It was cool and dark this morning in Estabrook Park, but the winds were light, and the clouds were holding their water, so not a bad time for a visit. Things were quiet, however, and I didn’t see anything remarkable at the pond or the river until a pair of crows alerted me to a bald eagle silently gliding south over the far riverbank.

I headed south after it, in hopes that it would perch somewhere, but I couldn’t find it in any of the usual spots, and I had pretty much given up on that idea when I started to hear grey squirrels giving their warning cry. It still took me a moment, but I eventually found it up nice and high where I might have missed it, so “Thanks, guys!” It was so high, in fact, that I thought I’d see if I could get a better shot from up on the bluff, and sure enough, here it is almost at eye level.

Then it noticed a feather that needed some attention, our photo shoot was over, and I continued on my way.

Almost as surprising as finding the eagle was spotting this hermit thrush out on the lawn right beside the paved path north of the beer garden.

And if finding one hermit thrush is unlikely, imagine finding two in quick succession! Sweet! They weren’t together either, though they may be acquainted. The second one was almost 500 yards down stream.

Just beyond the second hermit thrush, I found our red squirrel for the day, and it appears that I caught it with a mouth full of breakfast. “Sorry!”

Finally, spotting herons these days feels like spotting the elf on the shelf, and this one was a little bit downstream from yesterday’s and back on our side of the river.

I see they’ve brined our street, so I guess we’re expecting some snow, and maybe we’ll get a nice change of scenery for tomorrow morning.

The rain was pretty steady, there was a big green blob on the radar, and showers were forecast to continue until 11am, so I did not expect to be in Estabrook Park this morning. When Anne got home from her walk around 8:30, however, she reported that the rain had already stopped, and the sky was lightening, so out the door I went.

The first treat of the morning was this red-tailed hawk, possibly a juvenile by the looks of that tail, in the birch tree on the west edge of the southern soccer fields. It was on a mission and continued east, to where the squirrels are thick, before I could get any closer.

Update: the fine folks at ebird say “no”, it’s a Cooper’s hawk instead. Oh well. Live and learn, I hope.

The pond ice is starting to melt, and there was even a sextet of Canada geese grazing up on the lawn, but no picture really presented itself, so I continued on to the river. There, the great horned owl was in this morning, surprisingly visible, and sound asleep. I never even caught a glimpse of those big beautiful yellow eyes.

At the north end, the male belted kingfisher was on his station, but looking less than pleased with the rain.

Finally, I only saw one great blue heron, and it was across from the abandoned bridge abutment and beside the little falls formed by the blue hole draining into the river. Maybe with all the rain, the big falls were just too fast to fish today.

It was a grey morning in Estabrook Park, and the great blue heron looked glum.

It was a dark morning in Estabrook Park, but the temps were mildish, and the forecast precipitation wasn’t supposed to start till at least 8 or 9 am, so I slipped in to see if there was anyone around. I didn’t spot any herons or eagles today, and the owl was so deep into the sticks that I didn’t even try, but there was one Cooper’s hawk swooping through the trees at the north end, and it perched high over the island for a moment.

There were a lot of squirrels out and about this morning, and here’s a little red one chowing down on the huge nut it found.

Finally, at the pond I was very happy to see this mallard hen again. She’s been there for weeks, along with the now-departed hoodie and woodie, but something has gone wrong with her tail, and it appears that she’s not able to fly away from the pond. When the ice formed a few days ago, and the wood duck disappeared, I feared that we had lost her too, but here she is back again and as bold as ever. Since mallard hens lay, incubate, and hatch their eggs in nests on the ground, right under the noses of coyotes, foxes, raccoon, mink, and all other manner of creature who would love nothing more than duck eggs for breakfast, they must be really good at hiding out, and perhaps that’s what she’ s been up to while the pond was frozen over. In any case, “Welcome back, Sweetie!”

Temperatures are back to normal, the river ice is beginning to break up and drift downstream, and I was even a bit overdressed for my hike through Estabrook Park this morning.

After a brief absence, the great blue herons have returned, and I counted two today. Here’s the one that chose to land closest to our riverbank.

We have a gadwall drake again, dabbling with the mallards on the river above the falls, but I didn’t see a hen with him this time. He was as shy as usual, but he did flash us those pretty white speculum feathers of his for a moment.

At the north end, we had no eagles or osprey today, but our male belted kingfisher was keeping an eye on things in their stead.

Finally, the great horned owl was back, and deeper into the sticks that ever. I wonder where it goes when it’s not on the island. Does it have a secret second family somewhere?

And that’s it for today I’m afraid. I didn’t see a single picture to take at the pond, not even the catbird, but maybe if the ice melts, somebody will show up.

Temps were back up into the mid-twenties, and the wind chill only down into the teens, plus the skies were still crystal clear, and the wind wasn’t howling, so it was a perfect morning to visit Estabrook Park.

I was greeted as soon as I stepped out my front door by this red-tailed hawk perched high over the Oak Leaf Trail and waiting for the sun to rise. I usually check the trees and power poles behind the Shorewood police station for starlings, who seem to like hanging out there, but they were all elsewhere this morning, for some reason.

As soon as I got across Wilson Drive and the Oak Leaf Trail, I spotted a couple of white-tailed does by the southern bathhouse, and they posed just perfectly. What a nice start to the morning.

Farther north, as I was counting the mallards and checking for gadwalls on the river, this herring gull dropped in and caught a fish for breakfast right away.

Now that the pond is completely frozen over, there’s not much to see until the day warms up a bit and the little songbirds start flitting around in the bushes, so I continued upriver and found this young bald eagle perched high over the northern island. This appears to be its first year out of the nest, based on how dark its eyes are, so maybe it is one of the Milwaukee County fledglings we’ve been hearing about. In any case,”Welcome to Estabrook Park, and we hope you like it here!”

As I was walking back south on the river trail after counting the geese and more mallards, I glimpsed this little red squirrel run up that tree far ahead and tuck into that hole. I hoped I might get a second chance at a nice picture if I could coax it back out, so I got closer and made the “tut-tut” sound that some folks make to call a cat, and look who came out to ask, “You talkin’ to me?“

Finally, I stopped by the pond again, and this time the cat bird who opted not to fly south this year, at least not yet, was ready for a portrait, so it called me over with its “meow” cry, and then it just posed with a faraway look on its face as if contemplating the error of its ways and asking, “What have I done?”

Lastly, here’s one more look at the acrobatic little chickadee from yesterday.

We really got a mouthful of winter weather in Estabrook Park this morning, at least temperature wise, and the thermometer said 14°F, -10°C for our international subscribers. Add in a nice breeze out of the northwest, and it felt as though it was below zero. The sky was clear, however, so there was plenty of sunlight and blue skies to make the pictures look nice, and my camera is literally rated to -10°C.

The pond was totally frozen over, so even the mink and muskrat were keeping to their burrows this morning, and I continued on to the river. There, at the far bank, I caught a bald eagle on the ground for the very first time. They are notorious scavengers, and there is some carcass protruding through the ice over there that it is working on. One reason that I haven’t caught them doing this before could be that they spend a lot more time looking than actually scavenging.

Another is probably that they are very skittish about being caught on the ground, and soon after this one spotted me, it retreated to the same tree in which we saw it yesterday.

Anyway, I was thrilled to find a great blue heron on such a cold morning, even if it was the only one, and it appeared to be soaking up some calories from the sun before trying to fish some more out of the river. Good idea.

Farther ashore, this white-breasted nuthatch was foraging on the ground, which I very seldom see them do, but which sounds like a really good idea when the windchill is -1°F. Clever bird.

This goldfinch was getting the best of both worlds, chowing down on seeds close to the ground and out of the wind while simultaneously soaking up warmth from the sun. Genius!

This male downy woodpecker seemed to be going about business as usual without making any special accommodation for the weather. Just a tough little guy, I guess.

Finally, this black-capped chickadee appeared to be just showing off by doing pullups while eating seeds.

See, it could still get them when just perched there, if it wanted.

With clear skies overnight and the sunrise temperature at 21°F this morning, the pond was frozen over for the first time this season. There was no sign of either the wood duck drake or the mallard hen with no tail feathers that I’ve been seeing all fall. We can hope that they both managed to hike down to the river along the path the goslings take every spring, but in the grand scheme of things, we should admit that an equally good outcome is that they are now warming some predator’s belly this cold morning.

Speaking of predators, here is yet another tantalizing glimpse of the energetic mink, this time prancing across the ice from the island to the far shore.

Less predaceous, but probably just as hungry, here’s the muskrat perched on the ice and munching on probably a root for breakfast.

At the north end, here’s the male belted kingfisher again perched high over the northern island.

And here’s the only great blue heron I saw this morning, warming up in the sun on the riverbank

Farther inland, here’s a feisty red squirrel posing for a portrait after vanquishing one of its much-larger gray cousins.

On my way back south, I was thrilled to see this mature bald eagle sporting some jewelry and cleaning its beak against a branch over the southern island.

Farther downstream and just before I turned left to swing by the pond again, I spotted this hermit thrush perched in the snow and looking as if it was just about to say something.

Finally, back at the pond, there was still no sign of either duck, but I was lucky enough to see this gray catbird lurking amongst the house finches in the berry bushes on the island.

I spent some time with family this weekend, as I hope you were able to, and I left the woods to others for a bit. Meanwhile, our second snow of November has arrived in Estabrook Park, and this morning I ventured back to see who might still be around.

The wood duck drake, who by now seems likely to have some disability preventing him from flying south, was still looking healthy, if less than pleased with the weather, on the pond this morning.

I saw a couple of great blue herons on the river, who do stick around for the winter even when healthy, and this one looked about as thrilled with the precipitation as the wood duck.

At the north end, I heard that I had just missed a pair of mature eagles, and there was no sign of the osprey today, but this house finch made a pretty nice consolation picture.

Perhaps because the eagles had moved on, the male belted kingfisher was back in his semi-regular spot high over the northern island.

Back below the falls, I was happy to see a hermit thrush that still hadn’t amscrayed yet.

The first big surprise of the day was watching a huge raptor glide through the woods south of the dog park. As I tried to ID it, I noticed its head looked rounder than the raptors I usually see in flight, and when I caught up to where it had perched, I found out why. It was a great horned owl, but I don’t know if it was the one we often see on the southern island, who wasn’t in this morning, or another bird. Either way, what an amazing sight, right?

The second big surprise of the day, when I returned to the pond, was finally being able to capture an image, good enough for identification purposes anyway, if nowhere near a portrait, of a mink scampering along the far shore. The white snow sure helped!

The third big surprise of the day was spotting a plump-looking muskrat up on the ice already forming on the water.

Finally, the wood duck was still there and looking a little more contented, if only because it was probably asleep.

The beautiful weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park, and we only have a short drive to the in-laws for dinner, so I had a few minutes to slip in and take a look around.

The hoodie was not on the pond again, and may have finally taken off for the season, but the woodie was still there, so here he is.

I spotted a doe, but she had no time for me, so I continued on to the river.

The great horned owl was in this morning but in a slightly different spot, and I couldn’t get it to look our way today.

The belted kingfisher was back and busy at fishing. He kept switching directions on that perch, so I had my choice of poses today.

The gadwalls were back, and here’s the drake catching a bit of sunlight while the mallards around him stayed in the shade.

The big surprise this morning was when I heard the osprey calling, and just when I found it perched over the far riverbank, it took flight in reaction to a bald eagle gliding south over the river. The two chased each other a bit over the northern island, which was very exciting to see, and then the osprey took off, and the eagle perched near where the osprey had been.

Finally, here’s a little red squirrel enjoying an early start to its Thanksgiving feast.