It hasn’t rained today, yet, and the sun does peek through from time to time, but it was a pretty cloudy morning in Estabrook Park. We have had a bunch of beautiful days, however, so I was a little surprised to read in the local paper this morning that, “if you’re under the impression that it rains just about every other day lately, you’re right. We just crossed the midpoint of July, and Milwaukee has recorded some precipitation virtually half the days since the beginning of March, according to National Weather Service data.” Huh.
Anyway, the blue jays have been making a lot of noise in the park lately, and I suspect it is mostly from fledglings and their parents. As I have mentioned before, they are surprisingly camera shy, given their reputation as backyard feeder bullies, so this beauty, with a “deer-in-the-headlights” look, is probably a fledgling who didn’t know yet what to make of me.
At the north end, an osprey was back, and I got to watch it fly across the river with a big fish in its talons to perch on the far side and dig into breakfast.
Back on our shore this chipmunk was up in a tree, which I always find fun to see.
In the remains of the meadow at the north end, after the Parks Department mowed the rest, I found my very first eastern forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis), and it appears to be a male. Ain’t he handsome?
On my second visit to the pond, there were two green herons flitting around, as we’ve seen a few times before, but one of them today appears to be a youngster. Notice all the light spots on its wing. You love to see that.
This next, fascinating but potentially off-putting scene is of a small sand wasp with prey that is has subdued and will soon bring to a small hole in the ground, which is usually in sandy soil and hence the name, to feed its larva.
Finally, the snowberry clearwings were back to feeding from bee balm blossoms at the pollinator garden. Yay!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 