Rain delay…

The rain was pouring down, accompanied by a few flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder, at dawn this morning, so I wasn’t going anywhere. Luckily, it had all passed through by about 8 am, so I hustled to Estabrook Park only about 90 minutes behind schedule.

There was some big running event being held in the park this morning, and folks were busy setting up when I arrived. That much activity can sometimes put a damper on wildlife sighting, so I didn’t get my hopes up. This red-tailed hawk and the few crows it had attracted, on the other hand, were far more interested in each other than they were with the bustle below.

Better yet, the hawk endured the harassment long enough for me to get closer for a nicer picture, which I believe shows a much darker head than on the one we saw across the river on Thursday.

More surprising still, at least for me, is that a couple of the crows, which are usually quite shy, came down to forage at the beer garden after they had vanquished the hawk. Perhaps they were feeling full of themselves, but let’s just enjoy the treat without getting all judgey.

At the river, my good luck continued when the sun poked through the lingering clouds just in time to light up this young female belted kingfisher on the downstream island.

At the meadow, this eastern forktail damselfly seemed to be saying, “You thought we were done for the season? Well check out this action!” Then it began to perform what certainly appeared to be abdomen exercises. First it bent its tail up.

Then it made an “s” shape.

Finally, it brought the tip forward to rub down with its hind legs. If you recall pictures of damselflies mating, you knew this had to be possible, but I sure have never seen it, nor had I thought it would appear so effortless.

Back up on the bluff, another sight that I knew was possible but that I don’t recall seeing in Estabrook was an eastern chipmunk stuffing its cheeks with food to consume later.

The big surprise of the day, however, was seeing this young red-headed woodpecker, the likes of whom we haven’t seen in quite a while. It was calling to see if anyone else was around, and I never did hear it get an answer, but I still hold out hope that one of these years a nesting pair will find Estabrook Park to be just what they’ve been looking for.

Finally, at the pond, one more critter, this muskrat, decided to show its face after a long absence. It seems the crowd of runners did not have the effect that I had feared. Yay!

The weather forecast for tomorrow morning looks gorgeous, so I’m gonna try Lakeshore State Park with the Milwaukee Birders to see if they have anything down there that we’re not seeing up here. I’ll keep you posted.