Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Waiting for the weather to change…

Like the proverbial broken record, the recent gloomy weather in Estabrook Park just keeps repeating. Oh sure, the sun peeks through the thick grey clouds once in a while, it’s certainly not too cold, and it’s not always raining, but I could really go for some crystal-clear blue skies right about now, even if they came with a deep freeze.

Anyway, after the stellar performances yesterday by every bird that I saw, and that ebird.org currently expects me to see “infrequently”, almost nobody wanted any pictures taken today. Perhaps in solidarity, all I could capture of the muskrat on the pond was its backside as it hurried to its burro in the far shore with a mouth full of fresh groceries.

When I first checked on the owl at the river, it was not in at all, but another photographer said that she had just seen it fleeing crows above the far riverbank. Therefore, on my way back south I was quite pleasantly surprised to find it back in its usual spot, even if well hidden. In fact, soon after I took this picture, such as it is, three crows flew in and perched high above it in the next tree over, but they gave no indication that they ever saw it, and they took off to search elsewhere in short order. I hope that means our owl can get a good day’s sleep.

Upon returning to the pond, with nothing but a measly owl picture to show for my hike to the river and back, I found this mallard drake looking suddenly quite stunning.

Finally, the last three wood ducks still haven’t felt the need to flee to a warmer climate, and here’s the drake one more time.

Lastly, this wood duck hen appears to have become so bored with the show that she could barely keep her eyes open.

I’ll be back in Estabrook Park tomorrow morning for our third 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 only partly-cloudy skies, seasonably cool temps, slim chances for rain, and almost still air, which makes for great listening.

Seems like they’re all up to something.

The thick cloud cover continued this morning in Estabrook Park, but it got a little cooler, and the air was almost still, so it was a pretty good time to check on the wildlife.

I don’t know if she’s getting used to me, or she really wanted that fish she had just glimpsed, but the female belted kingfisher let me have a much nicer picture today than yesterday.

Meanwhile, the great horned owl upstream was really in no mood for pictures at all today.

These two great blue herons off the southern tip of the northern island appear to have caught their fill of fish for the morning, and they were now hard at work turning them into feathers and body heat.

High above the herons, this young Cooper’s hawk was searching for a songbird or squirrel with which it could do the same.

Back on our side of the river, this grey squirrel might have been more interested in keeping tabs on that hawk than in ducking out of my sight, so it let me get a nice closeup.

On my way back south, this winter wren also seemed more concerned with something else in the vicinity than with me, but it did not let on what that was.

Finally, as I swung by the pond on my way home, the wood duck drake that is still sticking around there, along with the pair of hens, was kind enough to drift to a halt so I could slow my shutter speed down enough to capture more of his pretty colors in the dim light available. “Thanks, Buddy.”

Someone new for November…

The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was similar to yesterday’s, but the clouds held their water, and I didn’t feel a drop.

I took a slightly different route this today and so reached the river a bit sooner and a bit downstream of where I normally would, which turned out to be just the right place and just the right time to catch this beaver on its way back to its burrow. Sweet!

Above the falls, a belted kingfisher was fishing from the far riverbank and let me take this picture, which is just good enough to see the rusty red band that marks her as female.

Meanwhile, at the northern island, this male gave me a similar opportunity.

The exciting news at the north end, however, was this juvenile bald eagle gliding in, and it was broadcast far and wide by a few dozen mallards as they took to the wing in response. That’s our first eagle since October, and it seemed more interested in preening than hunting, but the mallards were taking no chances, and if there was a wigeon or gadwall hiding among them, we’ll never know.

Finally, the last three wood ducks were on the pond again, and here’s one of the two hens.

And here’s the drake balancing on one leg with its eyes closed and appearing to be asleep.

A warm November rain…

The clouds were thick over Estabrook Park this morning, but the temps were unseasonably mild, the breeze was light, and the rain appeared to have stopped. In fact, the forecast called for a 15% chance of rain and the radar looked clear. Anne and I have learned, however, especially while bicycle touring, that the “15%” number is often better interpreted as “a 100% chance of precipitation at only a 15% intensity.” In the woods, where the mist accumulates on tree branches above, the dripping was pretty steady.

Anywho, the upside is that I had Estabrook Park and its denizens mostly to myself, which is always a treat. So it was either shelter from the wet, lack of people, or just plain luck-of-the-draw that brought one of the great horned owls back home to roost. Here it is checking out the mallards on the river below right after checking me out and deciding that I was harmless, or at least that’s what I’d like to think.

I had hardly gone 100 yards from the owl when I came across another raptor we love to see. This red-tailed hawk had all the nearby squirrels in a lather, which tipped me off to look for it.

Finally, and with such a wet day it’s a miracle I even made it to three birds, there are still belted kingfishers kicking around, and here’s a male over the river. In related news, there were no signs of the wood ducks, gadwall, wigeons, or even great blue herons today, although I do expect to see the latter again this year, and I wish “safe travels” to the rest.

Lastly, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted this spider web out over the river this late into November. After so many windy days, some spider must have just built that recently, which is crazy, right?

Just a few odd ducks.

It was cool, cloudy, and breezy this morning in Estabrook Park. The sun often barely even made a bright spot in the dim grey sky, and if it had been 15°F cooler, I would have sworn that it was threatening to snow. Alas, there’s none of that in the forecast for quite a while.

A couple of rays of sunshine did sneak through, however, and one just happened to land on the wood duck drake still hanging around on the pond as it paddled over to see if I was one of the old guys that feeds the ducks there. “Sorry, Buddy, but I’m told that is just not good for you.”

One of the two hens accompanied him, probably for the same reason, and got the same answer.

Meanwhile, down on the river, no one is feeding the ducks there, that I have ever seen, so the gadwall dabbling out with the mallards should be there purely on his own volition.

As for the rest, the list of critters I had hoped to see today, but didn’t, is nearly as long as the list of critters I actually did manage to see, and none of them wanted their picture taken, either. Well, I suppose that if every day was like a visit to the zoo, it would probably just get boring, and we don’t want that, right? I still hope for better luck next time, though.

A couple of mid-November surprises.

It was cloudier and cooler this morning in Estabrook Park, but the breeze was lighter than yesterday, and the clouds held their water, so it was a pretty nice day for checking on the critters.

We still have three stubborn wood ducks on the pond who have not yet flown south. There are two hens and this drake, whose breeding plumage hasn’t all come in quite yet, and maybe that’s what he’s waiting for.

The great blue herons are still visiting to fish, and there were three at once on the northern island at one point. Here’s one of them in a slightly more photogenic spot before it flew to the island to join the other two.

There was an odd duck with the mallards on the river again, and I figured it was the wigeon drake, whom we just saw yesterday, but I took one more picture anyway. Imagine my surprise when I cropped the image for this post and realized that it’s a gadwall instead. Ha! The last time we saw one of them was on Halloween, so this is my first gadwall of November.

A great horned owl was in their new, or very old, favorite spot and about as deep into the sticks as yesterday.

Finally, here’s a second bird we haven’t seen since October, a northern flicker perched high above the northern island, and who appears to have missed the bus and is now stuck flying south all on its own.

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.