Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

It’s beginning to feel like November…

Yeah. I was tempted to use that famous line, but then I thought better of it. Anyway, it was cool, cloudy, and windy this morning in Estabrook Park, and I was surprised to see much at all, which makes the surprises I did see all that more surprising.

As soon as I entered the park at the far south end, I headed straight for the river to get out of the wind, and that meant that I got to see this little visitor, a young red-headed woodpecker. I keep hoping that one of these years a pair will pay us a visit and stick around for the summer, and maybe 2027 will be our year.

The next surprising surprise came at the pond when this bright blue belted kingfisher caught a bright orange goldfish. If I hadn’t stopped to get a blurry picture of the redhead, I might have missed the goldfish.

The surprises became even more surprising back at the river when I found these two deer, who appear to be mother and son enjoying quite a licking fest. He’s got his winter coat on already, so his spots are long gone, but he’s still significantly smaller than she is. If you’re wondering how I know that he’s a he, take a close look at the top of his head, and you can see his first pedicles starting to show.

If you thought that must have been the biggest surprise, you might be right, but it was still a fun surprise to spot a quartet of crows over the far shore rousting both a red-tailed hawk, who they harassed pretty good, and a Cooper’s hawk, who they mostly left alone. Thus, the only picture I could get with two birds is this one of a crow and the red-tail.

Finally, the most prevalent warbler this fall, by far, has been the yellow-rumped, and I did show you one from River Falls, but I was surprised to discover that I have abjectly failed to produce one from Estabrook. Until now, that is. So, here it is, ladies and gentlemen, your yellow-rumped warbler from Estabrook Park on a clump of sumac seeds right beside the beer garden.

Depending on how you count things, I am as much as triple booked for tomorrow morning. I need to find you some fresh content, of course, and both Friends of Estabrook and Milwaukee River Keepers are hosting events in the park tomorrow. We will soon see how much I will be able to cram into my Saturday morning.

I don’t see that everyday…

The transformation to traditional fall weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park, and by 7am it wasn’t even clear if the sun was going to bother rising at all today. Luckily, my fears were exaggerated, as usual, and the sun did manage to rise, so I went to go see who I could see.

With the way things have been going lately, and the conditions today, I wasn’t expecting much, so I was quite pleasantly surprised to find a slew of little birds in the weeds and trees in and around the meadow beside the river at the north end. Getting any to sit still for a moment is a separate trick, but I did manage it at least with this handsome white-throated sparrow.

Speaking of surprises, look who I found when I checked on the pigeons at the Port Washington Road bridge. One of these four is not like the others. Can you spot which one I mean? Lest you think it’s a white barbary dove that escaped from some magician’s act, I checked the eye, and the iris is pink, so this is likely a true albino feral rock pigeon. Wilder still is the assertion made by Alfredo Begazo, Ph.D. on his Avian Report website that an albino is much rarer, just 1 in 30,000 birds, than an escaped, leucistic dove. Ha!

Finally, back to the meadow, it appears that we received a new shipment of ruby-crowned kinglets overnight because they seemed to be everywhere, and here’s one of the little darlings hunting bugs in the low weeds.

Oh, and I did find out today what happened to those rusty blackbirds I ordered, or at least one of them. It got delivered to a different photographer! I encountered her by the river, and when we discussed what we had seen, she reported a strange dark bird that she didn’t recognize, so clearly nothing she was expecting. When she showed me the picture she had gotten, I recognized it right away, and I immediately ran back to where she said she saw it, but it had already moved on. Dang. Well, at least someone got to see one, and I certainly can’t begrudge her that.

More excuses than pictures…

Our stretch of beautiful weather has finally run its course, and it was indeed cool, cloudy, and breezy this morning in Estabrook Park. Worse, the critters seemed even more bummed out by the sudden change than I was, and I struggled to get even a couple of pictures.

Without the pretty reflection of vegetation on the far side of the pond lit up by the warm sun, today’s wood duck and grebe pictures couldn’t compare to the ones I showed you recently, and I couldn’t find anyone else new there. Similarly, there was no one new on the river, and the herons kept their distance. It wasn’t until I was halfway home that I found a heron at last who thought our side of the river was worth a try.

As luck would have it, it was right near there that this striking red-bellied woodpecker decided that whatever it had just found was worth putting up with me for 30 seconds. “Thanks, Buddy!”

With these conditions, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that I didn’t see a single pretty or interesting bug to photograph today, and I’ve finally used up all the ones I had in my back pocket, so it’s just gonna have to be a short post today.

I’m still holding out hope for a rusty blackbird to stop in on its way south, and maybe tomorrow will be the day. Stranger things have happened, right?

Our mellow October days may be numbered…

Despite threats of a wind out of the northwest, our stretch of beautiful weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park. I didn’t have as much time as I usually do to enjoy it, however, because I had someone coming to give our boiler its annual checkup, and they expected to arrive “between nine and noon,” which is a lot better than “during the day.”

Anyway, my rusty blackbirds are still on backorder, and there was nobody else new at the river, so on my second visit to the pond, this mallard drake was looking pretty good, now that he’s all done molting, and parked in that warm morning sun.

The grebe was still there, and still being picky about where it floats, but at least now there are fallen leaves on the water to liven things up.

The wood ducks have not taken off yet, either, and here’s a handsome couple showing off their own fresh fall feathers.

As I went to check on the river one last time, I found a Cooper’s hawk again, and this time I could move to give it a better background.

Finally, the hermit thrushes this fall are as thick as I’ve ever seen them, and this one was giving me plenty of good looks, and when I tried just a couple of steps closer, it magically produced that red berry, gulped it down, and promptly disappeared.

Lastly, I see we’re finally in for a change back to fall weather tomorrow morning: mostly cloudy skies, a breeze out of the north, and much cooler air. Maybe that’ll shake those blackbirds loose for us.

Is this October or June?

The weather was a little unseasonably warm this morning in Estabrook Park, but not one of the fine folks who joined the weekly wildlife walk complained one bit. We did see plenty of birds, but nothing really new, and maybe I was having just too much fun chatting with the company, because I barely took a picture.

Happily, I still have pictures left over from yesterday, when I had nothing to do but take pictures, so here’s that Cooper’s hawk that I mentioned. I did my best to recover the image from harsh backlighting, and you can at least make out the bird’s fierce expression.

In the same woods where I saw the Nashville and orange-crowned warblers yesterday, this little cutie, perhaps the last brown creeper we’ll see for the year, was busy creeping up that tree trunk in search of tasty morsels.

The crabapple tree that hosted the scene between the red-bellied woodpecker and the yellow-bellied sapsucker also attracted a few white-throated sparrows, and this one struck quite the heroic pose against that gorgeous blue sky.

We also saw the pied-billed grebe again on the pond this morning, and you may believe that you are growing weary of seeing my pictures of it, but once winter settles in, and the grebe has long flown south, you’ll be asking yourself, “I wonder where that cute little bird on the pond went?”

Finally, in the meadow beside the river at the north end, which remained mostly unmowed this summer, a monarch butterfly was filling up on the nectar of some small white asters.

Lastly, I see the forecast for tomorrow morning calls for clear skies, continued mild temps, but a good breeze out of the west, so who knows what I’ll see. Maybe the breeze will finally blow in those rusty blackbirds I’ve been pining for.

Mid-October really puts on a show…

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park, and if you live anywhere nearby, I hope you were able to get out into it. As I approached the river at the north end, I inadvertently flushed a raptor that was close to the ground, and I assumed it was a Cooper’s hawk. In my way back south from the far north end to check on the pigeons by the Port Washington Road bridge, I glanced up at just the right moment to notice this beauty feasting on some small songbird high overhead. This, of course, is a merlin, not a Cooper’s hawk, so I figured I must have been mistaken earlier. Just 50 yards farther back down the trail, however, I came upon a real Cooper’s hawk, whose pictured did not come out as nice, but who did let me get a positive ID this time, so now I’ll never know which bird it was that I saw in that first instance.

Much farther downstream, by the wide, slow part of the river, I found this beauty, a Nashville warbler and the first one I’ve been able to show you this month, feasting on the bugs in the low weeds beside the trail.

Just another 50 feet up the trail toward the pond, I was able to capture this image of the first orange-crowned warbler I’ve been able to show you this fall.

When I got to the pond, the pied bill grebe continued to resist my effort to capture it floating in the reflection of some fall foliage, but I did finally catch a mature yellow-bellied sapsucker with a red cap and black-and-white plumage, and the red throat marks him as a he.

Finally, for how nice the day was, I thought for sure I’d capture a butterfly or dragonfly image, but that was not to be, so here’s a clouded sulphur on New England aster at Havenwoods State Forest yesterday.

Lastly, I see the breeze is forecast to pick up a bit by morning and bring a few clouds and warmer temps with it, so it still should be a very nice October morning for our weekly wildlife walk. Come on out if you can and help me find the warblers that are still with us and the rusty blackbirds that are due to arrive any day now. I’ll look for you in the beer garden parking lot at 8am.

Back in Havenwoods again…

As promised, I did ride over to join the Milwaukee Birders at Havenwoods State Forest this morning, and on the way, I spotted this gorgeous red-tailed hawk perched atop one of the high voltage power poles that share the right-of-way with part of the Oak Leaf Trail.

They had a good crowd this morning, and one of the first sights that got everyone excited was this raptor at the very top of a Norway spruce. At the time, we all thought it was a kestrel, partly because kestrels nest in Havenwoods, and we’ve seen so many there. Once I got home, however, and could look at my picture on a bigger screen, I could see that it was a merlin, instead. Fun!

There were plenty of little birds, too, and here’s a nice palm warbler. They’ve somehow evaded me in Estabrook so far this fall.

Finally, they have a lot of bluebirds, one of whom we saw just last February, and this could even be that same bird.

Lastly, there were plenty of sulphur butterflies, and some were even visiting New England asters, but I just showed you a sulphur yesterday, so today’s bug is this late-season dragonfly, an autumn meadowhawk.

“Get your own crabapple!”

I had an online meeting early this morning, so I wasn’t able to get into Estabrook till nearly 9am, and it was a little disconcerting. I eventually pulled myself together, however, and found this cute little hermit thrush parked low in a tree beside the river for a second.

Out on the water, meanwhile, another coot has dropped in, and this one was much less shy, so I got to have a nice look at it. Its pale beak suggests that it’s still a youngster, and perhaps that’s why.

The grebe and wood ducks are still on the pond, and they are starting to attract a gaggle of photographers. I counted three this morning, but for me, the better action was in the trees on the backside. There, I found this darling red-bellied woodpecker working vigorously on getting that crabapple into its belly.

Even better, there was a young yellow-bellied sapsucker nearby who seemed interested in the crabapple operation.

In fact, the sapsucker kept inching closer, as though maybe the woodpecker would pass over a sample, but the woodpecker was having none of that and shooed the hapless sapsucker away.

The woodpecker had barely skipped a beat before it was right back at that crabapple.

Finally, it was cool this morning and partly cloudy, so I didn’t see any butterflies. Instead, here’s a pretty clouded sulphur from a couple of days ago.

Lastly, the Milwaukee Birders are heading to Havenwoods State Forest tomorrow, and I think I’ll pop over to see who there might be to see there. Come on out, if you’re able, and perhaps I’ll see you there.

More comings and goings…

Once again, the weather forecast undersold the morning, and it was much nicer than I expected. The pied-billed grebe and a few wood ducks were still on the pond, and the river was full of mallards and Canada geese. The first picture that caught my eye, however, was these two white-crowned sparrows perched beside the river at the north end and closer together than I’m used to seeing birds do around here. I wonder what was up with that. Perhaps that’s just what they do, and I’ve just never noticed it before. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it now.

Meanwhile, a lot closer to the ground, this field sparrow, our first of the fall migration, was more-closely modeling the behavior I’ve grown to expect from sparrows in this neck of the woods.

Speaking of fall migration, this eastern wood-pewee perched right over the riverbank, is probably the last one we’re going to see till spring. In fact, the ebird website was skeptical that I had seen one at all and asked for supporting evidence.

Once again, I’m light on bird pictures today, but the bugs were good yesterday, and this stunning creature, which sort of looks like a bee, but not exactly, is a narrow-headed marsh fly (Helophilus fasciatus).

Finally, in addition to the fiery skipper I showed you yesterday, I found its less-flashy cousin, this Huron skipper aka Huron sachem, enjoying the nectar of the New England asters in the bioswale at the corner of Wilson and Olive.

Lastly, I see we are forecast to trade some of the sunshine we’ve been enjoying over the past few days for some stiller air, which I have a hope will improve my chances of finding whoever might have arrived overnight.

A great morning to get outside…

Boy, the weather in Estabrook for the past four mornings has been pretty great, and today was a contender for the best of them all. The sky was crystal clear, wind was lighter than the forecast led me to expect, and the temps started out pretty mild, which all conspired to warm up the day quickly.

The kingfishers have been taking a break from the pond, and there’s plenty of room on the river, so they don’t have to let me get very close, but this handsome devil relented a little bit this morning.

This chipmunk was so busy making the lowest sound I’ve ever heard one make; it barely noticed me as I inched closer for a better shot.

The pied-billed grebe was still enjoying the fish in the pond, but it still wouldn’t float into a patch of reflected fall foliage. Let’s hope it’s still here when there is only fall foliage reflecting off the water.

At the weed patch that remains beside the southern soccer fields, I was thrilled to spot the first fiery skipper we’ve seen since July. Let’s hope they have a more productive summer next year.

Finally, some of the trees in Estabrook really are showing their fall colors, and here’s a big maple north of the beer garden.