I’m off to Connecticut to see my folks for a week, and I may still be on the plane as you are reading this. Happily, yesterday’s outing in Estabrook Park went into extra innings, and I have a few more pictures to show you.
As I was trying to capture images of the asters and pearl crescent at the south end yesterday, a crowd of people was forming in the parking lot, and they turned out to be on a field trip with Professor Michael Pauers for his Ichthyology 511 class at the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences. They were headed down to the river to try electrofishing to see what they could find, and they allowed me to tag along.
Besides providing a way to catch little fish that you might never catch with a hook and line, electrofishing is supposed to leave most of the fish stunned but otherwise unharmed. Anyway, while the professor was out on the river with a couple of students making their first collection, I spotted this character buried up to its eyeballs in the river mud.
The anglers came back in short order, and the first haul included this common shiner (Luxilus cornutus), …
this hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus), …
and this emerald shiner (Notropis atherinoides), all of which the professor IDed from just memory.
The next haul included this round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), an invasive species from the Black and/or Caspian Seas, …
this beautiful rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), …
and this stonecat (Noturus flavus).
Finally, the third haul included this wee white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), …
and this gorgeous pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus).
Lastly, as we were waiting on shore for more fish to come in, this gorgeous creature was flitting about above us, and I kept hoping that it would land someplace so I could take its picture. Well, sometimes miracles do happen, and this mourning cloak is your butterfly of the day. If you are wondering, we saw the in/top side of the wings last June.
Wish me luck finding something to show you on Thursday.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 