Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

A good day for raptors!

The weather was pretty much “as forecast” in Estabrook Park this morning, so we had plenty of clouds and wind, but temps were mild and it didn’t rain, so yay! We also had a great turnout for our weekly wildlife walk, and there were twelve of us, if you include me.

The first pleasant surprise came early, when we were all at the pond, and this stunning Cooper’s hawk swooped in to perch nice and close, so everyone could get a good look at it. Plus, it seemed to ignore us and was probably focused on one of the many squirrels I see there, which gave us plenty of time to gawk.

There were also still a few wood ducks, some mallards, and even a muskrat on the pond, the latter of which really seemed to be on a mission. More than once, it swam right by a wood duck as if it were merely a floating decoy. In any case, it did help make this a “wildlife” walk.

After the pond, we hiked to the river, and I was happy to find one of the owls in their usual spot on the southern island. It had hidden itself pretty well, but I believe everyone managed to get eyes on it.

As we approached the northern island, we might have flushed an osprey, but it didn’t go far and soon perched over the far riverbank and resumed working on the fish it had. Unfortunately, I flubbed the picture somehow, so don’t bother zooming in on this one.

Thankfully, I had better luck with the wigeon drake who was still dabbling with the mallards in the water below.

The hits just kept coming today because, not only did we see our fourth raptor, this gorgeous red-tailed hawk, but it soon perched atop the bluff, so I could run up the stairs and get a nice closeup.

From the north end, we hiked south, past the beer garden and dog park, to the grassy area across from the radio towers where we’ve been seeing sparrows lately. Today just wasn’t a good day for little birds, however, and we came up empty. But our disappointment didn’t last long because we soon found another Cooper’s hawk, a juvenile this time, perched right over the trail from the river back up to the pond. Once again, it gave us all the time we wanted, and after a while I even quipped, “well, now we’re trapped here.”

It did eventually spot something to fly off after, and we were able to return to the parking lot, where we said our goodbyes, till next week. Here’s a picture of the whole group, minus Lisa who had the where-with-all to do me a huge favor and take it while we were all gawking at the first Cooper’s hawk by the pond.

Finally, on my way home, I checked the pond one more time and caught this sleeping wood duck hen keeping one eye on me.

Be glad for the ducks you have…

After walking up one side of the river and down the other yesterday morning, I opted to take a break from Estabrook Park today and join the Milwaukee Birders at the lake front, where snow buntings and harlequin ducks have been spotted lately.

Welp, these things seldom go as planned, and even with a good turnout of about a dozen birders, we were unable to get eyes on either of those exotic species. Instead, we did find a few surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata), on their way from breeding grounds in “far northern Canada and Alaska” to wintering grounds on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. They are not on the list of 211 bird species spotted so far in Estabrook Park.

Floating with the scoters, there was also one greater scaup, whom we have seen before on the Milwaukee River in Estabrook Park, but not yet this year. The white face patch next to her bill marks this one as female.

And that’s the whole show for today, I’m afraid. I just never know what I’m gonna see, and that’s part of what keeps this whole enterprise interesting.

Anyway, I’ll be back in Estabrook Park tomorrow morning for our second weekly wildlife walk. We’ll start from the parking lot by the beer garden at 8am sharp, and please feel free to join us, if you’re so inclined. The forecast currently calls for clouds and wind but pretty mild temps and no rain.

Lots of dawdlers hanging around…

It was cloudy and a little breezy this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it was warm and not raining.

The osprey was back yet again, and why not? The weather has been balmy lately, and the fish are tasty, so what’s the rush, right?

Similarly, I counted eight wood ducks on the pond who also appeared to be in no hurry to go anywhere.

A female belted kingfisher was there, too, but we’re in her “year-round” range, so we might be lucky enough to find her there till the pond freezes over.

The surprise of the morning, however, was also finding a hooded merganser on the pond, and she’s got the brown eyes of a female. She also has a ways to go, but I sure won’t complain if she sticks around for a bit.

At the river, an owl was back again this morning, but it was doing a great job of hiding. You can just see its tail sticking down and to the right from behind the horizontal tree trunk.

Between the islands, the male wigeon appears to be thinking, “hey, if the osprey and wood ducks don’t have to fly south yet, then neither do I.”

Meanwhile, from its perch high above the northern island, this great blue heron has an expression on its face that seems to say, “stay or go, I could not care less. Just don’t eat my fish.”

Finally, from the north end I crossed the bridge to the Holliday Inn parking lot to join the 9am Westabrook Trail Hike, hosted by the Sierra Club and the River Revitalization Foundation, to learn about the latest details of the Estabrook Falls Fish Passage Project and the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern.

The hike was great, and there are some big changes afoot, which I won’t bore you with, but while waiting for everyone to arrive, I noticed that a merlin had swooped in and perched just above the great blue heron.

Lingering in our mild fall weather.

The weather was pretty nice this morning in Estabrook Park, but with some clouds in the sky and a bit more breeze, so not quite as nice as yesterday, despite being a tad warmer.

Nevertheless, I was thrilled to spot our Osprey one more time. I had begun to suspect that it had finally flown south for the winter, but there it was, fishing from its usual spot in the tall trees leaning over the river below the guardrail.

I didn’t see any beaver or deer today, but at the north end, this little red squirrel had found something to eat that it was loath to abandon, even as I took its picture.

After initially ducking out of sight, it snuck back for a peek to see if I had left it alone yet. Soon after that, I did. “Eat up, little buddy.”

On my way back south, I couldn’t find any owls, or shovelers, and the wigeon hen was nowhere to be found, but I did spot the wigeon drake with some mallards near the far shore. I also ran into Lisa, Katie, and Helen, who pointed out a pair of great blue herons just across the water on the southern island. One was on the ground, which wasn’t very photogenic, but the other one was on a branch high in a tree, basking in the warm morning sun, and against a patch of deep blue sky, which did look pretty nice.

Finally, I was quite surprised to find this flower still in blossom at such a late date. It appears to be lemonyellow false goldenaster (Heterotheca camporum), and it is growing on the side of the bluff below the beer garden.

Special treats…

The weather in Estabrook Park this morning was nicer than forecast, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky at sunrise. Plus, the air was still, and the temperature was only seasonably cool, so it was a glorious morning to go enjoy nature and look for wildlife.

With all that sunlight, I was out earlier than usual, and I made it to the river in time to catch this cutie swimming home. Even better, I was near a large tree when I spotted it, so I could tuck out of sight and avoid causing it to dive, or even worse, splash its tail in annoyance.

Therefore, when it had swum past the tree, I could get another look as it continued downstream.

Best of all, it soon stopped, somehow didn’t see me or didn’t recognize me as a threat, and proceeded to grab one last nibble before bed.

As I’ve mentioned before, when beaver gnaw the bark off of sticks, it looks just as though they are eating corn off the cob: moving the stick from its left to right as it nibbles, then rotating the stick, backing it up, and repeating. Ha!

Anyway, it lingered so long, that it even dawned on me to try capturing some video, and here it is.

Then it finally swam on, and I continued north. On a normal morning, that would have pretty much filled my quota of amazing sights completely, and I’d be lucky to follow that up with a sparrow picture. Well, this was not a normal morning because when I reached the southern island, look who I found hiding in the branches: one of our great horned owls!

I realize that its pose is nowhere near as nice as the one on Sunday, but on Sunday I found only one. Today, I found two, and here’s the second one hiding even deeper in the sticks. We haven’t seen two of them together on the island since last winter. Hot diggity dog!

Well, after that I did struggle even to get a sparrow picture, but the surprises weren’t over yet. The picture below may not look like much, but if you look closely, you can see a well-camouflaged spider that I watched skitter right across the surface of the water, just as a water strider does. I have never seen that before from a spider, and the culprit appears to be a shore spider (Pardosa milvina), as best as I can tell.

Finally, the great blue herons are still fishing on the river, and here’s one, perched out on a low branch, who just saw something move in the water below.

A few bright spots in a dreary day…

It was another dark and dreary morning in Estabrook Park, and I seriously considered not even getting out of bed. But, it wasn’t raining, I needed the exercise, and “exposure to nature has been linked to a host of [mental health] benefits,” so I got myself up and went for a walk anyway.

I saw a great blue heron on the river pretty early on, but the pictures aren’t very pretty so I’ll spare you. Instead, check out this darling little puffball of a swamp sparrow, who had been foraging in the grass across the river from the radio towers and took a perch in this maple tree to keep an eye on me.

At the pond, the wood ducks still swim among us, and this drake happened to catch what little morning light there was just right.

Back at the river and farther north, a red-tailed hawk appeared to chase a Cooper’s hawk, but its efforts seemed half-hearted, and I wonder if it wasn’t just having some fun. In any case, the red-tailed perched for a moment before continuing the pursuit, and here it is.

Out on the water, the wigeons are still here, I am happy to report, and this time, here’s the drake.

The big surprise of the day, however, is this stunning new visitor: a non-breeding northern shoveler drake. Woo Hoo! We have seen them in Estabrook before, but not very often.

Even better, there were two hens with him, and here they are almost lined up perfectly. Just look at those amazing bills!

Finally, all this recent warm weather even managed to produce some islands of color, and here’s a bicolored sweat bee chillin’ on a thistle blossom.

I see the sun is forecast to come out a bit tomorrow, and I sure could use some of that.

Rinse and repeat…

Despite the rain overnight, the weather this morning in Estabrook Park was almost a carbon-copy of yesterday: cloudy, still, warm, and dryer than forecast. The critters, however, were a bit scarcer, but that certainly could be simply because I didn’t have four additional sets of eyes helping me.

I didn’t see a heron at the pond today, but the wood ducks are still hanging around, and here’s a pair making the most of a dark and dreary morning.

There was also a female belted kingfisher, but she was wide awake and really made me work for even this mediocre picture.

Finally, at the river, I didn’t see an owl or osprey today, but the wigeons are still with us, and here’s the hen.

Lastly, with such a short post, I hope that leaves you plenty of time for any errands you need to take care of today. Best of luck!

Inaugural Estabrook Wildlife Walk

Well, as often happens, the rain this morning was much lighter than forecast. Plus, the temps were unseasonably warm, and the wind was also pretty light, so it was a mighty fine day to kick-off our weekly wildlife walks in Estabrook Park.

The first nice surprise, of course, was that people actually came out to join me, and the second nice surprise was finding a great blue heron on the pond for the first time in a while.

The third surprise was a bird that Jenny spotted high above the paved path along the crest of the bluff, which she thought looked like a robin but bigger. From the back, I couldn’t tell it from a robin either, but sure enough, when we could get a good look at the front of it, we could see that it was our first merlin of the month. Now, that’s some fine spotting!

Other highlights that I failed to photograph include wood ducks on the pond, wigeons on the river, an osprey on the wing with a fish, and a peregrine falcon perched high on one of the radio towers across the river. In all, we counted 31 bird species.

Finally, the warm weather brought out dragonflies one more time, and here’s another autumn meadowhawk beside the river.

Lastly, but not leastly, here’s the inaugural crew, with me on the left, then Jenny, Peggy, Kathy, and Katie. Thanks to everyone for coming out to brave the weather today, and I hope you can make it again next week.

PS: by popular demand, I have finally posted a map of Estabrook Park, for those of you trying to follow along at home, with labels for some of the geographic features I reference.

The rain holds off, for now…

It was windy and cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but the temps were mild, and it barely sprinkled, so it turned out to be a far nicer morning than I expected when I went out the door.

I was a little surprised to find a great blue heron perched low over the river far downstream from the new favorite location, but when I finally got that far north, I found an angler parked on the far shore, and that could well be what caused the change in plans.

It appears that there is some evidence that birds can sense coming bad weather, and if that is really the case, that would explain why I saw so few birds today. I didn’t take another picture until I found this red squirrel at the north end who was more intent on gnawing that nut than on fleeing my gaze.

The gadwalls appear now to have moved on for good, but I was disappointed also not to see the wigeons around the islands. Happily, I found them a few hundred yards farther upstream when I went to check on the pigeons at the bridge. Here’s the drake, but I just couldn’t get a good picture of the hen this time.

Finally, there was no sign of the hooded merganser or the black-crowned night heron today, but I did see the osprey glide over the river for a moment. The big thrill of the day, however, was spotting a great horned owl again after missing them for a couple of weeks. I was starting to worry.

The forecast for 8am tomorrow morning is currently “rain”, so our inaugural Estabrook Park wildlife walk might be a bit wet, but the forecast could certainly change between now and then. I expect I will be at the beer garden in any case, and if the past is any guide, there will be plenty of fair-weather days in our future, so please check the weather and don’t feel any obligation to join me if getting soaked just isn’t your thing.

Better late than never

It was a nearly perfect late-autumn morning in Estabrook Park, with nearly clear skies, nearly still air, and nearly freezing temps.

I was thrilled to find our procrastinating osprey was still fishing over the lower river and quite possibly thinking, “with fish like this, I may never need to fly south.” Who could blame it, right?

A bit upstream and closer to the water, a tree sparrow paused from foraging in the grass. We’re inside the north edge of their winter range, so with any luck, we’ll get to see them till spring, when they fly back to northern Canada.

This swamp sparrow was also on break, but it might soon head a bit farther south for the winter, so we should enjoy them while we can.

The huge surprise of the morning came just a bit farther upstream when I spotted this young, black-crowned night heron perched low over the far riverbank, our first for the year. In previous years, we’ve seen young ones at the pond, and adults by the river, but I was beginning to wonder if they were going to skip us altogether this year. “Woo hoo, and thanks for stopping by, Sweetie!”

The night heron only stayed for a moment, but while I had my camera out, I thought I’d try for this kingfisher perched nearby. It’s a much smaller bird, and it was perched even lower, close enough to the water for the rising steam to get in the way, but I haven’t had a good shot at them in a while, so this is what we’re stuck with for now.

The great blue heron was enjoying the sun in its usual spot again this morning.

At the north end and between the islands, there was still no sign of the gadwalls, but the wigeon pair was there and seemingly more comfortable in their temporary home amongst the mallards. Their wintering grounds only reach north into the southern tip of Illinois, so they’ll be on their way soon enough. In the meantime, here’s the hen, …

and here’s the drake.

Finally, by the time I turned around to head back south, the osprey had flown north joined me by the islands and was perched right over where I had photographed the wigeons. Ha!