Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

The show picks up steam!

The weather was indeed as nice as forecast, and it was a fabulous morning in Estabrook Park.

If you’ve been wondering, as I sure have, whatever happened to the doe and fawn that we saw on and around the upstream island before the flood, well, wonder no more because it appears that they survived just fine. Here they are right beside the beer garden parking lot sampling some grape leaves.

The open parking lot was between us, so I couldn’t very well sneak up on them, but here’s a slightly closer look at the fawn. If you zoom in, and I hope you do, you can see that it has amassed quite a collection of burs in its fur, poor kid.

Anyway, the trees were full of warblers, as I had hoped, once the sun had a chance to warm things up a bit, and here’s our first black-throated green of the season.

We’ve seen northern waterthrushes already, and way back before I went to Connecticut, but none have allowed me to take a close up like this so far this fall.

This Tennessee warbler, another first of the season for us, really knew how to work with me. First it rustled around a bit lower in the tree, to capture my attention. Then it slowly worked its way to the top, which gave me time to get my focus and exposure settings in order. Finally, it emerged into the warm morning light at the top of the tree with a perfect blue background. Lastly, it hopped around up there a bit to give me a few different shots of a few different poses. I couldn’t ask for a better subject. “Thanks, Sweetie!”

Meanwhile, this little stinker, an adult male American redstart, kept to shadows nearly as dark as its feathers and only gave me two shots. How this one somehow came out in focus, I’ll never know.

There are still plenty of eastern wood-pewees around, but this dashing great crested flycatcher, of whom we haven’t seen nor heard much in a while, flew in to give the pewees, and you, a break.

Another notorious lurker is the Wilson’s warbler, and this rascal, yet another first of the season, was no exception.

Finally, this cutie, who posed only slightly better than the Wilson’s, has me puzzled. I didn’t get much of a better look at it than this, and “a yellow warbler with a black patch low on its breast” doesn’t garner a lot of matches. The yellow isn’t stripey, as it is on Canada and magnolia warblers, so I’m gonna try “mourning warbler” because they do have a big black bib on their chest, and pictures of young or molting males suggest that its possible for one to wind up looking like this, at least for a while. Plus, my other picture shows that it has an eye ring and no wing bars, which also fit. We’ll see what the experts say soon enough.

Lastly, I did see one dragonfly and one butterfly, but neither one had time for a picture today, so here’s a bare blossom, the first New England aster I’ve seen this year.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for more of the same, but even less breeze, if you can believe it, which should provide ideal conditions for our weekly wildlife walk in the morning. I have received word that “there’s a bunch of [folks who] are all thinking about getting [to the beer garden] around seven,” so that appears to be when we will be starting. If that’s too early for you, I’ll swing back by the parking lot at 8, and you can join us then. See you there!

A ruckus over the far shore…

The weather in Estabrook Park this morning, if anything, was even nicer than forecast. The air seemed nearly still for a while, so I was even able to hear a warbling vireo calling from across the river.

The first interesting scene came at the river and across from the two radio towers. There is a tall dead tree a ways downstream and over the far shore that birds like to perch in, and we had quite the menagerie today. In the upper right is our first American kestrel of the month, and it seemed to be the draw. Even a belted kingfisher paused from cruising by to stop in (lower left) and see what the commotion was about. The two birds closest to the kestrel are northern flickers, and the bird at the bottom is a robin, I believe. There was also a jay or two, and it was mostly the jays and robins who were mixing it up with the kestrel, who eventually decided to find a quieter perch.

Above the falls I found a more peaceful scene with a young spotted sandpiper quietly bobbing its tail while foraging for its breakfast.

The sandpiper paused after a while and began glancing skyward. I suspect it was this red-tailed hawk, perched high over the same island, that had captured the sandpiper’s attention. That also happened to be just when the sun poked through the clouds for a bit, which really lit up the hawk beautifully.

The gap in the clouds didn’t last long, however, so these next couple of birds are stuck with a white-sky background. This first one is a ~~pine warbler~~, I believe, but they are considered rare for here right now, so my identification is subject to confirmation. It may turn out to be another ~~immature blackpoll warbler~~, but it was behaving differently, so we shall see.

The experts eventually weighed in, and they decided that it is a Cape May warbler, instead.

This next bird looks quite similar, but its plumage has more orange in it, and its beak is a lot heftier, and that’s because it’s a female Baltimore oriole and another first of the month.

The young pewee was begging to be fed in nearly the same spot as Thursday, but this time I was able to line it up with a nice green background.

By the time I returned to the weeds beside the southern soccer fields, another patch of blue sky was gliding overhead, which makes a perfect background for our first rose-breasted grosbeak of the season, a female.

I did see another monarch, but the clear sky and sunlight brought a breeze with it, so this picture from yesterday of a monarch on a Mexican sunflower blossom at the pollinator garden is a lot nicer picture than anything I managed to capture today.

Finally, the crew working to reshape the falls was back at work by 7:15 this morning, and it appears that they managed to move a bunch of stone around yesterday.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for similar winds and temps but no clouds, so I’m gettin’ my hopes up.

A couple more firsts of the season…

As forecast yesterday, it was windy and partly cloudy in Estabrook Park this morning, but temps were only in the low 50s, so not too bad for finding critters, if you knew, or happened to stumble upon, where to look.

As I mentioned on Wednesday, the flood water has mostly flowed down stream by now, but the river is still not quite as low as it was before the flood, so there is hardly any exposed river bottom yet to attract interesting shorebirds. Instead, we have to make do with geese, mallards, a heron or two, and the occasional cormorant, as was the case today near the upstream island.

Back on shore, the wind was straight out of the west, so it was blowing through the trees pretty good there, and I was a little surprised to find this young magnolia warbler, perhaps the same one we saw yesterday, foraging in them anyway.

The sweet spot today, however, was up on the bluff and on the leeward side of the tall trees that grow there. They were really hopping with little birds when I arrived, and one of those little birds was this darling red-breasted nuthatch.

On the same branch as the nuthatch and nearly at the same time, there was also our first black-and-white warbler of the fall migration.

The next quiet spot I found was on the leeward side of the island of trees just to the northwest of the parking lot by the beer garden. There was another throng of little birds, most of whom evaded me, but I did manage to sneak a picture of this young chestnut sided warbler, another first of the season.

I did see one dragonfly today, but I never saw it sit still. Instead, I was quite pleasantly surprised to find butterflies at the pollinator garden, and here’s a slightly tattered hackberry emperor trying to sun itself while blending in with the wood chip mulch on the ground.

The wind wasn’t howling there, but it wasn’t still either, so I was even more surprised to find this monarch clinging to one of the Mexican sunflower blossoms. They were both swaying quite a bit, but once in a while the wind paused to catch its breath, the swaying would stop, and the monarch held its wings up nice and high for this portrait.

Finally, the crew was busy working on the falls this morning, and it appears that they might be trying to pump out the remaining standing water behind their temporary dam. If you squint, or click on the image so you can zoom in, you can see a third, orange piece of equipment between the two excavators, which I believe is a large pump on wheels, and some hose laying on the exposed rock and in the bucket of the excavator on the left.

I see that the wind is forecast to die down by tomorrow morning, and the clouds should thin out some more, so it ought to be a great morning for spotting any new visitors that might have arrived overnight.

The warblers return!

The dreams I had yesterday about what today would be like came true, and despite the cold, with temps in the mid-40s, it was a spectacular morning in Estabrook Park. Even better, the migrating warblers are here and ravenously foraging for insects through the trees.

I didn’t really start to see them until I reached the river at the north end, the sun was high enough to start warming things up quickly, and the temps were back into the 50s. Then things got busy, and here’s an immature blackpoll warbler bathed in the golden morning light.

Here’s a female or immature male magnolia warbler.

As if that wasn’t enough, then an osprey soared over, and I thought it continued downstream after I lost sight of it, but that was until I heard the huge splash in the river. It came up empty, this time, but it perched over the far shore.

Even better, it eventually came to our shore, and I was lining up the perfect shot through a gap in the leaves when it either saw a fish, saw me, or something else spooked it. Dang.

It’s possible I expressed my disappointment out loud because this Swainson’s thrush poked its head up to see what was the matter.

On my way to the pond for my second visit, I thought I heard a blue-gray gnatcatcher, but closer inspection revealed a young eastern wood-pewee crying to be fed, instead. Perhaps breakfast had been delayed by the cool morning, but by then the insects were plentiful, and a parent, on the right, gave me three tries to get this picture. Sadly, this was as good as I could get before the youngster moved on.

At the pond, there was a group of red-eyed vireos, which I suspect were migrants from farther north. The species has been here all summer, but they tend to stick to the treetops, and I haven’t gotten a picture like this since last spring.

At the weeds beside the soccer fields, the show continued with this young bay-breasted warbler.

Finally, I saw American redstarts yesterday, but one wouldn’t let me sneak a picture until today.

Lastly, I didn’t see a single butterfly all morning, but there were several dragonflies warming up in the sun, and here’s a wandering glider, which I haven’t seen since July.

I see that the forecast calls for clouds and wind tomorrow morning, so who knows who we’ll find, and you’ll just have to tune in to find out.

Back along the Milwaukee River again…

After the run of beautiful weather I had out east, it took me a minute to adjust to the rainy and breezy morning that greeted me here in Estabrook Park today. I also hadn’t needed insect repellent in two weeks, and I had a hope that some of you would have been feeding the mosquitoes here while I was away, but based on their ravenous appetites this morning, it seems you let them go hungry until my return. Alas.

Anyway, I was also greeted by a few critters of the avian kind, and here they are. This first one is a female belted kingfisher, of course, and the mix of red and blue in her upper band suggests that she’s a youngster. Her youth may also explain her slightly unusual willingness to perch for this portrait in the tree on the island closest to the park bench.

Sure, the sky was pretty dark, so the ISO setting on my camera had to be pretty high to capture this image, which makes it a bit noisy, but I think it came out nicer than WordPress is rendering it, and you might like the original on flickr better.

Anyway, this next picture really is as bad as it looks, but we seldom get to see red-breasted nuthatches as they migrate through, and this is my first one of the fall migration, so here we are.

Another migrant, and first of the fall, who let me capture an image as it passes through was this darling Swainson’s thrush, looking to see what’s on the breakfast buffet.

Finally, the only other bird I managed to photograph between the rain drops this morning, was this mature Cooper’s hawk perched over the island in the pond. I saw it high in a tree on the far side when I walked up for my second visit, and as I tried to line up a shot, a second hawk, perhaps a sibling or a parent, swooped in and caused it to move closer and lower. Thanks!

Lastly, the river is mostly receded to its pre-flood level, and the crew is back to working on reshaping the falls. I’m not sure what that new row of bags in the foreground is for, but I could see that some stone from the river bottom has already been moved around.

I see that temps are forecast to be in the high 40s tomorrow morning, but the sky is supposed to be clear, and the breeze not too strong, so maybe we’ll get to see some of the warblers that should also be passing through.

One last look before the trip home…

The spectacular weather has returned to the Farmington River Valley, here in Connecticut, just in time for our departure back to the Badger State. Luckily, I had a little time this morning before our ride back to the airport, and here’s who I was able to see.

As I checked the weed patch next door, I inadvertently spooked this Cooper’s hawk, who was either sunning itself or hunting, I’ll never know which for sure, but in either case had been perched at about eye level. Happily, it didn’t go far and even let me sneak a peek.

I didn’t see the indigo duskywing today, but I did get about the nicest portrait of one yesterday afternoon that I might ever hope for. The subdued light coming through the cloud cover really let’s us see the subtle pattern they have on their wings.

I struggled with the dragonflies this morning, so let’s take a look at this pretty eastern pondhawk I saw on Saturday.

The pearl crescent butterfly was in the weed patch this morning, and the bright morning sun lit it up perfectly.

Here’s a common eastern bumble bee really digging into its work on Saturday.

Back in the subdued sunlight of yesterday, I found this eastern tailed-blue butterfly sipping nectar from what might be the smallest blossoms I have ever seen, which my sources tell me are those of nodding spurge (Euphorbia nutans).

Finally, in the hope that he brings us good luck with travel today, here’s one more look at the young or molting bluebird from Thursday.

If things do go right, I’ll be back in Estabrook tomorrow morning, so keep your fingers crossed.

East coast wrap up…

It’s not raining, here in CT, so it’s a perfectly fine day for a Labor Day picnic, but the clouds have rolled in, so I certainly wouldn’t call it gorgeous either. On top of that, relatives are starting to head home after the big family celebration, and I’ve already made a sunrise airport run, so one could say that I wasn’t feeling very inspired today. I did need the steps, however, so I went out for a walk after lunch, and this was my reward.

In case you don’t recognize it in that roughed-up state, that’s an eastern tiger swallowtail on one of my sister’s sunflowers, and I have only blind luck to thank for the lighting and background.

Now that we’re all here, I might as well show you a couple more pictures from the last few days, and you’ll recognize this first one as the youngish great blue heron from the railing, but now up to its waist in the water.

Here’s one last look at one of the green herons we’ve been seeing on the pond at the other end of the canal trail.

Back to today, as I was walking past my sister’s flower garden after spotting the swallowtail in her vegetable garden, I found this beauty on her lantana, which got her all excited.

That’s my first American lady butterfly out here, as far as I know, and it was mostly keeping its wings closed, but not completely.

Finally, Anne and I are heading home to Wisconsin tomorrow, so I expect this will be my last post from CT for a while. Thanks for coming along.

The critters go about their business, even if I don’t have time to look…

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the amazingly beautiful weather continued this morning in the home of the Charter Oak. With all of the relatives arriving for my folks’ anniversary this weekend, I haven’t had much time to get out, but here are a few pictures I’ve accumulated over the last few days.

First up is another look at the great blue heron perched on the railing of the short viewing pier over the small pond near my exit from the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

One surprising sight of this trip, at least for me, has been large flocks of several dozen brown-headed cowbirds foraging together on lawns. I see groups of perhaps a half dozen in Estabrook, and perhaps larger groups do form, but I just haven’t seen them there yet. In any case, it’s fascinating for me to see the proof that they do group up at all even though each one has been raised in the nest of some other species.

If you don’t recall, they are brood parasites, and I read that “young cowbirds are not exposed to species-typical visual and auditory information [as] other birds {are]. Despite this, they are able to develop species-typical singing, social, and breeding behaviors. Cowbird brains are wired to respond to the vocalizations of other cowbirds, allowing young to find and join flocks of their own species. These vocalizations are consistent across all cowbird populations, and serve as a sort of species-recognition password. If a young cowbird is not exposed to these “password” vocalizations by a certain age, it will mistakenly imprint on the host species.” Wild, isn’t it?

Back at the little weed patch beside my folks’ house, I found a handsome autumn meadowhawk, and we see plenty of them in Estabrook around this time of year, but I believe that this is my first one out here, at least on film.

Finally, here’s a tiny least skipper perched on some right-sized forget-me-not blossoms.

Still plenty of youngsters around…

We had one more beautiful, if surprisingly cool, morning out here in the “Land of Steady Habits”, so I took one more walk along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. I wasn’t getting much for pictures until I almost reached my exit, when I spotted a young-looking great blue heron in the water just off the trail.

I hadn’t seen one there yet this trip, so I really wanted a picture, and I backed up right away in hopes of finding a gap in the foliage, but I somehow spooked it anyway. Instead of fleeing to the other side of the little pond, or even farther, however, it merely hopped up onto the railing of a short viewing pier. Even more amazing, it then proceeded to ignore me as I carefully stepped into the open and made this portrait.

Well, the day has gotten away from me, and now it is late, so here are just a few more pictures. First up is a young cedar waxwing gobbling down a berry.

Here’s a killdeer oddly hunkering down in the middle of a huge lawn.

Here’s an eastern phoebe striking a cute pose.

Here’s a young eastern bluebird starting to get his colors in.

Finally, here’s a silver-spotted skipper sipping nectar from what is probably invasive purple loosestrife, but you really can’t blame it for getting calories where it can, right?

A few gems amidst the chaos…

The weather continues to be unseasonably nice out here on the east coast, so I couldn’t but get out for a minute or two, even though our day was otherwise filled with doctors’ appointments and airport pickups.

I did hear a few birds during my outing, of course, but the only ones I managed to capture on film were these two song sparrows hiding in the bushes together, and if I had to guess, the pair comprised a parent and a fledged youngster.

I wasn’t near any water that I knew of, so I was pleasantly surprised to spot this skimming bluet damselfly.

Less surprising, but just as enjoyable, was this pristine-looking eastern tailed-blue.

When I saw this beauty, I got all excited because I thought it might be the tailed-blue with its wings open, but it turns out to be just a boring old gray hairstreak, instead. Ha!

A few flowers are in bloom, including this thistle, so no one should be surprised to see a bumblebee, and here’s a common eastern.

Looking quite similar, except with a shiny abdomen instead of a fuzzy one, is this eastern carpenter bee.

Finally, a trip to that little patch of weeds beside my folks’ yard hardly seems complete now without a wild indigo duskywing butterfly, so here we are.