Signs of Life in Estabrook Park
A look at the wildlife living in, on, and beside the Milwaukee River in Shorewood, WI
The critters in Estabrook Park don’t know it’s New Years Eve, of course, because they have nowhere to hang calendars, but they were sleeping in this morning anyway, as if they have a big night ahead of them. I hope they party safely and you do, too.
See ya next year!
Blue skies have finally returned to Estabrook Park, at least for today, and they brought some colder weather with them, at least for this morning. There was frost on the grass at sunrise, but temps reached 50°F this afternoon. We also had a great turnout for the last wildlife walk of the year, with 13 of us in all, but the critters did not respond in kind. We only saw 18 species, and the only consolation is that other folks and other locations are also experiencing the recent slump. I didn’t get any pictures this morning, either on my way to the walk by myself or during the walk with all those extra eyes, but after a short break to recharge my batteries, I couldn’t resist going out in such beautiful weather for a third try. These are my rewards.
Here’s a red-bellied woodpecker busily chiseling a new nesting cavity for the coming season. You can’t quite see his red crown in this picture, but this activity would probably make him a male who is hoping to attract a female to finish the job.
Just upstream of the red-bellied, here’s a hairy woodpecker, also a male, who did not appear to be excavating, but was just looking for something to eat.
Finally, this little darling, a merlin, whom we haven’t seen in weeks, was waiting for me over the northern island. By the time I arrived, however, the sun was about due south, the bird was facing it, and the river runs east-southeast there, so I was shooting perpendicular to the sun, at best, and I couldn’t see much more than the back of the bird in shadow. It was such a pleasant afternoon, on the other hand, that I decided to hike around to the other shore for a better shot. By the time I had hiked over there, the little stinker had moved on, but as I searched the trees there in hopes of finding where our owls have gotten off to, I found the merlin again, and this time I was able to get a lot closer than I could have when it was on the island. Sometimes I get lucky.
I see that some cold weather is forecast to return, so perhaps we can hope that the critters will return to their winter schedule as well.
The warm spell continues in Estabrook Park, and even the ice on the pond has begun to melt. The mallards have taken note and are starting to fly up from the river to graze on the lush vegetation that it used to cover.
Otherwise, the park was very quiet today, and I didn’t see any of our recent visitors. Luckily, the chickadees are as thick as ever.
So are the cardinals.
The forecast calls for a chance of sunshine tomorrow morning, so maybe that will bring us something new to see during our wildlife walk.
The recent big warm-up continued this morning in Estabrook Park, and almost all the river ice has now melted. The critters continue to make themselves scarce, but I somehow managed to have a little better luck with pictures than I did yesterday.
The American black duck has reappeared, or I’ve finally been able to spot it again, and here it is, to the right of a mallard hen and drake. That thin white stripe beside the blue patch on its wing makes me wonder if it might be an American black duck x mallard hybrid.
At the pond, I managed to capture this male downy woodpecker at the moment it paused its preening to check for predators. It appears that I was deemed safe, and it went right back to work after this shot.
Finally, when I checked on the screech-owl, I was surprised to find out just how far back into that hole the little rascal can get. Now I wonder how many times I failed to notice it even though it was actually in there.
Lastly, I met a new fellow nature photography enthusiast this morning, Dylan Menefee, and as we were comparing notes a bit, he mentioned that he saw something by the pond back in the fall that he hadn’t yet positively IDed. When he showed me the picture, I could barely believe my eyes. It is shaped just like the stoats I saw in South Holland, but on this side of the Atlantic, I believe that it’s an American stoat, aka American ermine or short tailed weasel. Either way, it’s a Mustela richardsonii.
Now I will have to redouble my efforts, and I look forward to seeing Dylan’s next amazing find.
Despite all the rain today, I did make it into Estabrook Park during a mid-morning lull. The critters, however, seemed to know it wouldn’t last, and not a single one had time to let me have a picture. I couldn’t even find an owl. Darn.
So, it’s back to the archives we go, and since we did just see a goldeneye at LakeShore State park earlier this month, but we haven’t seen one in Estabrook since last April, here’s a look all the way back to 2022 when they first arrived on December 24. As I wrote then:
The cold and wind are starting to back off a bit, and the sun was out, so it was a perfect morning in Estabrook Park. The river ice continues to form, however, so my wish came true, and the goldeneyes have begun to arrive. Here’s a hen on the rapids at the south end.
And here’s a drake just a bit upstream.
I see that it’s forecast to be dry but windy tomorrow morning, so who knows. Maybe I’ll get lucky.
Holy moly, was the fog thick this morning in Estabrook Park. I could barely see across the river at times. The breeze and road traffic were both light, on the other hand, so I could still hear the birds pretty well. Oddly, the critters I did manage to photograph today kept still and didn’t make a sound. Go figure.
I didn’t see a great horned owl on my way north, but once I got to the far north end, I could hear a few crows pestering somebody. I hustled back south, but didn’t make it before the crows moved on. Happily, when I checked for an owl the second time, look who I found.
Here it is again after I used some software to “dehaze” the picture.
The huge treat of the morning, however, came after I visited the pond and was on my way back to the river. I stopped to check the nook where I had seen the screech owl at the start of the month, and today was the day that it decided to return. Here it is through the fog, …
and here it is again after dehazing. “Welcome back, little cutie!”
Finally, at the far south end, I found another red squirrel, but this one wasn’t messing around with bird seed.
It was a beautiful morning in Estabrook Park. The air was nearly still and just below freezing, the snow on the ground managed to stick around, and the sky was mostly clear for the first time in days. Best of all, I had a few minutes to enjoy it all before today’s festivities got underway.
At first, I was a bit surprised. I did see one beaver on the lower river, of which we’ve seen plenty lately, but I did not see a single mallard, when normally I would have counted a couple dozen before I reached the falls. I could think of one reason that would have caused all the mallards to have taken off, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
Happily, once I reached the falls, my dreams did come true, and here’s an adult bald eagle taking its newly-minted status as America’s national bird out for a test drive. Talk about perfect timing.
It must have been hungry, too, because it soared up and down the river a few times, even attracting a herring gull escort for a while, and perched at least twice. Here it is when something on the water had enough of its attention so that I could sneak up for a closer look. You can even spot the jewelry it was sporting.
Meanwhile, out on the water, an octet of common mergansers, “very large and often submerged ducks”, went about their business as if to say “don’t even waste your time trying.” On the other hand, I read that “occasionally even a bald eagle will try to steal a fish from a merganser,” so perhaps that was the draw.
I would have loved to stay and watch that play out, but I had a schedule to keep, so I hustled over to the pond to check on the sparrows. The star of that show today, however, was this little red squirrel, who I’ve glimpsed there on-and-off for days, but haven’t managed to capture on film in a while. Well, today was the day that it had enough of a hankering for bird seed that it was finally willing to oblige our gaze, if only for a moment.
That’s a wrap for today, and I hope yours is going as merrily as mine.
The dreary weather continues, but the lack of sun, and temps right around freezing, have left enough of the snow on the ground from Friday to let us have at least a white Christmas eve in Milwaukee. At this rate, it might even last until the big day tomorrow.
Let me start at the north end, for a change, and show you the second, and I believe larger, of the two great horned owls. We did see both yesterday, but they were both well hidden in their lair, and I didn’t even bother taking a picture. Today, I could see only one in hiding, and when I turned around to see if I could spot the other one, I was a bit startled to find it staring right down at me.
I did see a trio of common mergansers on the river between the islands, but they kept to the far shore, and I couldn’t find the black duck, so I headed to the pond. There, I spotted the pair of fox sparrows again, and this one was kind enough to let us have a nice look.
This red-bellied woodpecker was across the pond, so pretty far away, but I’m a sucker for anyone picking seeds from the sumac, and I knew it wouldn’t give me enough time to hustle around to the other side, so here we are.
On my way back south along the river, I was surprised to find a beaver still up on the ice and gnawing the bark off sticks. Earlier, on my way north, when the light was even dimmer, I had seen three (3!) at once doing the same. They were spread out, however, at about 50 yards apart, so they didn’t really make an amazing picture, but still, it’s great to see them doing so well.
At the river, I also searched for our hermit thrush, one of the winter wrens, or a bluebird, but all I could find today was this darling mourning dove.
A bit south of the beaver, I caught this muskrat checking out one of their breakfast spots, perhaps to see if there might be a morsal that somehow got missed. Anyway, I don’t believe I’ve seen one up on its haunches like this before.
Finally, to end on a colorful note, here’s a female cardinal picking berries from a bush on the island in the pond.
It was plenty cloudy this morning, and just above freezing, but the precipitation held off, so we had a good day for our weekly wildlife walk in Estabrook Park. There were eight of us, all together, and we spotted or heard 26 bird species, including that now-confirmed American black duck from yesterday, and one muskrat. I completely failed to get any pictures, however, so it’s back to the editing room floor again.
Here’s an American goldfinch from Friday busily feasting on burdock seeds beside the river at the north end. Oddly, since then they have gone from being one of my most reliable finds to being scarce as hens’ teeth. We did hear one today, but only one, and that’s a far cry from the dozen or more I used to see every morning. Hmmm.
Finally, here’s another northern Cardinal on the island in the pond, also from Friday. Thankfully, there are still plenty of them about.
Lastly, here’s another look at that black duck amongst the mallards yesterday. She certainly looks like a mallard hen, as many other female ducks do, but she’s noticeably darker than the mallard hen beside her, and her bill is all dark instead of the orange and olive mix on the mallard.
First, before I forget, I want to remind you that I’ll be back in Estabrook Park at 8am tomorrow morning for our Weekly Wildlife Walk. If you haven’t been out since the snow arrived, this might be your last chance to enjoy it before warmer temps and rain wash it all away.
Alright, back to this morning. It was still below freezing but warmer than yesterday, so the snow on the river trail was still nice and firm but a lot less noisy. The clouds were thick, though, and If there was more sunlight than yesterday, you couldn’t prove it by me.
My first treat came early when I spotted our beaver on the far riverbank and farther downstream than usual. The biggest difference, however, is that it was skipping the twigs and chewing on a log for breakfast instead.
The hermit thrush has indeed moved southward since Friday, but only by a few dozen yards, so I don’t know how much that helps. “You might have to go farther to really feel the difference, Sweetie.”
As I approached the falls and paused to take a peek up river, this little dash of color on the side of the bluff caught my eye.
One of the great horned owls was in the usual spot, but mostly hidden from view, so here’s a look from yesterday at probably the same bird in almost the same spot.
The big surprise for today might be this dark, mallard-like duck resting on the ice with other mallards at the far north end. I want it to be a female American black duck, which I just saw in CT and we do get to see here from time to time, but that tiny strip of white beside its blue speculum feathers gives me pause. It certainly isn’t as much white as on the mallard hen at the right edge of the image, but as you can see here, they’re not supposed to have any. The experts will weigh in soon enough. Keep your fingers crossed.
I had seen a muskrat earlier in the morning, just a bit upstream from the beaver, and I saw another two at the north end by the dark, mallard-like duck, but the best picture I got was back at the south end on my way home of this one up on the ice nearly in the middle of the river. It might be the same critter I saw earlier or a fourth muskrat, but it wouldn’t say.
Since I have a little room left, here’s a white-throated sparrow beside the pond from yesterday. I did see at least one again today, but this picture is nicer.
Finally, here’s one last look at one of the European starlings on Friday filling up on fruit from the tree in front of Kingo Lutheran Church across Wilson Drive at the south end. I believe that that is its tongue sticking out to the side of its mouth to make room for all that frozen goodness.
Lastly, to whomever left this for me in the southern parking lot this morning, you have really outdone yourself! That’s a full case and a third of Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy and about three quarters of a case of Kirkland’s Signature Hard Seltzer. Santa came early this year!
Anyway, I hope you can join us at 8 am tomorrow in the parking lot closest to the Bier Garten. Dress for the weather!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park