Quite the mixed bag…

“Second Weekends are State Park Weekends” for the Milwaukee Birders, and since things had been quiet at Estabrook for the past couple of days, I thought I’d join them at Havenwoods State Forest this morning. They didn’t start until 8:30, however, so I stopped by Estabrook on my way, just to see what I’d be missing.

I met a young deer and his mom atop the bluff at the north end, and I could tell he was a he because he’s sporting the first inkling of antlers.

The bigger surprise for me, and perhaps for her, was when he tried to nurse. I don’t know if she’s just done with that, or she didn’t need some old dude taking pictures, but she didn’t let that last long.

Down on the water, the pair of killdeer are still with us, and this one struck the nicer pose.

I was more excited to see an odd duck back out on the water with the mallards, and this time it was a wigeon again.

The biggest surprise of the morning had to be this healthy-looking raccoon ambling around on the exposed river bottom and appearing to be looking for something to eat.

Then I had to hustle off to Havenwoods to make the 8:30 start, and by then the sun was up, the sky was clear, and it was a beautiful day for a stroll around the grounds. The kestrels, orchard orioles, marsh wrens, and meadowlarks appear to have all flown south for the winter already, but there were a few hardy souls stuck or preparing to stick it out, and this young red squirrel is definitely in the former and hopefully in the latter as well.

I don’t believe this young cedar waxwing is stuck, but I guess if you don’t instinctively migrate, you might as well be stuck, so we should get to see them all winter long, from time to time. I read that they don’t stash fruit for the winter, as we just saw a red-bellied woodpecker do, so I guess they don’t do much if anything to prepare for the winter and are just good at foraging instead.

Finally, we did glimpse a couple of larger butterflies, but they refused to sit still for a second, so here’s one more clouded sulpher and our first butterfly an New England aster of the fall.

Since it is so nice to meet up with the Milwaukee Birders, I plan to join them again at Lakefront State Park tomorrow morning. I see that pipits and longspurs have been spotted there this month, so here’s hoping I find something interesting.