I couldn’t resist the siren call of those least bitterns at Sheridan Park, so I headed back there first thing this morning to try my luck again.
At least the grounds crew wasn’t mowing the lawn around the pond this time when I arrived, so I could hear the call of this female belted kingfisher who stopped by for a bite.
It would have been a little unusual at this point in the summer if there was not a great blue heron on the pond there, but I did not expect to see this youngster snag the largest and orangest goldfish I may have ever seen. The heron seemed about as surprised as I was, but choked it down, nevertheless.
Once again, the stars of the show were the green heron chicks, and you can just make out the beaks of all three of them in this image.
I never heard a peep out of them, but one did manage to signal to its parent that IT WAS HUNGRY!
At which point Mom or Dad did cough up some breakfast, literally.
The least bitterns stiffed me again, but at least I got to hang out with some friends on a nice morning in a nice park. Plus, now I have room to show you one more picture from my week at Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha. One of the many treats there was hearing field sparrows calling nearly as much as I might hear chickadees in Estabrook, and here’s one of the little cuties between verses.
Finally, here’s a least skipper from a few days back on a right-sized flower in Estabrook. It could sit comfortably on a dime, so the blossoms on this flower are spread out to about the size of a quarter.
We’re enjoying a nice, gentle rain right now, which is supposed to continue through much of the day tomorrow, so I don’t know if I’ll get outside at all, but here’s hoping I can scrape up something to show you.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 