Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

One last April shower, or so we can hope…

Let’s try something new. Here’s a link directly to this post on my WordPress website, in case the images are not coming through correctly in your email client:
signsoflifeinestabrookpark.net/2026/04/29/one-last-april-shower-or-so-we-can-hope

It was cool, cloudy, and rainy this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it wasn’t too windy. The main story today is that we have our first gosling of the year! There was just one, and it was up on our riverbank with Mom and Dad. The nest was probably on one of the islands, so it had already taken its maiden voyage across a river channel. Let’s hope there are plenty more to see soon.

Before I reached the gosling, I got eyes, and a lens, on our first northern waterthrush of the year. I’ve heard one at least twice before, already, but they kept themselves well hidden, until now.

Beyond the goslings, I also got eyes on my first white-eyed vireo of the year, which is early enough to be considered “rare”, and I wonder if it could be the same bird I just saw in Belize last fall. They sure look similar!

Up on the bluff, I spotted the pair of deer again, and this time I got a better look at his pedicles, so I’m pretty sure that he’s a he.

Meanwhile, she’s not a reindeer, so she’s got no sign of anything growing up there.

Finally, the prairie trillium (Trillium recurvatum) is already blossoming, and I just learned that they are not the same as the similar-looking toad shade (Trillium sessile). In fact, you can tell them apart by the trajectory of that little leaf (a sepal) just below the blossom. The ones on toad shade stick out instead of bending down like the one in the prairie trillium picture below. Ha! At this rate, I might have to start paying tuition!

Lastly, the first of my two talks at the Village Center, on the lower level of the Shorewood Library, is at 6:30 this evening, and the focus will be on the migrating birds in Estabrook Park, so come on out if you can. If you can’t, perhaps the matinee at 2 pm tomorrow will work for you.

If you’d rather see the birds live, consider Charles Hagner’s birdwalks in Estabrook on Saturday, May 2 at 6:30 am, 8:00 am, and 9:30 am. Registration is required.

If birds just aren’t your thing, it happens, then perhaps one of the Friends of Estabrook’s weedouts on Saturday, May 2nd and May 16th at 9 am will float your boat. Walk-ins are welcome, the garlic mustard is blossoming already, and I can hear it calling your name!

I learned a lot today…

It was cloudy and breezy in Estabrook Park this morning, but it felt a little warmer than yesterday, and it didn’t rain on me, so it was not a bad morning for April.

My first treat of the day was hearing and then finally seeing a brown thrasher again. This time it was by the skate park.

The learning started with another turkey sighting, back on our side of the river and just east of the boat ramp. First, I learned that it can be tricky telling males from females from just a picture like this. This one has more of a red wattle on the neck than the hen from last week, but not as much as the tom she was with. So, it could be a young male, which I’ve also just learned are called “jakes“. This one also has more of a “snood“, an entirely new word for me, hanging over its beak than the hen from last week, but not one so long as the tom she was with.

This next picture looks mostly the same, but it has one small difference. Can you spot it? Well, it turns out that turkeys can do this with their snoods, and it suggests that this is a jake who I am making nervous. “Sorry, Buddy! I’ll leave you alone so you can relax.”

After that, I stopped by the pond, where this wood duck drake did not require me to learn any new terminology.

I did hear an eastern towhee again today by the pond, and it sounded pretty deep into the woods, so here’s one that is also in the woods from one week ago, but wasn’t quite as deep.

Finally, it appears that all our little dark-eyed juncos have flown north for the summer, I haven’t seen one in nearly a week, so here’s the last picture I captured of one, on the 19th. “See you next fall!”

Lastly, I see that the date on the village website is now correct for my presentation tomorrow, but the start time is still a little early. The correct time is 6:30pm. Baby steps, right? At least now you’ll arrive on the right day, and if you’re early, we’ll have time to chat while I set things up.

The extra eyes really helped today…

Well, the rain is back, but at least it held off until the end of our wildlife walk this morning, so that’s something. We had a good turnout today, with four 7-am-ers, and five 8-am-ers. Our first stop was the pond, but we didn’t see much, so we headed for the river in search of the oriole I showed you yesterday. Before we could get across the softball field, however, Karen spotted the first red-headed woodpecker I’ve seen since September 2025. Outstanding!

It flushed across the river as we approached the edge of the bluff, and we hadn’t seen the oriole yet, so we took stairway seven down to the river path in hopes of better luck. There, another bird bolted but didn’t go far, and I was halfway through explaining how the white checks on its black back made it a towhee, before I got my binoculars on it to see clearly that it is instead our first rose-breasted grosbeak of the year. Hot dang! Now we’re cookin’!

We did find the red-head again, and there turned out to be two of them, but the crowd also spotted this handsome kingfisher and patiently coached me through where it was perched. “Thanks, team!”

In all the excitement, I can’t recall if we did see the oriole in the first hour, but when I went back to the parking lot to greet the 8-am squad, there it was, perched right over the path from the parking lot to the beer garden. This is still far from a portrait, but I think we can all agree that it’s a big improvement over yesterday’s image.

As we headed upstream to connect with the first group, Peggy alerted me to this great blue heron perched high over the first island. They still don’t seem very comfortable in the park, but it’s still early, and we have all summer.

After that, the pictures mostly dried up. We did see the sandpiper at the river, and Dan did get eyes on the catbird I had heard earlier, another first for the year, but it dove for cover before I could catch a glimpse. Perhaps it, and the rest of the critters, could feel the coming rain and had the good sense to hunker down. The silver lining is that this leaves room for the pretty northern flicker I saw yesterday, when the sky was blue.

Finally, after the beaver scolded me for being by the river yesterday, it continued up stream along the far riverbank anyway.

The front that’s passing through today should be mostly gone by tomorrow morning, so conditions should be back to about what we had today, and maybe I’ll have as much good luck.

In other news, in case you’ve been wanting to question my shutter-speed choices in front of a live audience, this could be your big chance. I’ve got two presentations coming up later this week, both in the Shorewood Village Center, in the lower level of the Shorewood Public Library, first on Wednesday, April 29 at 6:30 pm and again on Thursday, April 30 at 2:00.

Enjoying the feel of a freshly-cleaned park…

Sorry about missing yesterday. I did visit Estabrook, but only for a couple of hours, during which time I didn’t see much, and then I had to ditch my camera and grab my gripper for the Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cleanup, which apparently set some kind of record. My buddy Mike joined me again, and we hauled out three large garbage bags full and one more tire from beside the river. After that, it was already after noon, and I was shot, but one highlight was seeing my first spotted sandpiper of the year. I only had my phone with me at that point, but woo hoo anyway.

This morning, the weather was about the same as yesterday, cool and cloudy, but a little less breezy and still no rain. The critters, on the other hand, were a lot more visible today. Maybe they were enjoying the newly squeaky-clean park, or they were reasserting their ownership of it after the crowd of volunteers yesterday. Either way, my first treat was spotting this cutie right at the bottom of the stairway from the beer garden. Given all the traffic yesterday, it must not have bothered her enough to move.

Above the falls, beside the downstream island, this beaver let me know, more than once, that it would like a little less traffic. “Noted! And sorry, Honey!”

Meanwhile, the tom turkey looked on from the far shore and seemed instead to want attention, from someone at least.

I eventually continued upstream, and when I turned the corner in the little path that runs beside the river, I was greeted by this tranquil scene. I can’t tell for sure just from this image, but those might be the start of antlers just in front of the ears.

I did my best to leave the deer undisturbed and pressed on. Along the way, I glimpsed the sandpiper a couple of times again, but it had recovered from the exhausted stupor it appeared to be in yesterday, and it flitted off as soon as it saw me. On my way back to the falls, it flew again but this time must have finally felt comfortable enough with the distance it had put between us, to sit for our first sandpiper picture of the year. Yippee!

Farther downstream, this chipmunk opted to stand its ground, at least until I had the best image I figured I was going to get through the leaves and sticks and continued on my way.

Finally, I had heard this guy singing yesterday morning high over the far shore just below the falls, but he bolted before I could even get my binoculars on him. He flitted a couple of times today, as well, but on my third try I was able to sneak our first Baltimore oriole picture of the year from about 100 yards away. “Welcome back to Estabrook, Handsome!”

Lastly, the forecast for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning doesn’t look great, but the expected showers aren’t scheduled to start until 11am, long after we should be finished, so come on out to see the oriole, the sandpiper, or any of the several other new arrivals that have been spotted in Milwaukee County over the weekend.

Given that sunrise is now before 6am, and the breeze is supposed to increase a bit as the morning wears on, let’s revive the 7am start for those of you who are up for it. Don’t worry! You can still come at 8, and someone will swing by the parking lot to collect you, but if you want an early start, I’ll see you at 7.

What a difference a few months can make…

The last time I was in Portage County, in hopes of spotting greater prairie chickens, it was a frozen snowscape, and we caught glimpses of the birds at a great distance. This morning, on the other hand, it was much warmer, the snow was long gone, the grass was greening up, and we got to see the birds performing their mating “lek” from a cozy little blind only about 30 feet away. A cherry on top was that the forecast rain never materialized. Phew!

We arrived at the blinds at around 5am, well before first light, and we heard the first “booms” at about 5:25. I counted a dozen males and at least two hens. Our guide had asked us to please stay in the blind until all the females had moved on, and she said that’s been happening by about 7:30 or 8:00 at the latest. Well, this morning, the hens took their sweet time inspecting the males, and we didn’t get out of the blinds till about 8:30. Sheesh!

In that time, though, we got to see the males perform their display and make the booming sound. With a dozen males, the sound was pretty continuous.

Here’s a video I captured, which doesn’t have the greatest focus, but does show the mating display and provides a sample of the sound.

There was also plenty of this alternate display, which I think was intended to intimidate the other males.

Sometimes a second male accepted the challenge, and here’s a pair of them squaring off.

Sometimes one or the other would back off, but sometimes there was quite the physical altercation. Once in a while, some feathers flew.

Here’s one of the two hens I saw, strolling through the performance to see if any male caught her fancy.

Here are a couple of males doing their best to impress.

In the three hours we had to observe this amazing spectacle, I took over 700 pictures, so I’ve only had time today to scan through them quickly to pick out a few representative examples. I expect that I’ll have a few more to show you in the coming days, so be forewarned.

All-in-all, I would rate the experience as “magical”, and I hope you get a chance to see it in person someday. I’d like to thank Donna, of Milwaukee Birders, for arranging the whole thing, and Dave for letting me ride along with him and listen to his crazy music all the way up and back.

The weather threw a nice party, but attendance was lighter than expected…

The weather was beautiful this morning in Estabrook Park, and things got off to a great start when I spotted a great blue heron at the river.

But then the sightings really dried up. I did see the beaver again, but it was going away from me this time, and I was able to ID plenty of birds by sounds or from glimpses, but several fewer than yesterday. Folks who participated in the Urban Ecology Center bird walk in Riverside Park reported a similar lack of abundance. Let’s hope it’s just a short-term glitch.

By the time I was coming back downstream from the far north end, I hadn’t heard a nuthatch yet, so I swung by the tree they had been on a week ago, and sure enough, the pair was there. Even better, they were actively carrying nesting material into that hole in the tree. Yippee!

Here it is on its way out of the hole to go get another beak full. I watched it go in and out at least three times before I could time my shot to catch it just as it went in and just as it came out, so they are hard at work.

And that’s it for today, I’m sad to say. Luckily, I still have some shots left over from the past week, so here’s another look at the rusty blackbird from Sunday.

Here’s the thrasher at the pond, also on Sunday, but I didn’t show you until Monday.

Finally, here’s a second look at the sedge wren from yesterday.

Now I’ve gotta get some sleep because we’re supposed to be out the door at 3:55am tomorrow to go watch the Greater Prairie Chicken Booming. I sure hope the rain we’re due to get overnight is done by showtime.

A good ol’ Estabrook change-up…

The weather in Estabrook Park this morning was a lot like yesterday. For the critters, on the other hand, it seemed as though today was opposite day.

Instead of a green heron at the river, I saw this beaver swimming upstream.

Instead of a red-tailed hawk by the beer garden, I saw this white-tailed deer checking out the left field foul ball marker.

I don’t have a bird that this is instead of, but this is the first raccoon we’ve seen this year.

The big surprise, however, was spotting this sedge wren beside the river above the falls. I haven’t seen one since May of 2023. “Don’t be such a stranger!”

For comparison, here’s another look at the house wren I just saw yesterday striking a similar pose but lacking “the sedge wren’s heavy black streaking.” They’re actually about the same size, which is “tiny”, but the house wren popped up a lot closer right in front of me.

Finally, it seems that “opposite day” resulted in a slight “picture deficit”, so here’s another look at the white breasted nuthatch from last Thursday as it investigates a possible nesting cavity. There were two of them, and one even hopped into the hole, but it wouldn’t come out while I waited. C’est la vie.

Tomorrow’s gonna be a little tricky. I’ll get to visit Estabrook early, but then I’ve got a thing at Concordia, and right after that I’m driving up to Plover in hopes of a good night’s sleep before a 4:15am appointment Friday morning with a blind to watch the Greater Prairie Chicken lek in the Buena Vista Marsh. It sure was a thrill when I got to see them back in January, but I do hope the blind lets me get a better look. I’ll post something for you sometime tomorrow, but I don’t know what or when.

Ahhh. Our dry-out even warms up…

Our recent dry patch got even nicer this morning with temps in the 40s instead of the 30s. Plus the wind was pretty light, and the sky was pretty clear, so it was a fine time for seeing wildlife in Estabrook Park.

The first treat came when our on-again-off-again green heron by the river was back on again.

Farther upstream, a red-tailed hawk put in a rare appearance, for this spring at least, and I managed a rare fairly-crisp capture of a bird in flight, for me at least.

There were no interesting sights by the islands in the river, nor at the pond, so I started to make my way back home, and that’s when this house wren decided to allow the first picture of the year. There are still winter wrens around, as well, but they were not allowing pictures today.

The towhees are not quite as thick as when they first arrived, and I did get one on film today, but this picture from Sunday is nicer.

The white-throated sparrows, on the other hand, are still quite plentiful, and here’s a nice look at one also from Sunday.

I do hear belted kingfishers at the river almost every day now, but I haven’t gotten eyes on one since Saturday, so here’s another look at her.

Finally, I had a hope that the warmup would bring the swallows along the river back out, so I could try for pictures while the sun was shining, but that was not to be. Instead. Here’s one last look at the tree swallows on/in a nesting box at Lakeshore State Park last Thursday. I took this image within the same minute as the one showing the bird outside the box coming in for a landing, so it appears that the bird inside the box has an opinion to share. Maybe he’s just at the wrong box.

The forecast for tomorrow morning looks like more of the same, so maybe the swallows along the river will have warmed up by then and will give me a second chance.

Our recent dry-out continues…

It was a nice and sunny morning for our weekly wildlife walk, about as chilly as expected, but the breeze was a little stronger than yesterday’s forecast suggested. Oh well. Seven hardy souls came out to join me, nevertheless.

On my way to the parking lot to meet up, I was happy to see a pair of pied-billed grebes back on the river. I haven’t seen a grebe since last Tuesday. I do have a blurry picture of the two together, but I think this solo performance came out a lot better.

Once our group was assembled, we first headed to the pond, and one of the highlights there was this blue-gray gnatcatcher, who was a first of the year for several of us, and may be the same individual I saw yesterday, but he sure put on a nicer show today.

Despite the good start, I didn’t get any pictures beyond that, for some reason, so here are a few more from yesterday. The tom turkey didn’t leave you much of a look at the hen, so here she is getting her feathers back in order.

We did see a few brown creepers this morning, but I like this picture from yesterday more.

We also saw the brown thrasher again by the pond, but it gave me a much better look yesterday.

We didn’t see a single phoebe this morning, but I did see one at the south end on my walk back home. Perhaps they just needed it to warm up a bit. Anyway, here’s a good look one let me have yesterday.

Lastly, here’s another pose from that handsome yellow-rumped warbler yesterday.

It appears that we might be done with cold and wet weather for a few days at least, so let’s hope the parade of warblers resumes. In addition to the three we’ve seen already, yellow-rumped, palm, and pine, four others have been spotted so far this month elsewhere in Milwaukee County. If you see one, please be sure to point them towards Estabrook!

Hurray for another day without April showers…

I read that we are now officially enjoying the wettest April on record in Milwaukee, but the weather this morning in Estabrook Park was just about as forecast, so cool, but otherwise quite nice. It was even cool enough and clear enough overnight to put some frost on the grass by sunrise, but the mostly clear skies let the sun warm things up pretty quickly.

My first big treat was spotting this beaver up and gnawing on its breakfast in a flooded low spot beside the river.

I didn’t see anyone new at the pond today, so I headed back to the river, and on my way, I found a trio of male rusty blackbirds shining a bit in the sun. This one was making their amazing call, but I think the female we saw a couple of weeks ago is long gone. “Sorry, fellas.”

The biggest surprise of the morning, literally and figuratively, was this guy, the first tom turkey I’ve ever seen in the park. “Welcome, at long last, you magnificent creature!”

Even better, he had come with a date, and here he is standing on her back, which I suppose is their custom. Of course, I should have zoomed out a bit farther for this shot, but I had only brought my fixed lens with me, and this was as far as I could back up. Oops. Perhaps I’d better start bringing both, eh?

This next treat is a lot smaller, but no less welcome, our first blue-gray gnatcatcher of the year. It’s a lousy picture, for sure, but it’s good enough for a positive ID, and it’s the best it would let me have, for now.

Finally, the palm and pine warblers seemed to have moved on already, but we still have plenty of yellow-rumped warblers, and here’s a handsome one.

Lastly, I wasn’t really short on pictures today, but after those fuzzy swallow pictures yesterday, let me give you another look at the tree swallows at Lakeshore State Park, when there was enough light to work with.

The forecast for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning looks cool again but otherwise perfect, with clear skies and almost no breeze. The unpaved path along the river is a soggy mess, so we’ll probably avoid that, but there will be plenty to see in the tall trees over the paved path along the top of the bluff. So, come on out and help me find who has just arrived.