Oh, my goodness, the weather was absolutely fabulous this morning in Estabrook Park. The skies were crystal clear, and the air was cool and nearly still. If you live in the vicinity, I hope you’ve had a chance to get outside.
The fun started for me at the pond again, where the hooded merganser let me have a much nicer look than yesterday, although it did make me walk around to the east side of the pond to get it. How I suffer for my craft.
As I approached the river, I found this doe literally chewing up the scenery.
The star of the day, however, has got to be this juvenile yellow-crowned night heron who had just caught a crayfish out of the river. Now before you ask, “didn’t we just see a night heron on the pond?” let me point out that we did indeed see a black-crowned night heron on the pond just yesterday, but this is a yellow-crowned night heron, which we have seen before, but which the experts at eBird consider to be “rare” for this time and place. How sweet is that?
As I made my way back south, I stopped at the pollinator garden, and I did see another snowberry clearwing moth, but the picture didn’t come out as good as yesterday’s. Instead, the more interesting sight was this chipmunk parked higher in a tree than I’ve ever seen them. Plus, it wasn’t moving, so perhaps it was hiding out, or maybe it had just climbed so high that now it was afraid to move. Either way, I sure hope it can get itself out of whichever predicament it has gotten itself into.
I did see a belted kingfisher today, and even got a picture, but this one from Monday looks a lot nicer.
This picture came out as you might imagine some of the ones did that I mentioned above and that I opted not to show you. This is only the second time I’ve seen this creature (Dyspteris abortivaria), however, and this is the best I’ve been able to manage to date, so we’re just gonna hafta go with it. Not only is it one of the few green moths we get to see in Wisconsin, it is the only species in its genus, and its common name is “bad-wing moth” because “its forewing is much larger than its hindwing, making it often difficult to pull into position for spreading.” Weird detail to name it after, eh?
Finally, the monarchs are still enjoying the swamp milkweed beside the river, and if they can, so should we. Right?
The forecast for tomorrow looks like a repeat of today, so I can’t wait to see who I’ll find next.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 