwise gray day.

I see that we’re forecast to have clear skies tomorrow, so maybe I’ll get a chance to photograph a goldeneye in some warm morning sunlight for a change. Wish me luck!

A big finish to a big year…

Well, shoot! Somehow, I forgot to finish my post yesterday and send it out to you. I even had some nice pictures for you, as you will soon see, but I must have gotten distracted. Sorry about that!

Anyhoo, after the early snow yesterday morning, which was barely more than a dusting, the sun came out for a bit and nicely lit up this dark-eyed junco beside the river at the north end.

Thankfully, the sun was still shining by the time I found this red-bellied woodpecker by the pond.

Finally, as far as yesterday went, here’s an American tree sparrow, also beside the pond and always a treat to see.

Now, on to this morning, when we had more snow, less sun, and milder temps. I don’t know if it was because of those weather conditions, they’ve figured out that we don’t pose much of an immediate threat, or if they simply had bellies full of fish and needed naps, but these common merganser hens, between the two islands in the river, were especially accommodating this morning.

When I got to the pond, I was working on another tree sparrow picture when I spotted this beauty drifting upstream over the river, and I can’t believe my luck that a picture came out this clear, given the distance and the lighting. For those in the back row, that’s an immature bald eagle and its breast looks darker than the one we saw looking on as its elders sang their duet a few weeks ago, which suggests that we have at least two youngsters patrolling our stretch of river, in addition to the two adults. Yippee!

Back at the pond and just a bit behind and above the tree sparrow, this female cardinal was busily digging seeds out of a sumac clump.

Finally, the huge news for this morning is that a couple of goldeneye hens have finally deigned to join us. “Hello, Sweeties!” I did manage one dark and grainy picture of the two together as I made my way upstream, from which I will spare you, and then one gave me a second chance on my way back downstream later in the morning.

I hope you have a safe and happy time celebrating the end of 2025 this evening, and I should have new content for you in the new year, if I don’t get distracted before I send it out. Wish me luck!

Winter blows back into town…

Whelp, the recent thaw is over, at least for now, and winter is back with blowing snow and freezing cold. Yippee!

The bigger surprise, for me and the two wildlife walkers who joined me this morning, was finding a pair of cedar waxwings looking for berries in the bushes around the pond. We’re well within their year-round range, but they must know of good berry sources elsewhere, because we don’t get to see much of them during the winter in Estabrook Park.

The next surprise was eventually finding eleven (11!) common mergansers on the river, two drakes and nine hens. Even better, they all lined up so I could get them in one shot. I’m sure that is a record for me.

That’s the whole show for today, however, but it is a huge improvement over the last couple of days, thank goodness. I see that the cold is forecast to deepen by tomorrow morning, but the wind should ease up a bit, and the sun might poke through the clouds, so I have a hope that this trend of improving pictures might continue. Keep your fingers crossed!

A look back at some birds of the Balkans…

Sheesh! As if the lack of critters to photograph lately in Estabrook Park was not enough of a problem, today the fog is still so thick at noon that if a bald eagle perched over the island in the pond, I’m not sure that I could even capture an image of it.

So, this is a perfect opportunity to look back at some of the amazing sights that we did get to see this year, and let’s focus on the Balkans this time. As you may recall, Anne put together a wonderful little tour for us back in January, and these are some of my favorite wildlife pictures from that trip.

Before we had even reached the Balkans, we had a nice, day-long layover in Vienna, and I showed you a gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) that I spotted along a small river that flows through the center of the city. I didn’t even realize it at the time, because I confused it with the yellow wagtail I had seen in South Holland, but it was a brand new species for us. Woo hoo!

When we finally did reach the Balkans, I noticed black redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros) seemed to be nearly everywhere, and here’s a cute little female showing off her “red start” in Shkodër, “the fifth-most-populous city” of Albania.

In the historic old town of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, we saw our very first alpine chough, aka yellow-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus), which is thought to “nest at a higher altitude than any other bird.” Yikes!

Before we started to make our way home, I had one more chance to look for critters outside of the picturesque city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, and I found a male western black redstart who really showed off the black mask they can have, and he almost let me take a portrait with him in it. Boy, they are flighty!

Finally, once we were on the road, we stopped along the way to visit the Ostrog Monastery in Montenegro, and there we saw our first white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos).

We did see plenty of other wonderful sights during our short visit there, but these are my favorite wildlife pictures, and if you get the chance to visit the Balkans yourself, I hope you don’t hesitate to take it.

A shutout!

The doldrums that seemed to have settle on Estabrook Park lately reached a climax today, and I didn’t even get a single picture, let alone see anything I would have liked to capture on film. Fortunately, it is only a few days until the end of 2025, so it’s a perfect time to start reviewing the highlights of the past year, and let’s start with the bird species we saw in Estabrook for the first time.

Back in April, I finally got a decent picture of sandhill cranes flying over. Perhaps some will land one day, but this will have to do until then.

In May we finally got a good look at a common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), which I had glimpsed soaring over Shorewood, but never even tried to photograph.

Also in May, our first prothonotary warbler stopped in, twice, so I got some nice shots.

In July our very first broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) stopped in to say hi.

Then things settle down for a while, bird wise, until just this month when we finally got a look at the Carolina wren I’d been hearing for a while.

Well, maybe I’ll have better luck in the park tomorrow, but if not, we’ll continue more highlights of 2025.

In search of color…

It was a gray-on-gray morning in Estabrook Park, with gray fog sandwiched between thick gray clouds and melting gray ice. Sure, gray is technically a color, along with black and white, but I went searching for colors with more saturation.

This nonbreeding herring gull, with pale eyes and legs but a yellow bill and perched on a gray street lamp, was a tiny step in that direction.

I had a hope that this downy woodpecker, appearing to excavate a nesting cavity already, would have the red nape of a male…

but that was not to be.

This white throated sparrow broadened the spectrum a little more, with a rich, brown back, in addition to its yellow lores.

Finally, a male northern cardinal came to my rescue with a whole pallet of red hues. Phew!

Wishing the best to you and yours…

I got a late start in Estabrook Park this morning, for reasons, but there were very few other folks there, so I don’t think my tardiness had a negative effect on my wildlife viewing.

Things were pretty quiet at the river, however, so I was counting on the pond to take up the slack, and we got off to a nice start with this male red-bellied woodpecker, who appeared to be looking for something or someone. He wasn’t foraging, basking in the sun, nor calling, which are the activities I usually see them busy at, so I don’t know what he was up to, but he did let me sneak a nice enough picture before he moved on.

Then this mature Cooper’s hawk swooped in, and that was the end of the “little bird” show at the pond. Thankfully, it also let me sneak a nice shot before it made a try for some of the sparrows on the island, and it then bolted off in search of other prey that it might catch off-guard.

Finally, it was time for me to get home for the holiday feast Anne was preparing, and what the woodpecker was doing or what the hawk caught for its own lunch will just have to remain a mystery.

‘Twas the morning before Christmas…

and all through the park, barely a creature was stirring, barely even this mourning dove. I know, I know, and I’d love to even see, let alone photograph for you, a live mouse in Estabrook Park, stirring or not, but I haven’t so far, and I’m not holding my breath. Instead, I haven’t shown you a morning dove yet this month, so here you go.

Yet another bird joins the first timers club…

The sky is starting to haze up a bit now, but it was a beautiful morning in Estabrook Park, with mild temps again, still air, and clear skies for a while.

The first pretty sight I found taking full advantage of the golden sunlight was this common merganser hen up on the ice above the falls to preen with the mallards.

I’ve been seeing two or three crows near the upstream island lately, and this pair appeared to be having a tender moment today.

A mature bald eagle was perched high over the far riverbank again, but it was alone this time.

I didn’t see any other odd ducks on the river, and I did see a Cooper’s hawk at the pond, but it gave me the slip this time. Plus, there was nobody else new or especially photogenic there, despite the beautiful day, so I started heading home.

On my way, I stopped by the southern soccer fields, where I had seen the winter wren yesterday, in hopes that it might let me have a nicer picture today, and I did get a glimpse, but before I could bring my camera to bear, look who showed up instead to chase it away. . I’ve been hearing this character near the same location for much of the fall, and birds of the same species every once in a while for years, but this is the first time one let me sneak a picture here.

Please give a warm Estabrook welcome to the very first Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) I’ve ever managed to capture on film in all of Wisconsin, let alone Milwaukee County. I see now that their natural range doesn’t quite extend into the state, which could explain my difficulty.

It only gave me one try, and it’s not quite the portrait I was granted in Connecticut, but it sure is good enough for a positive ID, and it makes the 5th wren species we’ve seen in Estabrook. Hallelujah!

Some dashes of brown to dilute all the gray…

Wow! It sure is a very gray day in Estabrook Park, but the good news, at least for folks who have been less than thrilled with the recent winter weather, is that the temps are mild, the breeze is very light, and there has been hardly any precipitation at all. Even better, three folks turned up for this morning’s wildlife walk. Yay! It was nice to catch up.

Our first treat came at the pond when we spotted the only fox sparrow I’ve seen since the winter weather got a nice jump start back at the beginning of December.

Next, a small flock of American tree sparrows swooped down onto the lawn. They haven’t been quite as scarce, but are still always a pleasure to see.

And there were a few white-throated sparrows, as usual, to round out our native sparrow trifecta.

As we started to make our way toward the river, I heard the call a of Cooper’s hawk, and it was pretty high and deep into the woods, but we found it eventually, and here it is. The way the brown of its face seems to bleed onto the top of its white breast makes it look more like the one we saw on Friday, than the one we saw on Wednesday, which would suggest that we’ve got a couple of youngsters coming to the pond to hunt, woo hoo, but I could be mistaken.

When we did finally reach the river, Kathy quickly spotted this bald eagle on the ice for us. Its feathers look wet, and it kept reaching its beak down to the ice or water, but we couldn’t really tell what it was doing. In any case, I was surprised by how long it lingered there after it had spotted us.

Perhaps the reason for its ease was that it had a companion keeping watch from a tree overhead. The one on the ice did eventually fly up into the trees as well, but they didn’t perch together so it was difficult to judge relative size, and I don’t know which was the male and which was the female. Either way, it sure was cool to see the pair again, even if they didn’t serenade us this time.

Finally, folks had to get on with their day, so we parted ways, and I headed back home, but look who I saw along the way: this darling winter wren.

The current forecast calls for tomorrow morning to be a repeat of today’s, so here’s hoping I see as many birds again.