Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Guatemala Day 1

Anne and I arrived safe and sound in Guatemala City early this afternoon, and after we delt with the shenanigans of their new-fangled, all-digital customs declaration, we walked the few blocks to our hotel for the night. On the way, I could hear plenty of birds calling, and I couldn’t wait to check in so I could get my gear out.

While Anne unpacked her stuff, I took some pictures out the window of our room, and this is the male great-tailed grackle who was energetically defending his territory from atop a utility pole across the street. We saw them before, in Nevada on our way home from our trip to the Grand Canyon last year, but this is the first time I got to see them nesting.

We walked to a great cantina for a late-late lunch/early supper, and when we returned to our room, I continued taking pictures out the window. Here’s the female grackle who left the territory defending to him and spent more of her time hauling nesting material up to a well-hidden spot in the tree that shades our courtyard.

There were a couple of white-winged doves perched on the wires strung between the utility poles, and here’s one showing the backside and blue eyering. I first saw them in Texas a couple of winters ago, but I must not have gotten a picture worth showing.

Here’s another showing the name-sake white wing stripe.

Meanwhile, this tropical kingbird kept its distance down the street. I did see at least on our trip to Brazil a couple of summers ago, but its picture didn’t make the cut at that time, and I have no idea why because it’s way better than the one I got today.

Finally, there were swifts overhead, which I failed to identify, and a hummingbird checking out the tree the grackles were in, which I also failed to identify, but the bird I was most excited about is this yellow-winged tanager (Thraupis abbas), in the tree across the intersection from our hotel. It’s my very first, so Woo Hoo!

Tomorrow we’re off to Biotopo del Queztal for a couple of days, so wish us luck! And sorry about the typos. My editor is off for today, so Lord only knows what I typed.

Travel Day 1

We left Milwaukee before sunrise this morning, we don’t land in Guatemala until 1:30pm, so I don’t have much hope of getting any new pictures for you today. Instead, let me show you a couple of my favorites from our visit the Brazilian Amazon back in 2023.

A fork-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) perched on a power line over a little town in which we stopped on our way to a jungle lodge.

A Manaus slender-legged tree frog (Osteocephalus taurinus) perched on the railing right outside our cabin after dinner.

A greater ani (Crotophaga major) along one of the zillion waterways we went down.

A pair of Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) off the shore of Manaus.

A capped heron (Pilherodius pileatus)

A giant ameiva (Ameiva ameiva) that has just caught a dragonfly on the lawn of one of the lodges we stayed at.

A great kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)

A pair of capuchin monkeys

A hoatzin or hoactzin (Opisthocomus hoazin)

Finally, a Crethon daggerwing (Marpesia crethon) deep in the forest that kept flitting around and really made me work for this shot.

Wish us that kind of luck again!

Winter goes for one more deep dive…

Well, it got even colder overnight, down to -6°F by sunrise, but the wind stayed about the same as yesterday, so not too strong, and the sky stayed clear, so there was plenty of sun, and it was a very pretty morning in Estabrook Park, despite the supposed -25°F windchill.

Most of the critters, however, seemed to have no time to appreciate how pretty it was, and they were probably just busy staying alive. One possible exception was this male house finch by the pond, who must have felt full and warm enough to spend his time singing a little tune.

I also heard some black-capped chickadees, but this one was quite focused on foraging instead. So focused, in fact, that it let me stand about ten feet away for several minutes and try to capture it during the few moments when it looked like it was posing for pictures.

Here it is again.

That’s the whole show for today, I’m afraid, and I won’t have an Estabrook Park update for you until later next week, because Anne has another little trip planned, and she’s letting me tag along again. As usual, I’ll bring my camera with me, and I’ll try to share as we go, but I can’t make any guarantees about getting pictures or having the connectivity to post them. Wish us luck!

Oh, and while I’m away, by buddy John Kasper has offered to host the weekly wildlife walk next Monday, and the current forecast suggests things will warm up by then. Maybe you’ll get to see the first red-winged blackbird or the first yellow-bellied sapsucker of the year. Good luck!

A cold and quiet mid-February morning

It really was +1° at sunrise this morning, but winds were a little lighter than forecast, at 11 mph, and the sky was crystal clear, so it was a very nice time to be in Estabrook Park. One other birder was hardy or foolhardy enough, as the case may be, to come out and join our weekly wildlife walk, and we saw 17 bird species together, but I don’t believe we saw another person in the park.

We stopped by the pond first, which was noisy with dozens of house finches and house sparrows, but here’s a lone robin keeping quiet and basking in the sun at the north end.

We did glimpse at least one white-throated sparrow, and I got a picture of one fox sparrow, but the young white-crowned sparrow gave us the slip today.

At the river, we did glimpse the hermit thrush, and here’s a male red-bellied woodpecker, but the catbird also kept out of sight.

There were still a few common mergansers on the slivers of open river water, but this trio of common goldeneye hens made a nicer picture.

Since that’s it for the pictures I managed to take today, here’s a look at the young bald eagle that flew upstream over the river yesterday morning and spooked all the mallards into the air.

Finally, here’s another look at that female northern cardinal who posed so nicely yesterday.

Classic Wisconsin Winter Weather, and a short Havenwoods Recap

Temps were in the low twenties, and it was windy, cloudy, and snowy this morning in Estabrook Park. Happily, the clouds and the snow they were dropping moved out by about 8:30, and it turned into not too bad of a morning. By then I had reached the pond, and this septet of mourning doves were lined up on a railing to greet me.

A bit closer, this male downy woodpecker was busily checking the sticks for something to eat.

I did see the young white-crowned sparrow and a few white-throated sparrows in the woods on the east side of the pond, but they were still busy foraging, so I took a picture instead of this female cardinal, who appeared to be on break and perhaps digesting a belly already full of seeds.

Finally, on my way back south, I got a nice look at one of our hermit thrushes as it warmed its toes in the seep that comes out of the side of the bluff near the bottom of stairway nine, and which it seems to have started treating as its own personal hot tub.

Lastly, the Winter Break Milwaukee event at Havenwoods State Forest yesterday afternoon appears to have been quite a success, despite the snowy weather. I saw folks outside on dog sleds, fat-tire bikes, and snow shoes. There were plenty of activities inside, too. Kudos to Kate Pociask for organizing it.

We even had about a dozen takers for our bird walks. One of the highlights for me was the small flock of American tree sparrows, which we do get to see in Estabrook from time to time, but not very regularly. They seem to really like to forage for seeds in tall grasses, of which Havenwoods has acres.

That open grassland also attracted this darling American kestrel, and his orange breast and blue cap mark him as a male. He even bobbed his tail for us as he perched there, as advertised.

Lastly, here’s a Queen Anne’s lace blossom, long gone to seed and then picked clean by birds, that did an impressive job of capturing a snowball.

For folks who came on the bird walk, I’ve posted on flickr all the pictures I took but didn’t use here.

As for the weekly wildlife walk in Estabrook tomorrow morning, the current forecast calls for sun, but +1°F with 13 mph winds, so it is expected to feel like -17°. I’ll be there, of course, ’cause the critters still haven’t learned to count themselves, and ya’ll are welcome, but I hope no one feels obligated to join us.

More Snow!

The second batch of snow this week arrived overnight, and now we’ve got close to ten inches on the ground in Estabrook Park. Plus, this storm isn’t through with us yet, and so the clouds are still super thick. The air was almost still, however, and temps are approaching freezing, so it was a wonderful morning for a hike in the park anyway.

On my way north, I found our riverside hermit thrush in its usual spot, near the bottom of stairway nine.

My first big surprise of the morning is that the great horned owl put in a repeat appearance on the southern island, and it was way less buried in the sticks than yesterday.

At the pond, I did see a fox sparrow, and the young white-crowned kept out of sight, but the star was this white-throated sparrow plucking seeds from the sumac.

Finally, as I returned to the river on my way back south, look who decided to show up, our “rare” catbird, and it might have put on its best show for us yet.

That’s it for this morning, and now I’m off to Havenwoods State Forest for the Winter Break Milwaukee, where Bird City Milwaukee will be leading a couple of 1-hour bird walks at 1 and 2 pm. I’ll be there till 4pm, so come on out if you are able, dress for the weather, and I hope I’ll see you there.

A few regulars and a pleasant surprise

The weather forecaster on the news last evening claimed that the new snow on the ground would help temperatures drop overnight, and the +3°F we had this morning doesn’t prove him wrong. The air was almost still, however, so both Anne and I didn’t think it felt too bad out there. The sun’s effort to burn a hole through the building cloud cover for a while, was valiant but in vain, so the pictures are a bit grey today.

Happily, yesterday was so pretty, I have plenty of pictures left over from then, so let’s start with this black-capped chickadee by the river.

This morning, I did see the catbird again, but this is exactly the kind of grey picture I was warning you about.

For a break from the grey, here’s a dark-eyed junco, from yesterday and also by the river, just before it gulps down that bright red spindle seed.

The big surprise this morning, which just happened to coincide with a high-water mark of morning sunlight, was finding a great horned owl on the southern island again for the first time since New Years Eve. I can’t tell if this is one of the pair that we hope have gone off to nest, and this is just the equivalent of sleeping on the couch, or if this is a third owl, but whatever the case, I sure was happy to see it.

Here’s a female downy woodpecker beside the pond and against that beautiful blue sky we had yesterday.

This morning, I could only find one hermit thrush, the one by the river, and it appears to be warming its toes in the water seeping out of the ground near the bottom of stairway nine. Clever bird, or desperate.

Finally, to end on a sunnier note, here’s a male house finch from yesterday with its beak covered in the snow it was just gobbling down from that fresh pile beside it.

Lastly, I see the forecast for tomorrow afternoon is 31° and “snow showers,” so Havenwoods State Forest should be a regular winter wonderland for the Winter Break Milwaukee. As I’ve mentioned before, Bird City Milwaukee will be leading a couple of 1-hour bird walks at 1 and 2 pm, and I’ll be there from 12 to 4pm, so come on out if you are able, dress for the weather, and I hope I’ll see you there.

Rarities!

First, the snow really did come, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that we received a full eight inches in Estabrook Park. I know some locals are about as thrilled with it as the mourning dove looked yesterday, but I am very happy. Even better, temps were in the low teens, winds were light, and there was not a cloud in the sky, so I would have had to work at it to take a bad picture today. Even the mourning doves looked happier this morning, but I suppose that could simply be because they’ve found each other.

As for the rarities implied by the title, the grey catbird, whom I haven’t seen since the first of the month, and I haven’t been able to show you since January, finally put in an appearance. “Welcome back, Sweetie!”

Once again, I couldn’t find anything to photograph at the north end, even on a day like today, but the pond made up for it. Here’s a female northern cardinal sampling the sumac.

Here’s our young white-crowned sparrow, who ebird now considers to be a rarity, too. Woo hoo!

Not to be outdone, a dark-eyed junco also posed on the sumac and even managed to squeeze in some snow.

Finally, I am now sure that we have two hermit thrushes, one by the river, and a second one at the pond. I saw both this morning, and ebird now considers them to be rare as well. Here’s the one at the pond posing like a pro. I wonder if they know about each other.

Lastly, I saw several birds enjoying the fresh snow, and here’s a robin just about to take a big bite.

Some real snow at last, maybe…

It sure is snowing in Estabrook now, but it really didn’t get going until about 9am. Thus, I had nearly two hours this morning to take some pictures, and here’s what I got.

I was checking for the song sparrow or winter wren by the river, and there were a couple of birds, perhaps downy woodpeckers, incessantly making distress calls, so I tried to find what they were distressed about. As I approached the edge of the water, I inadvertently spooked this Cooper’s hawk, who flew up into the big maple tree that grows there.

Besides sporting two ankle bracelets, which the others we’ve been seeing lately do not appear to have, it kept wiping its beak on that branch, which got me to wonder what it was wiping off its beak, so I looked over the edge, and there I found a fresh common merganser hen carcass lying on the ice.

It was pretty grewsome, so I’ll spare you the picture, but I immediately wondered if it might have succumbed to the new avian flu that’s going around, since I highly doubt the diminutive Cooper’s did in the heftier merganser all by itself.

I called DNR, but they said they are not yet concerned about single birds, so I used a long stick to bring the carcass up to the dumpster in the maintenance yard, to at least keep other birds off of it, and went on my way while hoping for the best.

I didn’t see anything to photograph at the north end or the pond, and I only took my camera back out when I found the song sparrow right about where I had been looking for it earlier. You can see that the snow had really started to accumulate by then.

I didn’t see the winter wren at all today, but I do have one more nice picture from yesterday, so here you go. Don’t its claws look like they are from a much larger bird that the wren is merely perched on them?

Finally, I opted to go home along the paved path atop the bluff, instead of trying my luck on the hilly river trail in these conditions. At the top of stairway nine, I gave one more look into the bushes for the catbird, and found this mourning dove collecting snow and looking less than thrilled with that development.

This snow storm is forecast to be done by tomorrow morning, and the storm predicted for Friday should be mostly over by Saturday morning, so Havenwoods State Forest should be a regular winter wonderland for the Saturday afternoon Winter Break Milwaukee. As I mentioned yesterday, Bird City Milwaukee will be leading a couple of 1-hour bird walks at 1 and 2 pm “through the quieter blue trail that leads to the small pond. [They have] binoculars and monoculars they can loan you for free if you bring a piece of collateral to surrender, like an ID.” I’ll be there from 12 to 4pm, so come on out if you are able, and I’ll see you there.

Another turn in the February rotation…

It was a bit cooler than yesterday in Estabrook Park this morning, but the breeze felt lighter, and the sun came out after a bit, so it was another very nice time to be looking for critters.

There are still a few common mergansers on the river, but this goldeneye drake but on the better show today.

A hermit thrush was at the pond again, but I still don’t know if this is a second bird or if the one we used to see by the river has moved up to the pond.

There was also this Cooper’s hawk at the pond, and it does look like the one we just saw at the river yesterday. Perhaps this is the start of a trend, and I’ll find the catbird there next.

Finally, the winter wren who has been hanging out by the river lately has not yet moved to the pond, and at long last opted to show its cute little self again today.

Lastly, as part of Winter Break Milwaukee, Bird City Milwaukee will be leading a couple of 1-hour bird walks at 1 and 2 pm on Saturday, Feb 15, in Havenwoods State Forest “through the quieter blue trail that leads to the small pond. [They have] binoculars and monoculars they can loan you for free if you bring a piece of collateral to surrender, like an ID.” I’ll be there from 12 to 4pm, so come on out if you are able, and I’ll see you there.