Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Connecticut takes a breather

The weather in central Connecticut this morning was almost a carbon copy of yesterday’s: clear, still, and cold. The critters, however, were taking a rest day. I did glimpse the barred owl again, but it was much farther away, and soon swooped off its perch after something before I could line up a shot. The otters and red-shouldered hawks, on the other hand, were nowhere to be found.

In fact, I had already turned around and was on my way back home before I took my first picture. I was walking passed the spot where I took the blue jay picture last Thursday, and I heard quite a squawk from above, which almost sounded like a mammal in distress. I quickly fired up the Merlin app on my phone to help me identify this strange new sound, and it suggested “northern mockingbird”, of all things, which really got me excited because I hadn’t seen one yet on this trip. Sure enough, the squawker soon appeared, and led me on a little chase. Thankfully, it never hopped far, and soon posed perfectly in the warm morning sun. Perhaps that was its plan all along.

Interestingly, at least for me, I read that “the oldest Northern Mockingbird on record was at least 14 years, 10 months old when it was found in Texas,” so this bird could definitely be the exact same individual I saw two years ago, also in December, in the exact same spot. Ha! “Hello, old friend and thanks for the heads-up!”

Finally, since I didn’t take a single other picture worth sharing this morning, here’s another look at a trio of black vultures from the committee I saw on the Vic House yesterday.

CT just keeps getting better…

Man-oh-man, the sights just won’t stop out here. The temps were in the mid-teens at sunrise, but the air was still, and the sky was perfectly clear, which you know I like. Best of all, my sister, the vet who saved the wren a while back, wanted to come with and see the otters.

As we approached the pond, there was a commotion in the woods on the other side of the path, and it turned out to be this beauty, a red-tailed hawk, appearing to make a try for some wood ducks dabbling in a tiny stream. The hawk took a moment to pose for me, and then flew off in search of other prey, and the wood ducks were spared, at least for now.

When we reached the pond, we were a bit disappointed to find it entirely frozen over, and all we could see on it were several dozen geese just resting on the ice. We slowly walked the length of it searching for some open water, and were about to give up and move on, but I gave the geese one more look with the binoculars just in case someone was hiding amongst them. That’s when I finally spotted the otters, who had either found or made a hole in the ice. Ta da! Mission accomplished.

As much as she wanted to stay and watch them, my sister’s toes were getting cold, so we kept moving, and the next treat waiting for us was this little melanistic grey squirrel watching the sun rise, and maybe thinking warm thoughts, from a tiny branch over the trail.

We hadn’t gotten far from the squirrel when there was another flash of motion beside the path. At first, I thought it was another hawk, but the shape wasn’t quite right, and when it stopped to see who we were from a safe distance, I could hardly believe my eyes. It was my sister’s first owl ever and only my second ever barred owl! What marvelous luck she brought along. Of course, the owl had perched almost right in front of the sun and somehow managed also to get a few branches between us, but I persevered and heroically managed to get one picture to look not too bad.

The owl had finally seen enough and moved a little farther away, and it was still darn cold out, so we moved along, too. A hot cup of coffee at the cafe to which we were headed was really starting to sound good, but there was one more sight to take in, this bluebird. There were at least three of them, but this little darling knew the assignment. “Thanks, Sweetie!”

Finally, we made it to the cafe and were just taking our first sips of coffee, when my sister said, “is that a vulture across the street?” I took a peek through the binoculars, and sure enough, she was right, and we weren’t done. I grabbed my camera and ran out the door for a closer look, and the closer I got, the more I saw. In all, I counted at least 20, and here’s the tightest cluster I could find. For those of you that know Cheshire, that’s the roof and chimney of the Victorian House Restaurant & Tavern, aka “the Vic House,” and I wonder if this is some kind of omen.

Finally, here’s a closer look, for those of you wondering what color eyes do black vultures have. They look brown to me.

More CT sights

It was a bit cooler, but the sky was still clear, and the breeze a bit lighter in Connecticut this morning, so it was another fine day for checking out the wildlife along the Farmington Canal Trail.

My first surprise was to find that most of the geese were gone from the pond, but I did find a pair of wood ducks instead. They were quite shy, however, so this is yet another picture taken through a fence and a few sticks.

I was even more excited to spot this quintet of ring-necked ducks, who were a little less shy, and we saw here just last spring, but which I might have only seen one time in Estabrook Park.

Best of all, the otters were back, if a bit farther away, and this one caught something that it munched on for a while.

I had time to hike farther south today, so I got to see this stunner, a red-shouldered hawk.

I soon saw a second one, and they eventually flew a ways to find a perch together in the warm morning sun.

I also saw a few mallards and geese along the way, but it’s always a treat to find American black ducks.

Finally, the titmice seemed bolder today, and this one posed especially nicely.

Lightning strikes twice, but in a good way…

Despite the weather along the route, which caused a couple of flight delays, I made it safely to Connecticut yesterday. Yay. My good luck continued overnight as the wet weather moved out, and the skies were clear, if cool, this morning, so I headed down to the Farmington Canal Trail, which I often visit when I’m here.

As I scanned the pond behind the Bozzuto’s corporate headquarters, located next to the train tracks that used to run where the trail lays now, for anything other than the dozens of Canada geese hugging the far shore, I noticed a ripple in the water closer to my shore. I couldn’t see what was causing it, and I dared to hope for diving ducks or mergansers, but I was totally unprepared to see this trio.

For those in the back row, here’s a closer look at three North American river otters (Lontra canadensis), who appeared to be having a blast. I’ve only ever seen them once before, in Estabrook Park, back in 2021, and I honestly can’t decide which is more amazing, that I once found them within a mile’s walk of my home in Wisconsin, or that I found them again within a mile’s walk of my parents’ home in Connecticut. Either one is pretty crazy, right?

The pictures ain’t great because the sun had just cleared the horizon behind them, so the lighting was terrible, they never paused for a moment, so I had to keep the shutter fast, and I was shooting through a fence and low bushes, so I’m thrilled that one picture even came out this good.

Anyway, the otters slowly worked their way toward the far shore of the pond, so my pictures weren’t getting any better, and I continued down the path. When I came to a little clearing beneath a huge oak tree, which had dropped loads of acorns, I found all kinds of little birds feasting on or amongst them. There was a song sparrow and a bunch of white-throated sparrows, but the bird that really caught my eye was this blue jay, who didn’t like the looks of me, but who really wanted one of those acorns. As it stared me down and decided what to do next, I was able to slow down my shutter to a speed more appropriate for the early morning light.

Finally, what would a visit to Connecticut be without a titmouse picture, and there were a couple who would grab an acorn lickity-split, and then retreat to a nearby branch to break it open and feast on the contents. This one was kind enough to pick a perch to which I had a pretty clear shot.

That’s all I managed this morning, but the nice weather is supposed to continue, so here’s hoping that the amazing subjects do, too.

On the road again…

I’m off to Connecticut this morning to see some of my family that lives there, and while I’m traveling, here are a few more pictures from Sunday. As I rode my bike north from Lakeshore State Park, I noticed a slew of birds in the water beside the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Here’s a greater scaup, …

a male bufflehead, …

a ruddy duck, …

a northern shoveler, …

and a young red-breasted merganser drake whose adult feathers are starting to come in.

Also, here’s another look at the tree sparrow, but this time picking grass seeds, …

and here’s one more look at that western meadowlark that has everyone in a tizzy.

Winter creeps back in…

The winter weather resumed this morning in Estabrook Park, with temps around freezing, cloudy skies, and a light breeze. On my walk north along the river, I found the beaver having breakfast up on the ice again in almost the same spot as yesterday.

This time, I had a slightly better view through the brush, and was able to capture a nice little video showing how it eats the bark of that twig as you might eat the corn off a cob.

A ways upstream, and just below the falls, I found another critter out and enjoying the relatively mild weather. This is probably the same muskrat that Peggy spotted yesterday on our wildlife walk, but I couldn’t find it myself then. Perhaps it felt more comfortable today with a smaller audience, so it held its ground.

Above the falls, the great horned owls, yes both of them, were in their usual spot today after completely stiffing us yesterday. As has often been the case, one was hiding deep in the sticks, and one was perched much more prominently. Here’s the latter.

I didn’t see anyone on the water around the islands, other than geese and mallards, but there was an unusual twitter in the treetops on my way back south, and it turned out to be coming from three or more bluebirds passing through.

I didn’t see anybody but finches and house sparrows at the pond, so I hiked back down to the river. That’s where I found this little cutie, my first song sparrow of December, who made me chase it through a couple of hops, but then it posed for a nice picture.

Finally, I scoured the trees along the river on my way home, but I didn’t see the osprey again today, so perhaps it took my advice and is already in southern Illinois and on its way to the Gulf. What I did find instead, is my first red-tailed hawk of December.

“Chased” sounds too strong for the lackadaisical pace they were both at, so perhaps “escorted” would be a better way to describe how a herring gull flew along behind the hawk until it was sufficiently far upstream from where the gull was trying to fish. Then the gull turned to resume fishing, and the hawk perched on one of the guy wires in the background of the flying osprey picture I showed you yesterday.

The warm weather brings out a couple of surprises…

The December Thaw is upon us, with blue skies and temps in the 40s, at least for today, and the critters in Estabrook Park were taking full advantage of it this morning. As I hiked north along the river to meet folks by the Bier Garten for our Weekly Wildlife Walk, I spotted this contented looking beaver up on the melting ice and enjoying its bark al fresco for a change.

The walk was fine, and there were eight of us today, even though I forgot to mention it in my post yesterday. The highlights, at least for me, were hearing a belted kingfisher and spotting a peregrine falcon between the islands at the north end. The falcon was already flying north with a gull by the time I saw it, and I thought the much-darker falcon might be a young gull, but Jeff, who was kind enough to share his screech owl picture with us a while ago, had already gotten a picture of it by then, so we all could correctly ID it.

In all, we spotted 19-20 bird species, depending on who was counting, and then everyone had to get on with their day, so I headed back south along the river. At one point, I thought I sensed a big shadow passing over me, but when I looked up and towards the sun, all I could see was a downy woodpecker on a tree nearby, and I figured it had just followed a track to that tree that blocked the sun for longer than I would have expected from such a little bird.

So, I continued on, and where the trail climbs up high on the side of the bluff, I kept to the less-used lower fork to see if anyone new had arrived on the river since I saw the beaver near there earlier. And that’s when I saw this beauty soaring over head: our first osprey in exactly four weeks. That is no doubt who had blocked the sun for a moment earlier, and those three light diagonal stripes in the picture are blurry guy wires from one of the radio towers far upstream.

Even better, it soon took a perch over the far riverbank to continue looking for fish, which sure made my job easier. “Thanks, Gorgeous! And safe travels!” With the bitter cold due to come back soon, I sure hope it doesn’t dawdle too long before it continues its own journey south.

Finally, before I forget, I will be away next Monday, December 16, so I won’t be able to join the wildlife walk, but I hope people who have been enjoying it will come out for it anyway. I will be back for Monday, December 23, and I hope to see you then, if you’re still in town.

Lakeshore State Park really delivers…

The Milwaukee Birders were visiting Lakeshore State Park again this morning, and there have been a lot of sightings there recently, so I opted to ride down the Oak Leaf Trail to join them. The weather was very nice, with unseasonably warm temperatures, a very light breeze, and just a few clouds in the sky. Here’s a freighter I watched head out onto the lake soon after sunrise.

The birds did not disappoint, I am happy to say, and I saw representatives from almost every species I hope to see on the Milwaukee River this winter in Estabrook Park. Here are a pair of bufflehead hens, …

a hooded merganser hen, …

a redhead, …

a goldeneye drake, …

a pair of gadwalls, and …

a red-breasted merganser drake.

Not all the action was on the water, however, and here’s an American tree sparrow.

After the whole group had walked the length of the park and back, it appeared that we were going to miss out on the surprise visitor that’s had the entire Milwaukee birding community atwitter for the past week: a western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), close cousin to the eastern meadowlark we saw at the Mequon Nature Preserve last summer. Their “year-round” range does reach this far east, but I’m told we seldom get to see them here.

But then, as we all contemplated our disappointment, someone noticed online that it had just been reported 10 minutes ago, so we all hustled right back up to the patch of prairie where it had been sighted. It took a few anxious minutes and a bit of coaxing, but the little celebrity finally showed his pretty face. Ta da!

Time Out

It looks nice enough out this morning, but today I get to participate in a treasured local holiday tradition instead, so I might not make it into Estabrook Park. To tide you over, here’s another look at a waxwing feasting on berries from yesterday.

A little color on another grey day…

It was cold again in Estabrook Park this morning. The sun shone for a little while, a couple of separate times, but it mostly hid behind a thick layer of clouds. I didn’t see any new birds on the water, and the raptors continue to stay in hiding, but the trees and bushes around the pond continue to attract pretty little birds.

The bluebirds were back again, and this time I counted six of them. Here’s one posing nice and still, …

and here are a couple busily picking berries out of the lawn.

House finches stick to the backyards when it’s warm, but the colder it gets, the more they flock up at the pond, and today there were several dozen. Here’s a male foraging for seeds in the little bit of snow that has accumulated on the ice.

Finally, the surprise visitor today is this cedar waxwing, whom we haven’t seen since the start of November. There were a couple dozen of them flitting from tree to tree around the pond and picking berries.

It looks like we’re due for a bit of a warm up this weekend, and I hope it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.