Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Belize really ups its game!

It was another amazing day in Belize, and things got off to a great start when I strolled around the hotel grounds before breakfast.

I spotted this little bird, which I have never seen before, in a small tree, and my camera was having a dickens of a time focusing in the low, early-morning light, but he was so thrilled to show off that bug or grub in his bill, that he just kept flashing it around until one of my pictures came out. He turns out to be a yellow-throated euphonia (Euphonia hirundinacea), and there was probably a female somewhere in those leaves, that he was hoping to impress, but I never really caught more than a glimpse of her shadow.

Before I was able to observe how that story ended, however, this critter, which is the size of a small chicken, hopped into the same tree and broke up the show. I had already seen two of these on the lawn, but this picture came out better than any of those, and this turns out to be the first plain chachalaca (Ortalis vetula) I’ve ever managed to capture on film.

I eventually had to call off the hunt and join Anne for breakfast before we headed out to see the fabulous Caracol archeological site. There, our guide Ethan, who had gone ahead a bit with Anne, called for me from atop one of the many pyramids because he had spotted some toucans in the nearby trees. By the time I managed to hustle up there, and if you’ve ever tried climbing a Mayan pyramid, you know what I mean, the only one we could find is this stunning collared aracari (Pteroglossus torquatus). Wow, wow, wow! What a consolation prize.

The next most amazing bird I was able to photograph there was this extraordinary hooded warbler (Setophaga citrina), which even migrates through Milwaukee, but I have failed to see until today.

Finally, we saw several troops of Central American spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in the canopy above us, and here’s one taking a momentary break from swinging through the trees.

Lastly, there were quite a few butterflies flitting about, and this gray cracker (Hamadryas februa) has about the most intricate design I have ever seen on one.

Tomorrow, we off to meet my sister across the border into Guatemala, but before we go, we’re gonna spend a couple of hours in the nearby Cahal Pech archaeological site, where 51 species have already been reported on ebird this month, so wish me luck!

Having a great time in Belize…

Anne and I arrived at the fabulous Cahal Pech Village Resort in San Ignacio on the west edge of Belize around mid-afternoon today, with a special thanks to my niece, Liz, who picked us up at 4:10am to bring us to the airport.

I was thrilled to find plenty of critters out and about at that late hour, and one of the prettier ones was this white-winged dove.

One of the noisier ones was this great-tailed grackle, seen here giving me his best scowl.

There were a couple of great kiskadees, who toyed with me for a while, but eventually this one relented and posed for a portrait.

It wasn’t all birds, either, and here’s a brown anole, …

a Yucatán squirrel eating its vegetables, …

and this stunning white sailor butterfly, who seemingly took forever to find exactly the right spot to perch, and I thank my lucky stars it was in sight.

Now it is time for the sleeping…

A toast!

My nephew and his betrothed were successfully married yesterday afternoon, yay, so I didn’t really get out to look for wildlife until this afternoon. I have had some luck with mid-day walks lately, but let us say that today I had just enough luck. The only picture I managed to capture was of this darling bluebird, and the lack of blue on its head suggests that it is either a female or immature male. Either way, please allow me to dedicate this bluebird of happiness to Alissa and Danny. May it follow them wherever life leads.

“Anita! What them boys up to…”

My sister didn’t have to work today, and she was willing to join me this morning, so we headed first to the Broad Brook Reservoir, were we’ve seen great sights before. The sky was clear, the air was still, and the temps were in the 30s, so the steam fog coming off the surface was thick. Not so thick, happily, that we couldn’t see the large flock of ruddy ducks out on the water. Even better, some eventually drifted close enough, and the fog thinned a bit for me to take this photograph, which is just clear enough for a positive ID. “Thanks, Buddy!”

In addition to the ruddy ducks, there were mute swans, Canada geese, mallards, ring-necked ducks, great blue herons, and even a bald eagle, but I figure we’ve seen enough of them that you don’t need more foggy pictures. Instead, here’s a great egret, which we haven’t seen in a while, who was kind enough to fly in so that it’s not obscured by fog, just a few sticks in the foreground.

Just as we were about to leave, a double-crested cormorant hopped up onto a stump to dry off and even lined up with the faint reflected glow of some sunlit fall foliage on the far shore.

Then we headed over to Hannover Pond, where we’ve also seen some great sights, and this time the bald eagle parked nice and close, even if there were some branches in the way.

There were also some wood ducks, a bunch of ring-billed gulls, a pied-billed grebe, and the first American coots my sister has ever seen. Sweet!

We eventually had to wrap up our outing, but when I got back to my folks’ place, the day was just getting nicer, so I stayed out for one more look around. I don’t often get to see turkey vultures perched, so I was thrilled when this majestic creature let me sneak a picture through the foliage.

Finally, I could hear bluebirds, and at first, I found only one, but then I found four more in the top of a nearby maple tree, and these two seemed to be fascinated by an old nest, perhaps the one from which they recently fledged.

In this scene, however, where the bird facing to the left and glancing our way is straddling the head of a second bird facing to the right, your guess about what they might be up to is as good as mine. The lighting wasn’t great, and I cleaned up the image as much as I dared, so if you can’t quite make out what I’m describing, give it a click so you can see the full-resolution version on flicker and zoom in. Maybe they are two brothers getting in one last wrestle, for old times’ sake, before they abandon the nest for good and fly south.

My nephew is getting married late this afternoon, so I can’t make any promises about tomorrow morning, but if I do see something pretty or interesting, I’ll send it your way.

A fine “welcome back” to the Nutmeg State…

Anne and I arrived safely in Connecticut last evening, but I didn’t have a chance to go out looking for wildlife until after lunch today. I didn’t expect to see much that late in the day, so I was quite pleasantly surprised when the critters put on a nice mid-day show.

Here’s a trio of shy ring-necked duck drakes that kept just beyond the effective range of my gear. We don’t get to see them very often, so here you go.

This wood duck drake, on the other hand, understood the assignment.

A serious contender for my treat-of-the-day is this Carolina wren. I hear them often out here, but they usually keep their distance. I’ve been hearing one in Estabrook, and would give an eye tooth for a decent photo, but I’ve had no luck so far. This bird, however, popped to the top of a bush right in front of me, and as I tried to bring my camera to bear, it merely moved upwards a bit and then broke out into song. Oh, happy days!

Maybe there’s been something in the water out here, or it’s some kind of holiday that I don’t know about, but the blue jays, who are similarly shy in Estabrook, were really putting on a show today. It is almost as if this one is pausing to ask, “have you noticed the fall colors yet?”

We saw about a dozen cedar waxwings by the pond in Estabrook on Monday, but not one would let me sneak a picture. Meanwhile, this darling let me get off the bike I borrowed from my dad, back up across the bike path, and snap yet another picture I’d love to get back home.

I did manage a nice flicker picture recently, but I still appreciate the opportunity to capture this handsome devil on film.

Finally, I’m afraid that all our sapsuckers have continued south already, but not so here. I saw two today, and this female made the nicer image.

Lastly, even the spotted turtles got in on the act.

I have a hope of getting out early tomorrow, so it will be interesting for me to find out if I see more or less than this afternoon. I’ll keep you posted.

Fish is on the menu…

Welp, it’s Thursday, boys and girls, and you know what that means. Yup, it’s time again for Anne to take me on another fabulous adventure, so I won’t make it to Estabrook Park this morning. Instead, let me show you a few pictures from the last couple of days that didn’t make the first cut.

Here’s another look at the pied-billed grebe working on its breakfast Monday morning.

Since fish is on the menu, here’s another look at the osprey as it takes another bite on Tuesday.

Finally, here’s that youngish female belted kingfisher, also on Tuesday, still working on landing her breakfast fish. “Good luck, Sweetie!”

We’re going to Connecticut first, for a wedding this weekend, so don’t expect anything exotic right away, but I do have a hope of finding you something pretty to look at soon.

Autumn really starts to settle in…

It was cold, windy, cloudy, and even sprinkley this morning in Estabrook Park, so a classic autumn day in southeast Wisconsin.

There were still a few sights to see, despite the weather, but I didn’t see a picture I could take until I was beside the river at the north end. That’s when the doe …

and her not-so-young-anymore fawn came out to graze. His “antlers” haven’t changed much, if any, since we saw them last, so perhaps this is as big as they are going to get this year. “You’ll get bigger ones next year, Tiger!”

I did see the osprey again, plus a red-tailed and Cooper’s hawk, but the pictures weren’t great with white-sky backgrounds, so here’s a darling hermit thrush who was kind enough to pose on a nice, mossy log.

Swamp sparrows are now a common sight, if far less common than the ubiquitous white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos, and here’s one eyeing me up before resuming its foraging.

Since I’ve got some room left, here’s a female red-bellied woodpecker, from yesterday when the sun was out and the sky was blue, repeatedly harvesting hackberries beside the southern playground, probably to add them to her stash somewhere nearby.

Here’s a yellow-rumped warbler, also from yesterday, who was probably having better luck hunting for bugs than it did today.

Finally, I didn’t see a butterfly or dragonfly today, but here’s another red admiral from yesterday.

Lastly, if you were wondering if they were going to leave the new Mount Estabrook on the far shore, perhaps as a sledding hill, well here’s your answer. They were loading up a couple of large, street-legal dump trucks to haul it away, so no new sledding hill for you.

The internet is back, and so is the sun…

It was a little warmer and a little breezier this morning than yesterday in Estabrook, so there was no frost on the grass this time. The sky was just as clear, though, so it made for some pretty pictures, and the issue that kept websites from working yesterday appears to have been resolved, so I will even be able to show you some. Yay!

The pied-billed grebe was still at the pond today, I am thrilled to report, but I like the picture it let me have yesterday better. Man, that bird likes to eat fish.

There was also an eastern phoebe at the pond yesterday, but it was after smaller, more-airborne prey.

At the islands in the river, the exciting guest today was this Cooper’s hawk who swooped in, perched for a minute, found no suitable prey, and then moved on to continue its hunt elsewhere.

Meanwhile, back on shore behind me, this northern flicker appeared to be just warming up in the sun. Either that, or it was keeping very quiet, very still, and a very close watch on that Cooper’s hawk, so that it doesn’t end up as prey.

The biggest avian treat for me today, however, was over the river and downstream of the old bridge abutments. I was looking for a great blue heron that Ken told me about, but I found this beauty instead. The trees on the riverbank provided great cover for me, so I was able to sneak up nice and close without disturbing the osprey, and if you click on this image so you can view the full-resolution version in flickr, you may find it as fascinating as I do.

Finally, it didn’t warm up through the morning today as much as it did yesterday, so I didn’t see a single dragonfly today. Yesterday, on the other hand, I saw a few, including this beauty, a black saddlebags on the weeds beside the southern soccer fields. It was still soaking up the sun at the time, so it let me get as close as my lens would allow, and the full-resolution image contains a ton of detail.

Lastly, red admirals were not even the only butterflies taking advantage of the warm sun yesterday morning, and here’s a stunning, late-season common buckeye butterfly. It must have managed to warm up quickly, so it was a lot more flighty than the dragonfly, I’m sad to say, and you won’t get much more out of this image. I’m just relieved I got one at all that I can show you.

I see it is forecast to be cloudy, cool, and windy tomorrow morning, so don’t hold your breath for any pictures of critters soaking up the sun in front of a crystal blue sky.

First Frost!

Sorry this is so late, but there was an issue with certain websites on the internet today, which you may have heard about, that prevented me from uploading any pictures earlier today.

Anyway, it was a very nice, if chilly morning, in Estabrook Park for our weekly wildlife walk. The temperature was 40°F at sunrise, the skies were clear, and the air was still, so radiant cooling was able to freeze the dew onto the grass for the first time this fall. Once the sun came up, however, those same conditions allowed things to warm up quickly, and one of the amazing sights that enabled was this red admiral butterfly on the lawn north of the beer garden.

It’s late now, and I’ll show you the rest of the pictures tomorrow. Good night!

It’s finally starting to feel like fall…

Since it was raining pretty good when the sun came up this morning, and the big green blob on the radar was forecast to take its sweet time drifting out of the area, I took the morning off to run some errands. At around 10:30, I noticed that it was starting to look dry-ish outside, so I grabbed my gear and finally headed for Estabrook. The question then was who might be out and about at that late hour.

I was relieved to find that quite a few critters were busily going about their morning, and I spotted this sparrow in the weeds beside the southern soccer fields. I hoped it might be a Lincoln’s or someone even more exotic, but it’s just a good-ol’ song sparrow, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There were no photographers at the pond when I arrived, for a change, but the pied-billed grebe was still there. I’m sure gonna miss it when it finally continues its journey south.

Same for the wood ducks.

The river was up about a foot from yesterday, and most of the exposed river bottom, from which I had collected tires on Friday, was back under water. Perhaps the lowering of the falls will lower the water around the islands less than I feared. Anyway, there was hardly a bird on the water today, so here’s another look at the killdeer from yesterday.

Back up on the bluff, I finally caught one of the several yellow-rumped warblers I’d been seeing all morning. It appears that I was a bit premature in supposing that all the warblers had already flown south, although the ones I saw today could be fresh arrivals from up north.

On my way back south and back at the river, this youngish-looking female belted kingfisher uncharacteristically let me sneak this picture before dramatically bolting to the far shore.

Up on the bluff once more, I stopped by the pollinator garden, but there was barely a blossom left to pollinate, let alone any pollinators around. Instead, the interesting sight today was a small group of dark-eyed juncos foraging for seeds in the grass.

Yesterday was a different story, on the other hand, and here’s probably our last look for the season at a monarch butterfly on a Mexican sunflower blossom.

The current forecast calls for beautiful, if cool, weather for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning. Sunrise isn’t scheduled to occur until 7:12 am, however, so I won’t be arriving at the beer garden parking lot until just before 8 am, when the sun should be already warming up the day. If you want to start earlier, feel free, and I’ll see you at 8.