Some Estabrook mysteries solved

First up, fairly new subscriber and self-described “super sleuth”, Mark Beske reports that he has seen the canada geese and goslings at Hubbard Park, just a bit down the river from Estabrook. Anne supposes that they went there for the excellent take-out fish fry, but I noticed that the beer garden was open yesterday, so maybe that was the draw instead. We may never know for sure, but to paraphrase Chief Wiggum, “that’s some mighty fine spelunking” Mark!

I also learned yesterday, after a tip from long-time reader, Lois Wesener, that the closure of the road through the park is “for inclusion in Milwaukee County Parks and City of Milwaukee’s Active Street Program.” Yay! If you haven’t yet enjoyed the luxury of strolling up the middle of that parkway, with seemingly all the room in the world for keeping safe physical distances, now is the perfect time.

On to the critters.

The pond sure has changed with the departure of the geese. This morning I only spotted a couple three wood ducks paddling around forlornly: two males and one female. Meanwhile the red-winged blackbirds, grackles, catbirds, and baltimore orioles are making a racket and having a field day! Still no repeat sighting of that little varmint I spotted swimming towards the east shore some days ago, but I’ve got my eyes peeled.

Yesterday afternoon I did spot this little house wren in the bushes on the south shore.

I also spotted the red squirrel again and a new baby rabbit over by the bluff yesterday, but they were too quick for me to photograph. Happily for me, however, a raccoon was nice enough to leave me this nice slow calling card. Eagle-eye Anne has spotted a live one on the Oakleaf Trail recently, so maybe someday I’ll be so lucky.

Finally, the butterflies are back and this cabbage white was kind enough to linger over his unfermented dandelion wine long enough for me to capture this image.

Thanks to all of you that have followed me to this new platform. Some have actually subscribed, which is awesome, and they experienced the joy of being notified dozens of times yesterday as I slowly posted each of my old messages from April. Many are merely checking the site directly, based on the number of page views wordpress reports to me, which is also awesome. Even my mom and dad managed to make it go with their chromebook, after first double checking with me that the url was totally legit! All this traffic and just a buck three eighty will definitely get me a delicious Mocha Mexicana at Colectivo!