While I’m on the road, here’s another treat we might expect this coming winter. Sure, we see hooded mergansers from time to time, but we don’t often get to see them parked on the ice.

Welp, I already tipped my had last evening when I accidentally sent out “Travel Day 9” ahead of schedule. Anyway, as you have probably surmised by now, Anne and I are on the road again, and I’ve got my camera with me, but I don’t expect to have sufficient internet for a while, so I’ve scheduled the following posts to appear automagically while I’m gone. This time, I’m featuring the critters we might expect to see this winter.

First up, is this amazing buttlehead pair from February 23, 2022

If we get lucky, we might even get to see a gadwall drake again

Holy Mackerel! What a morning. There were a few clouds messing with my light now and then, but the good weather is mostly holding. The huge news, however, is that Estabrook Park has been swamped by new birds since yesterday morning. Right off the bat, there were dozens of dark-eyed juncos frantically foraging in the grass at the edge of the paved path beside the soccer fields. Here’s one so hungry that it let me take this picture. Until today, I had only glimpsed one so far this fall.

And here’s my best attempt at a shot that might give you a sense for the density of birds.

Juncos weren’t even the only new arrivals. I also counted dozens of yellow-rumped warblers, instead of the usual two or three, and here’s one of them.

I only saw one black-and-white warbler, but I haven’t seen any in quite a while, so this was also a treat.

There were about eight wood ducks on the pond, but this great blue heron put on a better show.

As I headed farther north along the river, I spooked a green heron by accident, and here it is still looking a bit startled.

At the north end, there were many more yellow-rumped warblers, a killdeer, and a couple of spotted sandpipers, in addition to the usual dozens of mallards and geese, but the big surprise was getting another shot at a Wilson’s snipe portrait. This time it was already across the water, so I didn’t spook it, but this stretch of water was nice and narrow, and the light wasn’t too bad at the moment.

Mixed in with all the yellow-rumps, there were also a few palm warblers, and here’s one foraging for bugs down on the exposed river rocks.

Also foraging on the river bottom was the first rusty blackbird I’ve seen this season.

There were even three great egrets, instead of the usual two or sometimes one, and I managed to catch two of them in the same tree at the same time.

But wait, there’s more! I’ve seen a few ruby-crowned kinglets already this fall, but no golden-crowns until this morning, and I even managed to get a picture of one.

There are still a few more pictures, if you can believe it, but I’d better stop here and keep a couple in my back pocket for the inevitable rainy days ahead.

Well, it was great while it lasted, but the beautiful weather has drifted east, and we were greeted by clouds and a breeze in Estabrook Park this morning.

As I made my way north along the path, I could hear a couple of chipmunks calling, but one sounded pretty close, so I took a look, and this is who I found.

At the pond, there were sixteen (16!) wood ducks today, but that wasn’t even the biggest surprise. Instead, the real shocker was a mink swimming straight across the middle of the pond, and here’s the best picture of the little rascal I could manage with the light I had. It is facing to the right, and you can just make out its little nose, one eye and one or two little ears.

At the river, there was a raptor in the raptor tree that we haven’t seen in a while, this red-tailed hawk.

Meanwhile, down on the water, there was a traffic jam as an egret strode through the line of mallards and geese dabbling upstream.

Back in the raptor tree, the red-tailed had moved on, and a merlin appeared to take its place. That tree has been worth every penny I put into it.

As I was just about to head back south, the sun broke through for a moment, so I ran back to the water to capture this egret posing against some autumn color. And then the sun was gone, just as suddenly as it had emerged.

As I was aiming up, white-throated sparrows in a small flock nearby were paying more attention to each other than to me, for a change, and that is often my best chance to sneak a portrait.

Farther south, I came across this grey squirrel right at eye level, and it really seemed like it didn’t want to budge, so I took its picture, too.

Finally, back at the south end, I couldn’t find our juvenile red-headed woodpecker, but this juvie yellow-bellied sapsucker did its best to fill in. “Thanks, Champ!”

The beautiful weather continues, and it was another glorious morning in Estabrook Park. The first surprise came at the pond where I didn’t find a single wood duck for the first time since I don’t know when. Instead, I found about a dozen on the river around the northern island, and here are two hens parked on a log and catching some rays.

The next surprise was spotting a green heron, which have become scarce lately. This one was in the shade when I first saw it, but I didn’t have to wait too long for the sun to come around and light it up for us.

This next sight isn’t really a surprise, because of how many warblers we’ve been seeing lately, but it is still always nice to spot them, and I believe this little darling happens to be a female/immature magnolia warbler, based on the full eyering, grey head, pair of wingbars, and faint dark striping on a yellow belly.

I have seen far fewer river deer this year compared to previous years, but here’s another island deer hiding in the bushes.

Finally, more mushrooms! My best guess, with which you should definitely not trust your life, is that these are elm oyster mushrooms (Hypsizygus ulmarius), which “commonly grows on tree species like … box elder” and “in the wounds or scars of the host tree,” as are both the case here.

And that’s it for today, I’m afraid. I did see the red-headed woodpecker, a yellow-bellied sapsucker, and a Cooper’s hawk again, but despite the nice weather, few critters were just hanging out enjoying it. Perhaps they’ve heard the forecast for a high of 56°F on Saturday and are just too busy getting ready.

The weather was just perfect in Estabrook Park again this morning. The skies were so clear that there was already enough light a full 20 minutes before sunrise for me to head out, and I was treated to the waning moon high in the west and still looking pretty close to full, plus Jupiter just below it, and Venus high in the east. Sweet!

My next treat was spotting a red-headed woodpecker high above the northwest corner of the soccer fields, a juvenile who hasn’t yet gotten its red head feathers, and only the second one that I’ve ever managed to photograph in the park. I sure do hope it likes what it sees and helps the species expand its range southward to include Estabrook. Wouldn’t that be great?

At the pond, a male belted kingfisher arrived with a great flourish by swooping down over the trees to right above the water, circling the island at full speed, and continuously shouting at the top of his lungs, “I’m here!” before taking a perch over the water. I find it curious that such a shy bird when perched would also be such a showoff when flying.

At the river, there were two raptors again in the raptor tree over the northern island, …

And this time the one in the lower right is a Cooper’s hawk, probably one of the pair that we’ve been seeing pretty regularly lately, and the one in the upper left is a peregrine falcon sporting a bit of jewelry. I had heard a falcon calling from the TV tower in the southeast corner of the park, but I couldn’t spot it, so I was thrilled to have this second chance.

Out on the water, a pied-billed grebe was swimming amongst the mallards and soon came up with a nice big fish.

Here it is again and giving us a better look at that fish. Nice!

At the far north end, almost under the Port Washington Road bridge, a pair of great blue herons appeared to be courting.

At least one egret is still around, and here it is nearly glowing in the sun along with a handful of winged insects that are still emerging from the river.

There are also still some warblers coming through, looking for those insects, and here’s a yellow-rumped flashing its ID badge.

There was even a spotted sandpiper still on the river.

Finally, back at the southeast corner, a group of starlings was flitting about, and here’s an immature one glistening in the sun.

Welp, I finally did it. After passing on the roseate spoonbill in Green Bay and the pink flamingos in Port Washington, I succumbed to exotic bird fever this morning and rode my bicycle up to Kletzsch Park to look for a limpkin (Aramus guarauna) that was reported there just yesterday. Their usual natural range just barely extends north of Florida.

I found it foraging for snails on the far shore of the Milwaukee River, just as advertized, and I was surprised by how big it is, averaging 2.38 lb, which is not as heavy as an average 4.9-lb great blue heron, but a little heavier than an average 2.2-lb great egret. As I already said, it was at the far shore, and the sun was coming up through the trees behind it, so these are the best pictures I could manage.

Kletzsch Park was nice, even bigger than Estabrook, but I struggled to find much more to show you there. The next best picture I have is of this chipmunk enjoying the view from atop a shutter overlooking a little pollinator garden in front of the headquarters building.

Luckily, it was a beautiful morning, and Estabrook Park was right on my way home, so I stopped by just in time to find the two Cooper’s hawks flitting around at the north end, and here’s one perched for us nicely in the sun.

This tiny phoebe was not quite as cooperative, but it is nevertheless great to see them migrating back through and picking some gnats out of the air to fuel their journey.

I stopped by the pond next, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a painted turtle up on a log sunning itself. I guess the nights are getting cool enough that the turtle just needed to soak up a few more calories.

The wood ducks, on the other hand, are homeothermic and so were sleeping off their breakfasts in the shade.

While this downy woodpecker was still busy foraging for food.

Finally, at the far south end, this warbler, an immature or female blackpoll warbler, I believe, looks like it just scored a whole meal!

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park, at long last, with blue skies, a warm sun, mild temps, and calm winds. Despite my exuberance, however, it was pretty quiet in the park.

I counted 15 wood ducks, 5 on the pond and 10 on the river, but the most photogenic ducks in the park were this pair of mallards glowing in the golden sunlight.

There were no ospreys, falcons, or merlins today, but I did see the pair of Cooper’s hawks beside the river at the north end again, and I managed to get a picture of this one.

In addition to all the herons, the two egrets continue to fish on the river, and here’s one about to enjoy a little morsel of success.

At the south end, I found one more yellow-bellied sapsucker on his way south.

Finally, here’s one more of the many white-throated sparrows still foraging throughout the park.

That’s it for today, I’m afraid, but the nice weather is supposed to stick around a while, so maybe I’ll have more luck tomorrow.

The weather is finally improving, but it was still pretty cloudy in Estabrook Park this morning. At least the clouds weren’t leaking today.

I counted five wood ducks on the pond, but no herons, and the prettiest sight was this female northern cardinal sipping from a puddle on the path.

At the river, my way north was momentarily blocked by a great blue heron standing right on the path at the falls. It appeared to be mesmerized by an angler hauling in a huge salmon. Perhaps the heron was thinking “there’s no way he’s going be to able to swallow that thing!” Anyway, I kept inching closer, and the heron eventually snuck under the railing and then hopped down to the water, so I could get by.

On my way north, I came across a chickadee who had caught itself some kind of bug.

And a downy woodpecker probably looking to do the same.

At the north end, there were the usual dozens of mallards, a couple dozen geese, and a few wood ducks, but the big surprise was spotting these two raptors in the big dead tree over the northern island.

At first glance, I figured they were the two Cooper’s hawks we’ve seen there lately, but upon closer inspection, I was surprised to find that the larger, lower one is a peregrine falcon taking a nap, …

and the smaller, higher one is a merlin. I would have never guessed that I would ever see those two in the same tree at the same time.

On my way back south, things got even crazier when I came across the osprey on the same branch again by the guardrail. Wow! I read that “most Ospreys that breed in North America migrate to Central and South America for the winter,” so we’d better enjoy this spectacle while it lasts. One of these mornings I’m gonna go by there, and it will be gone, with “no goodbye, no ‘see ya later’, no nothin’,” and it won’t be the best part of my day. Same goes for the falcons and the merlins.

Finally, while I was trying to get a glimpse of a Lincoln’s sparrow in the weeds beside the soccer fields, both Cooper’s hawks flew overhead. Ha! They didn’t give me a chance for a pciture this time, but at least they stick around for the winter.