There was a nice breeze blowing out of the west this morning, so the clouds and fog didn’t stand a chance, and we had nice clear skies, for a change, at Kohler-Andrae State Park, and this allowed me to venture out looking for wildlife earlier than usual.
The first treat this may have precipitated was finally finding a great blue heron that wasn’t just flying by, and I hope the green herons, which have been plentiful this week, haven’t already caught all the fish.
I’ve been seeing wood ducks on the Black River all week, and some have probably been ducklings, but they’ve been keeping their distance, so it was hard to tell for sure. Thus, this pair of sweethearts was the next treat of the morning.
Then I headed to the dunes cordwalk, and I arrived just in time to catch this thirteen-lined ground squirrel still out foraging on the sand.
There are several spots along the cordwalk where northern house wrens have been singing regularly, and I’ve glimpsed a couple, but this youngster, still sporting some of its fluffy hatchling feathers, gave me enough time to fire up my camera.
We’re supposed to be in the migration range of pine warblers, so that could mean that this one is already on its way south. “Safe travels, darling!”
The main attraction of the morning, however, has to be this stunning pileated woodpecker. I’ve been hearing them for much of the week, but it would always be just one call and then silence. Then I was playing Scrabble with Anne and some of her extended family yesterday afternoon, and I was doing well, for a change, but a pileated started calling nearby, and it didn’t stop.
For the first few calls, I tried to ignore it, but after the fifth or sixth, I had to ask my brother-in-law to take my place so I could run to get my camera. It took me a while, and I had to chase it to a few different trees, but I finally got my first picture of a Wisconsin pileated woodpecker, at long last. Woo hoo! Then the seal was broken, I guess, so I saw one again already this morning, and the pictures came out even better, so here it is. Next stop, Milwaukee County, right?
Lastly, since I was already up with my camera yesterday afternoon, I strolled around the grounds, and that’s when I found this gorgeous black morph tiger swallowtail.
The clear skies are forecast to last only into this evening, and the clouds are due back again tomorrow morning, but who knows. Maybe I’ll get lucking on my last morning before we break camp and head home.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 