Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

The sun was fun while it lasted…

The clouds are back over Estabrook Park today, but the air was a bit warmer than yesterday and a lot less breezy. Add to that a reduction in commuter traffic noise for the holiday, and it was a perfect morning for enjoying some peace and quiet along the Milwaukee River. The icing on the cake was when I managed to reach the wide and slow part of the river beneath the pair of radio towers over the far riverbank before they started their cooling fans. I don’t know if that’s because they crank up their power during the day, or for some other reason, but for a while, I could hear a pin drop, plus a lot of bird songs. It was glorious.

As I approached the water, I could see that someone was making ripples right at the water’s edge, so I kept a little grass between us and my camera in front of my face as I edged into view, and this muskrat was kind, or hungry, enough to go right on enjoying its breakfast of fresh roots.

After a couple of pictures, I left the muskrat in peace and continued upstream just a bit before I found our late season hermit thrush again.

Above the falls and on the southern island, one of the great horned owls was in its usual spot again, though facing the other way today.

The pair of great blue herons continue to stick with us, too, but this picture from yesterday, before the sun reached down over the bluff, was nicer than any I could get today.

While I’m showing pictures from yesterday that didn’t fit with yesterday’s sunny motif, here’s a glimpse of an eastern cottontail hiding in the brush along the river. Compared to the summer, they really start making themselves scarce about this time of year.

Finally, ice has started to form on the pond, and the combination of still air and temps barely below freezing is allowing enormous crystals to form on the surface. These spears of ice were over a foot long.

Some sun and blue sky, at long last…

We finally received our first hard freeze overnight in Estabrook Park, and the ground was crunchy with ice in places this morning. It was also a bit breezy, which pushed the windchill into the teens, but the sky was blue, and the sun was warm, so it was a darn fine morning for taking pictures.

When I got to the pond, I was stunned to find 54 Canada geese floating on the water and eerily quiet. I sat on the bench to soak in the scene, and this bold one came the closest, but I had no food for them, so nobody ventured up onto the lawn.

An owl was back in the usual spot on the southern island in the river, and it appeared to be basking a bit in the sun, so I was able to find a spot with a pretty clear shot.

On my way back south along the river, I found at least a dozen mourning doves foraging in a sunny spot on the side of the bluff.

Farther south, I managed to catch this red-bellied woodpecker when it popped out of the shade for a moment as it worked its way up this tree trunk.

Finally, just as I was about to exit the park, I heard this red-tailed hawk calling from the big TV tower there, almost as if to say, “look up here!” I got a couple of pictures of it on the tower, but then it had a better idea and glided to a tree across the parkway where I could take a nice portrait in a natural setting. “Thanks, Beautiful!”

Lastly, we haven’t had enough cold yet to form ice on the river or even the pond, but the few pools of shallow water beside the river have formed nice patterns of ice crystals on their surface, and here’s a maple leaf stuck in one.

A slow start to Thanksgiving week…

Man, the sky has been so consistently grey in Estabrook Park for so long that when there was a momentary gap in the grey this morning, I jokingly asked the folks on our weekly wildlife walk, “what’s that blue stuff overhead?” Well, at least the winds were light, and it wasn’t raining yet.

As I hustled along the river to make my 8 am appointment, I spotted a pair of muskrats at the water’s edge just downstream. I’ve ever only managed to capture two together once before, so not a bad start to the morning.

At the pond, a female belted kingfisher perched among the sumac seeds over the far shore.

On our walk, there were twelve of us again, and we spotted, or positively IDed by sound, 21 bird species, including a great horned owl, which we inadvertently spooked from its perch over our riverbank as we approached to see who might be out on the water. It only flew to the northern island, but it found such a good hiding spot there that it took us all a while just to get eyes on it, so no picture today.

All the rest of the birds seemed to follow the owl’s example and avoided my camera. The one other picture I did manage is of this raccoon appearing to be sleeping while half sticking out of a completely different tree than last week. I guess the housing market really is as tight as they say.

The current forecast calls for another freeze overnight and clear skies in the morning, but at this point, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Aaaand, they’re gone again…

The weather was about the same as usual in Estabrook Park this morning, but for reasons I can’t explain, nobody wanted to come out and play today.

I did get a picture of this gorgeous brown trout, my first ever, but the trout really didn’t have any say in the matter.

All the rest of the critters, on the other hand, acted today like this little cutie, and did their best to duck for cover.

I’ve heard that a snowy owl was spotted at Lake Shore State Park just yesterday, so there certainly are amazing sights to see, and with any luck, our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow will be more like yesterday than today. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ahh, that’s what we like to see…

The weather continues to be grey and cool but not very cold, and the wind that accompanied the snow has mostly subsided. Best of all, it appears that the critters in Estabrook Park have managed to catch up for lost time, and quite a few let me take their picture this morning.

The two great blue herons we’ve been seeing for much of the fall were back on the river again today, and here’s the one in the prettier setting, off the southern tip of the northern island.

I did see a great horned owl again, but it was as buried as yesterday, so I let it be today. A Cooper’s hawk also flew in, but it only parked briefly high above the far riverbank and against a light grey sky, so I let that one go, too.

Instead, this male northern cardinal perched perfectly on a clump of sumac seeds beside the pond right when the sun was burning a little hole through the clouds, and that always makes a nice picture.

Meanwhile, right across the path that goes around the pond, this little red squirrel was chowing down on box elder seeds.

Simultaneously, just across the little unpaved path that heads up to the parkway, this pair of house finches were also filling up on box elder seeds. Here’s the male, …

and here’s the female.

I stopped by the river again on my way back home, and this tiny winter wren was sure agitated about something, because it mostly ignored me and kept chirping as it hopped around some low branches beside the river trail and scanned the trees above.

As I was trying to keep up with the winter wren, look who was also there: our first hermit thrush since the start of November. “Well, hello there!”

Finally, as I crossed the long concrete bridge at the far south end, I got to spend a couple of quality seconds with this handsome guy. It is too early in the year for him to have shed an antler, and he doesn’t look very old, so perhaps this is just his sophomore slump.

Not a bad Saturday morning, eh? Not bad at all.

Things get back to normal…

After all the exciting weather yesterday, things were pretty much back to normal in Estabrook Park this morning. I found a few pockets where the snow accumulated slightly deeper than elsewhere, was well insulated from the ground by vegetation, and/or was shaded from the little bit of sun we’ve been having lately, but those spots were few and far between, and the rest of the snow is all gone already.

One of the great horned owls also appears to be back to normal, after all the excitement on Monday. This one didn’t look very big this morning, so I’m guessing it’s the male. There were four crows cawing and flying around the tall trees beside the river at the north end, but they never seemed to focus on this owl, so he stayed put this time, and they all eventually moved on.

The rest of the birds seemed to be making up for lost time, and none wanted to sit for a picture today. Instead, check out this huge chicken of the woods mushroom (Laetiporus sulphureus), which I was a little surprised to find given the time of year and the recent weather. They are expected “from August to October or later,” so I guess “now” counts as “later” in this case. Anyway, I read further that “the authors of Mushrooms in Color said that the mushroom tastes good sauteed in butter or prepared in a cream sauce served on toast or rice,” but do not trust my identification! I repeat! Do not eat this on my say so!

Finally, if I was surprised by the mushroom, I was floored to spot a moth still flitting about and thrilled to be able to track it to the side of this tiny tree trunk. The website iNaturalist thinks that it is a fall cankerworm moth (Alsophila pometaria), and if that is correct, then I shouldn’t be so surprised after all. Wikipedia reports that “these insects are called fall cankerworms because the females emerge from the soil in November, mate and lay their eggs in clusters on hardwood trees,” so she’s right on schedule. Ha!

The weather is forecast to be about the same for tomorrow, but let’s hope the critters are able to get caught up on their foraging before then and can afford to let me take a couple of pictures.

Winter Weather Finally Arrives!

The forecast precipitation came right on schedule this morning, and the snow was really coming down as the sun presumably rose behind a thick layer of clouds. The snow was accompanied by our first real freeze of the season, so it was cold enough for a thin white blanket to accumulate, especially on the grass, but the ground is still too warm for it to last long.

As you might imagine, some of the critters in Estabrook Park looked none too pleased with this recent development, and here’s a mourning dove doing exactly that.

The great blue herons never look thrilled, so it’s hard to tell with this one, but it did manage to find a spot along the river that appears to give it a little protection from the wind and snow.

Finally, the woods south of the dog park are downwind of a bit of a hill, so the air was nearly calm there, and the dark-eyed juncos looked like they were going about business as usual.

Neither Anne nor I could decide which picture we liked best, and I managed so few today anyway, so here’s the second one.

The 10-day forecast shows day-time temps in the 40s for the next few days, so this snow will be gone soon, for sure, but after that, the temps should drop so we might finally start to get some ice on the pond and river, and maybe that will entice some more hearty birds to come south at last. I guy can hope, right?

Waiting for Winter Weather to Arrive…

I see that a change in the weather is on its way, but it hasn’t arrived in Estabrook Park yet, so this morning was pretty much the same as usual lately: cool, cloudy, and a little breezy.

With the recent departure of the wood ducks on the pond, it appears that everyone who is going south for the winter has done so, but the slow arrival of winter weather means that our guests from up north haven’t all felt compelled to come south yet. Thus, we are in peak “shoulder season“, and here are some of our peak shoulderers.

At the north end, as I searched in vain for a raptor or a new duck on the water, I spotted this cute little American tree sparrow foraging on the riverbank all by its lonesome. “Eat up, Sweetie. Your job might be a lot harder tomorrow.”

At the pond, I was glad to see that the female belted kingfisher is still with us, and perhaps those sticks between us gave her a sense of security, because she sure gave me more picture opportunities than usual.

As I was taking pictures of the kingfisher over the far side of the island, this female northern cardinal began filling up on sumac seeds above the near side, and every few nibbles, she would peek around the clump to keep tabs on me.

Finally, we still have great blue herons, and we probably will until the pond and river freeze over.

Lastly, I realize some people won’t like it, and for plenty of good reasons, but I sure do hope we get a change of scenery tomorrow.

A slow day in Estabrook Park…

After all the excitement of yesterday’s airshow, everyone took it down several notches today. The wood ducks on the pond have not returned, and so are probably really gone until the spring, and I didn’t see either of the owls. Thank goodness for the great blue herons, or I wouldn’t have anything to show you at all.

One was resting on the far riverbank above the falls, perhaps with a belly full of fish, …

and the other was still fishing near our riverbank below the falls.

I did manage to glimpse briefly a few other exciting sights, such as a beaver and a muskrat on the river, but I failed to get pictures of them today, and that’s just how it goes sometimes. Wish me better luck for tomorrow.

Weekly wildlife walk number 3.

The cloud cover was pretty thin at sunrise, but they soon got that fixed, and today became as grey as seems to have become the norm lately. On the plus side, the air was as still as forecast, it was barely cool enough for frost to form overnight by radiant cooling, and it didn’t rain until after lunch, so it was yet another good morning for our weekly wildlife walks.

On my way to the meeting spot, I swung by the pond, and I was just in time to catch the muskrat enjoying its breakfast at the far water’s edge. After collecting everyone from the parking lot, of which there were eleven again this week, we stopped by the pond once more and confirmed that the wood ducks were really not there today. Perhaps yesterday will have been our last look for the year.

As I approached the pond the first time, I had noticed this raccoon sleeping in a shallow nook and took its picture. On our way from the pond to the river, on my second pass by this tree, the raccoon was still there, but it quickly crawled down inside a much deeper hole than I realized existed. There, it proceeded to have a loud and extended discussion, with perhaps another raccoon, and probably about if the hole was big enough for the two of them. Nobody came out, however, and the conversation eventually petered out, so we continued on to the river.

Things were quiet on the river, for a change, and I don’t believe we saw a single angler, for the first time since I can’t remember when. Instead, a great horned owl was back in its usual spot on the southern island. There was also a commotion, involving at least several crows, over the far riverbank, and the owl had its head turned away from us to monitor the situation.

After we moved past the owl and came to a clearing with a good view between the two islands to the far riverbank, we could see some of the crows moving about in the tops of the tall cottonwoods that grow there. Suddenly, a veritable flock of birds erupted from the trees, and it comprised a second great horned owl, with a Cooper’s hawk and at least four crows in hot pursuit. I’ve never seen anything like it, and thankfully, the owl didn’t go far. Here it is perched right over their usual hiding place. Check out those talons!

In short order, the first owl came out of its spot to join the second, while the crows cawed. Then they all took off, and we couldn’t track them after that. Phew! What a show that was.

With all the ruckus, we almost didn’t notice a great blue heron was also perched high in the cottonwoods across the river, and it never budged. Can you pick it out?

How about now?

After all that, it was time to return to the parking lot. In all, I counted 19 species of birds, and 4 species of mammals during our walk.

Finally, after checking the pond one last time and still finding no wood ducks, I headed to the river for my walk home, and this hairy woodpecker put on a nice little show right at knee level and right in front of me.

The end.