The clouds over Estabrook Park this morning were thick and a little leaky, but the winds were pretty light, and the temps were mild for January, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the critters.
The gray catbird, who is still considered rare here for this time of year, kicked things off with an appearance by the river, though quite shrouded in twigs.
Just a hundred yards upstream, the winter wren also popped up to say “hi”.
Out on the water, there are still a bunch of mallards, a few common mergansers, and one pair of goldeneyes, but the big surprise of the day was this pair of Canada geese checking out the recently opened water around the northern island.
Boy, they had barely landed before they got right to work on making more geese. No time to waste!
The pictures this morning aren’t much to look at after that, but I was lucky enough with the coyote in Estabrook yesterday morning to have a couple good ones to show you, and here’s a second. What a magnificent creature, eh?
Oh, what a morning we had in Estabrook Park today. The temps at sunrise were in the high twenties, the winds were light, and the sky was crystal clear, so it was an ideal January day. All I needed was for the critters to come out, and I am happy to report that they did a pretty good job at that.
I was looking for the hermit thrush or catbird by the seep at the bottom of stairway nine, where we’ve been seeing them lately, when somehow out of the corner of my eye I saw this amazing creature calmly strolling along the edge of the ice out on the river, perhaps checking to make sure that all the mallards are healthy. Woo hoo!
At first, I tried to get some pictures through the sticks as it moved, but then it paused right in the open, so I could really get a nice portrait. If you click on the image or this link, so you can see the original on flickr and zoom in, you can even see its whiskers and a glint in its eye. I haven’t gotten a coyote picture since December 2023, and I sure hope this means my drought is over, at least for a little while.
Anyway, the catbird stayed out of sight, but the hermit thrush let us have this nice view.
By the pond, a few black-capped chickadees were flitting about, and this one paused for a moment so we could get a nice look. I was just about to ask if it could turn its head a bit to the left, so that the sun would light it up for us, but it was already gone.
There was also a pair of nuthatches excitedly darting from branch to branch, perhaps getting to know each other, and this one picked a fleck of lichen off the bark and held it up for all to see, but I’m not sure that’s gonna impress anyone.
Back at the river, the song sparrow is still kicking around as it waits for the rest of the song sparrows to arrive.
Finally, back at the south end, there was a common merganser drake mixed in with the hens, and they are here much less often than the hens, so they are always a treat for me to see.
The wind was back in Estabrook Park this morning, but at least the sun was out, and the temps were pretty mild. In fact, it was the first above-freezing sunrise here since I don’t know when. The gray catbird and hermit thrush are also back, but they eluded my camera this morning. Instead, the first picture I managed to get didn’t come until the far north end, where I found this sole goldeneye hen.
Finally, the common mergansers are still with us, and here’s a hen again, parked right in front of a couple of mallard drakes who do have their traditional dark breasts.
That, dear readers, is my very first long-eared owl (Asio otus), who is not common around here. In pictures I’d seen, I thought they looked similar to our great horned owls, but they are a lot smaller in person. What a treat, nevertheless. “Thanks, Jeff!”
The wind is back to howling again this afternoon, but there was a little while this morning when it was on break. Plus, temps were in the upper twenties, and the sky was mostly clear, so it was a another pretty nice January morning in Estabrook Park.
I was finally able to catch one of the eagles that has been scaring off the mallards lately as it glides up and down the river. Here it is perched over the northern island, but it was super shy, and this is as close as it would let me get.
I was too far south to see how the muskrats reacted as the eagle soared over, but by the time I got to the far north end, there were two of them up on the ice again.
This trio of crows did seem unimpressed, however, and they were perched on the island with the eagle. They regularly give great horned owls a hard time, after all, and once the eagle took off, they hopped down to the ice to check out a little patch of open water.
At the pond, our little red squirrel looked quite a bit warmer today, and it was busy turning that walnut shell into sawdust.
I couldn’t get any fancy sparrow pictures again today, but this dark-eyed junco put on a nice show from the top of a sumac seed cluster.
Here it is showing how to shuck a seed.
As I hiked to the river to look in vain for the hermit thrush, this female hairy woodpecker let us have a good look at her claws.
Finally, the relatively warm weather made it bath day for the robins, and here’s one splish-splashing away as two others wait their turn.
It was a pretty nice morning in Estabrook Park, if you don’t mind the wind, and I’m happy to report that seven such folks came out to join our weekly wildlife walk.
We stopped by the pond first, but all the fancy sparrows must have been hunkered down, because we didn’t see much more than house sparrows and dark-eyed juncos. Next, we headed to the river to look for the hermit thrush and the gray catbird, but they too were in hiding. Instead, we found the winter wren, though it kept close to the ground today, and this white-breasted nut hatch struck its classic pose to keep tabs on its surroundings as it worked to deshell a small seed of some kind.
The biggest surprise of the morning came as we made our way to the north end. Just above the falls, we spotted a couple of crows over the far riverbank, then there were three, and eventually, we counted eight. They were chattering away, and I thought they might just be having another spring mixer, as I’ve seen recently, but then we saw something bigger move from perch to perch below them. We had to search a while, and move a bit upstream, but look who we eventually found: one of our wayward great horned owls, and this looks like the smaller of the two. I don’t believe we’ve seen one since New Years Eve.
Meanwhile, there were a couple of muskrats out on the river ice, and one goldeneye hen who quickly moved upstream to avoid any pictures.
Eventually the party had to end so folks could get on with their day, so I headed south towards home, and I opted to follow the river to avoid some of the wind. Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I reached the water, the hermit thrush chose to show itself, although not a lot.
Not even a hundred yards downstream, the song sparrow did the same. Sheesh! “Where were you an hour ago?”
Finally, I find the common mergansers to be a lot shyer than the mallards, so it can be a trick to catch one up on the ice like this, but the crowd of mallards behind her seemed to give this hen some assurance.
We had another nearly-perfect January morning in Estabrook Park today, with temps in the teens, a very light breeze, and mostly clear blue skies.
The treats started early for me when I spotted this mature Cooper’s hawk even before I crossed the Oak Leaf Trail on my way into the park. I would see it later at the pond, and then again over the river, but this was as close as I managed to get today.
Meanwhile, I did hear the winter wren chirping, and I did glimpse it once or twice as it dashed from hiding place to hiding place, but it would not come out for pictures, as it had done so nicely yesterday. Thus, I think this nice shot of its backside from yesterday is appropriate.
Finally, as I searched in vain for the grey catbird or the hermit thrush, it was this male red-bellied woodpecker who put on a show instead. I took a few photos, and this one does have an unfortunate alignment of a stick in the background with his beak, but it does the best job of showing off the relatively huge claws he has and how he uses his stiff tail feathers as a third leg.
It has really warmed up since yesterday, and it was in the low twenties this morning instead of the low single digits we had yesterday morning. Plus, the breeze was pretty light and the sun was shining, so it was about as nice a morning in January that I could hope for.
The critters wasted no time in taking advantage of it, and here’s one of two crows I watched taking turns bathing in the open river water just above the falls. Who knows when it might ever get this warm again, so better get right to it. Right? To their credit, the water was actually warmer than the air at that point, so maybe it felt good?
At the far north end, I was surprise to find a trio of muskrats out on the river bank feasting on the plants they dredge up from the river bottom. That’s the most muskrats I have ever seen together.
I didn’t see any pictures to take at the pond, but on my way back south along the river, this winter wren put on the best show I might have ever seen from the likes of them. The light was great, and it was nearly at eye level not even ten feet from me. “Thank you, cutie!”
I don’t take a lot of gray squirrel pictures, as you may have already realized, but this one posed so nicely, that I thought it was worth an exception.
Finally, we do still have common mergansers, and here’s a trio of hens taking a break up on the river ice and in the warm sun.
I see that it is forecast to be cooler again tomorrow, so maybe the goldeneyes will come back and bring some buffleheads with them. Or red-breasted mergansers! I’d love to see them, too. I’m not picky!
It cooled off again, and the temp was back down to 1°F at sunrise this morning. The breeze was the lightest it’s been since this cold snap started, however, and the sky was crystal clear again, so it was a nearly perfect morning in Estabrook Park.
The common mergansers and goldeneyes are still on the little slices of open water, but I like the pictures I got yesterday better, so here’s a common merganser hen taking a break from fishing, …
and here’s her drake not yet ready to get out of the water.
I watched a red-tail hawk fly north over the far riverbank, but I didn’t see the Cooper’s hawk this morning. Luckily, it let me have so many nice pictures yesterday, that I still have something to show you.
The first new critter of the morning, at least since earlier in the month, is the little red squirrel by the pond, although today it chose a slightly different spot to warm up in the sun.
Finally, the mourning doves were in very posy moods this morning, and I think that this one near one of the seeps in the side of the bluff made the prettiest picture.
I see we’re in for a huge warm-up, and temps are supposed to be up into the 20s tomorrow morning, so it will be interesting to see who that brings out. Stay tuned…
Wow, what a difference a day makes! Sure, it’s still cold out there, but the wind has backed off a lot, we’ve got a nice, new layer of fluffy white snow, and the sun was out in all its glory. It was a perfect morning for taking pictures in Estabrook Park, and some of the critters were even willing to oblige.
Here’s an American goldfinch in the bushes beside the river and still waiting for the sun to warm it up.
Here’s the mature Cooper’s hawk at the pond again. I already had a nice picture of it at the crest of the bluff over the river, and from farther away at the pond, which I might use on a dreary day when I come up short, but I really wanted to check on the sparrows in the woods at the northeast corner, right near where it was perched, so I looked away as I approached slowly. Once I got into position, I glanced over my shoulder, and the hawk seemed completely cool with me there, so I snuck a couple of close-ups and turned my attention to the sparrows. It turns out that a couple of white-throated and the one fox sparrow were there, and when I turned to leave, the hawk hadn’t budged. Yay.
The mergansers and goldeneyes were on the river again, and I did get some nice images, but I was more interested in finding the hermit thrush looking hale and hearty after the deep freeze.
Here it is again, though not quite as clearly, and gulping down a spindle berry.
Even more exciting, simply because ebird still considers it “rare”, instead of merely “infrequent”, was finding the gray catbird also looking no worse for the wear.
On my way back south, I notice a mature bald eagle perched high in a tree over the far shore, so I immediately dropped to my knees and began to ready my camera. Unlike the Cooper’s hawk, however, the eagle was having none of it and took off before I could bring my camera to bare. Ugh! That would have been a gorgeous picture. Next time I will have to try prostrating myself.
Anyway, at the far south end, I found another interesting ice formation in the river.
And then a couple of crows over the far riverbank began cawing excitedly. They even drew a third crow to come and help them harass whoever they had found. I immediately began searching with my binoculars for who might have aroused their ire, maybe a red-tailed hawk or an owl, but I could not spot it. So, I started looking lower, then I noticed movement, and finally I could see the outline of a face. It was a red fox! I did my best to capture an image, and it is still terrible, but it is the first red fox we’ve seen in a long time. If you click on the image so you can zoom in, you can just make out one eye, its right one, I believe, in the center of the image.
After assuming that I had the best image I was going to get from there, I hemmed and hawed a bit and then finally decided to hike down to the Capitol Dr bridge, cross the river, and hike up the other side in hopes of a closer look. Well, the bluff is pretty steep on that side, and I couldn’t find a path down to the Westabrook-MATC trail, so I must have made a heck of a racket sliding and stumbling down the bluff. Needless to say, the fox was not waiting for me where I thought I left it. So, after searching for a bit, I sadly trudged back up the hill and started heading south to the bridge. On my way, I gave one last forlorn glance over my shoulder, and I could not believe who I saw scampering north on the other side of the roadway there. It was that wily little fox, and of course the little stinker ducked into the woods before I could even grab my camera. Oh well. It least I was too far away to hear it laughing, and I guess my consolation prize is this nice image of one of the crows who sounded the alarm. “Thank you for your vigilance!”
The warm-up has begun, and an increase of 18°F, from -9°F to +9°F, makes quite a difference. The howling wind and swirling snow clawed some of that back, however, and it was not the best of days for taking pictures of the critters in Estabrook Park. At least it wasn’t snowing very hard.
I did see the goldeneyes and mergansers on the river again, but at the distance from which I would have to take a picture, there was enough snow in the air to goof that up. Instead, here’s a young-looking European starling perched just above the ground below some berry bushes in which a few robins were feasting. It seems somewhat less than thrilled with the weather today, but it only made me stand about ten feet away to capture this image.
At the pond, the usual crowd of sparrows was in attendance, but they also preferred me to keep my distance, so I was happy to spot this downy woodpecker who was far more interested in what it might find in that stick than it was worried about me.
And those are all the pictures from today, I’m afraid, but the good news is that if you want to see more, I’ve got dozens in my “Best of 2024” folder ready to show this evening at the Friends of Estabrook Park Annual Meeting at the Blatz Pavilion in Lincoln Park. I saw Harold, the chairman of the board, this morning as he walked his dog through Estabrook, and I mentioned that some of you might join us, and he seemed glad to hear it.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 