I can see dawn trying to peak through the clouds, and the forecast is for partly cloudy skies for about an hour before the showers begin, but I’ve gotta go to campus, so we’re stuck with some more pictures from yesterday.

Here’s another instance of a yellow-rumped warbler by the pond sitting still for a millisecond.

Before I saw the geese on the river and their little friends, I came upon this interesting sight, an impressive leopard slug (Limax maximus), which I read “literally means ‘biggest slug’.” It must have been 6 inches long, and you may be thrilled to learn that they are edible. Bon appétit!

At the north end, as I was trying to photograph the blue heron resting on one leg at the top of a tree on the northern island…

it suddenly put both feet down and stood up very tall…

and here’s why: a young bald eagle came cruising up the river at treetop level! They’re back, baby!

Sorry about the blur. I was trying to get a nice shot of the stationary heron in bright sun, so I had the shutter slowed way down, to keep the ISO down, when suddenly I’m trying to shoot a soaring eagle. I’m actually surprised and thrilled it came out as good as it did.

This one’s a little better because it is moving nearly straight away from me. It’s already among the trees on the far shore where the river is at its widest. That is one big bird!

Here’s another, closer shot of one of the slate-colored dark-eyed juncos with its beak full of something. I would have thought seeds or even gastroliths (yup, that’s really the name for them, and you’re welcome), but upon closer inspection, it looks like leafy vegetables from that little plant growing at its feet, doesn’t it? Healthy! No wonder its feathers look so nice.

On my way back south, here’s another thrush, and I think this one is a hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus), based on its bright cinnamon-colored tail. If so, then it’s on its way from northern Wisconsin to southern Illinois.

Here’s yet another, ever-acrobatic, golden-crowned kinglet, and no, I didn’t rotate the picture for dramatic effect nor photoshop out its legs. I don’t even have Photoshop, so I suspect they are tucked safely inside its belly feathers until needed.

Here’s one more shot of that adorable and inquisitive red squirrel.

Here are more pretty-looking mushrooms that I can’t identify. Sorry!

Finally, here’s one more butterfly sipping from a dandelion, of all things, while there are still butterflies to see. Who knows when we’ll have seen the last one?

Well, the forecast is for partly cloudy and 49° tomorrow morning, so Holy Smokes! It’s time to get out my fleece hats!

After all the recent sogginess, it was a very nice morning in Estabrook. The crowd of wood ducks on the pond has subsided a bit, but the surprise sighting was this giant snapping turtle appearing to try to climb up onto shore.

I wasn’t able to get close enough, sadly, to tell if it is the same one that we saw last Friday, but it was huge. I wonder what’s instigating all this activity?

Anyway, there was also a pretty little yellow-rumped warbler flitting between the trees and bushes at the north end.

After that, it was on to the river for me, and north of the falls there was a bunch of geese just off the tip of the southern island and looking nice in the morning sun. Our pair with three good wings between them is in this sextet, and I think the one on the far right has the bad wing. It is nice to see that it still seems to be otherwise healthy, and it has a nice group of companions.

As I was trying to get the best composition of birds, and pretty reflection off the water, a whole flock of additional geese steamed in.

And then I notice there were a couple of interlopers photobombing my goose shot. Here’s one of them.

Yup, there was a pair of tiny blue-winged teals calmly foraging amongst the giants. Here are the little cuties together and from a different angle.

When I reached the north end, between the two islands, a raptor shot across overhead accompanied by the rattle of a kingfisher. When the raptor perched on a tree across the river, I could finally see that it was a young Cooper’s hawk.

Also perched, but at the top of a tall tree on the northern island, was this blue heron.

When I looked again a bit later, I was thrilled to see that there were two of them. The place is starting to look like a rookery. How cool would that be, eh?

Back on shore, the dark-eyed juncos are really getting thick on the ground, literally, and a whole flock were foraging in the gravel of the path along the river. Here’s a shot showing two of the seven subspecies: an “Oregon” (Junco hyemalis oreganus) on the left, and a “slate-colored” (Junco hyemalis hyemalis) on the right. We’re lucky enough to be in the winter range for both.

On my way back south, I was greeted by this little red squirrel, of whom we haven’t seen much lately, and it seemed almost as curious about me as that young deer from just over a week ago.

It actually climbed down that tree trunk a bit to get a better look.

All the recent rain certainly seems to have brought out the mushrooms, and besides the shaggy manes scattered about, this big clump was growing out of the lawn by the southern playground, but I don’t know what they are. Do you? The big one in the foreground was about 3 inches across.

These tiny ones, also a mystery to me, are growing out of a crack in an old log. The caps were an inch across at best.

Finally, here’s yet another bumblebee on yet another yellow flower. It was nice and warm by the time I walked by, so it was quite active.

I’ve gotta go to school in the morning, so I’ve saved a couple of pictures from today to show you tomorrow. Tune in then to get the rest of the story.

Once again, the day lit up pretty quickly, I suspect as the sun finally rose over a cloud bank on Lake Michigan, and I tried my best to take advantage of it.

The pond is still full of wood ducks, and here are three handsome drakes in a row. Well, the one in front looks like he has just a little more maturing to do, but you get the idea.

They seemed to avoid the water with pretty reflections this morning, but here’s another shot from yesterday, when they were more obliging.

The river had the usual contingent of mallards, geese, and a couple of herons, but nothing that I could make look photogenic today. Instead, here’s one more picture of that amazing red-tailed hawk from yesterday morning.

I did manage to capture an image of this sweet little ruby-crowned kinglet hard at work foraging for the calories it needs to fly to Kentucky.

Finally, that purple coneflower still had a bumblebee on it, but I’ve already used it twice, so here’s one on a common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) blossom,

and another one on a yellow coneflower.

I read that they could be females caught out by the cold and waiting for things to warm up or males hoping to mate with a new queen. Based on the warm temperatures lately, the latter sounds more likely. Best of luck, guys!

It was dark until 7am, and then, as if someone flipped a switch, it became light out, so here we go. It’s a short one, though, because the front edge of a thunderstorm started dripping on us by 9am already.

The pond was chock full of wood ducks, I counted 18, and they were all excited about something. There was a lot of calling, little groups forming, and swimming around. It was fun to watch, and here are a couple of the prettier pictures.

Then I hiked over to the river, and the treat at the north end was another red-tailed hawk.

It kept swooping from tree to tree, and I eventually lost sight of it, so I turned my attention to the other birds. Here’s a yellow-rumped warbler in a willow tree over the river.

And a killdeer on the water.

The bumblebee on the purple coneflower was still there and now has a friend.

Then a bunch of crows on the far shore all started calling, and I had a hunch what that meant. Sure enough, after a bit, the hawk finally relented took off for another perch with a couple of crows in hot pursuit. There was nowhere near enough light to capture that action, but this one image, where the hawk is slowing down to land, at least gives an impression of the scene.

By then, I could hear rumbles of thunder, so I high-tailed it back home, but this little cutie was worth a quick pause.

And that, typos and all, is all I’ve got time for this morning. Let’s all hope for better weather and more light tomorrow.

It was still quite dark at sunrise under thick cloud cover. Then the fog rolled in, and I’m surprised any of my pictures came out at all. Here are the ones that seem presentable.

There was no sign of the huge snapping turtle at the pond, but a handful of wood ducks are still around, and here are four of them just off the far shore.

As I continued to the north end of the pond, in search of that turtle, this northern flicker really did not want to quit mining the ant nest it must have found beside the path.

Once I got past the flicker, this chipmunk made me stop again.

When I finally reached the north end of the pond, the four wood ducks were still on their branch, but with a prettier background.

I heard a kingfisher but couldn’t see it or anyone else around, so I pressed ahead to the river. I couldn’t find any pintails, teals, mergansers, shovelers, or cormorants today, but there were plenty of mallards, a few geese, some wood ducks, and this one blue heron.

On shore, a flycatcher, looks like an eastern wood-pewee, was perhaps waiting for enough visibility to spot flies.

A bit lower, a white-throated sparrow was taking a break from foraging in the tall flower stalks.

Lower still, I was surprised to find a purple cornflower still in bloom, and this one had a lethargic bumblebee resting on it, perhaps waiting to dry out and warm up.

On my way back south, I was super surprised to spot one more green heron on the far shore. I haven’t seen one in a while and thought they had all flown south already.

South of the falls, a golden-crowned kinglet was kind enough to tilt its head our way for an instant.

When I got to where the stream from the pond empties into the river, there were two more surprises waiting for me. First, this odd couple, a wood duck drake and mallard hen foraging together.

Second, this bullfrog on a lily pad reminded me that we haven’t seen the last of them for the season either.

Finally, right at the south end, as I was about to walk out of the park, a long-time reader stopped to chat about starlings. It turns out that they were introduced to the US from Europe by pharmacist and “self-described Shakespeare fanatic” Eugene Schieffelin in the late 1800s, even though “Shakespeare only mentioned starlings once, in Henry IV, Act 1, when Hotspur is rebelling against the king.”

Anyway, as we were chatting, this magnificent red-tailed hawk made a try for a squirrel but missed and ended up on the lawn, not 30 feet away, right by the parkway. For a moment, it appeared to be torn between trying for the squirrel again, who was just right up there…

or fleeing from all the people standing around in the parking lot looking at it, and it eventually opted for the latter and took off. Better luck next time, buddy!

Lastly, I rode my bike down the Oak Leaf Trail yesterday afternoon to stop by campus, and look who I spotted on the New England aster by the Urban Ecology Center. Yup, one last monarch who hasn’t made its way to Mexico yet.

PS. I’ve gotten two comments about that mystery bird from yesterday. Pam suggests it’s a grey bunting, but she might be joking because they’re only found in Asia. Sorry, Pam. And Alex suggests it’s a “immature white-crowned sparrow”, which does look about right with a sparrow’s beak, a brown crest, a dark eye stripe, and two white wing bars, so that’s what I’m going to go with. Thanks, Alex!

It was dark and wet at sunrise, so I waited a bit for the forecast “partly cloudy”, and by 9 o’clock, it came. Yay! I hustled out the door and was soon greeted by another batch of juncos foraging on the lawn together. As I walked up the parkway, they retired to a small tree, and I finally captured an image of one with enough light to come out nice and sharp.

A little further up the parkway, by where the park narrows and they put up a guardrail, I could see across to the parking lot above the west side of the river and spotted this bedraggled looking red-tailed hawk trying to dry out on a lamp post. Cheer up, buddy. It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend.

At the pond, a photographer was already deep into a session with the wood ducks on the west lawn, so I continued around to the north side to see if anyone else was home. Well, well, well, look who finally came out to see the light of day!

A giant, one-eyed, snapping turtle was coming south in the little stream that flows under the bridge and into the pond. The shell was at least a foot wide and maybe 18 inches long. From the top, the head was about the size and shape of the back of my full hand. I sure would not wanna mess with this one.

I didn’t expect to have a lot of time before the skies clouded back up, so I moved on to the river, where I spotted this dapper-looking little bird in a crab apple tree who identity escapes me. Its beak is stout, like a finch or a sparrow, but not as big as a cardinal or a grosbeak. It’s all greyish brown except for two, thin white wing bars and a dark stripe across the eye. If you have any information that could lead to the identity of this bird, please leave a comment!

Meanwhile, out on the river, the water was up a bit from all that rain, and a blue heron was just tall enough to keep its feathers dry.

I couldn’t tell what this bunch of mallard drakes was up to, but it sounded like trouble.

The pair of pintails were still dabbling out in their usual spot.

They sky was starting to cloud back over, so I turned to head home, and on my way back south, a thrush paused to say “hi”.

And just before I turned to climb the bluff, I spotted this empty little turtle shell in about an inch of water. I couldn’t tell there was no turtle inside until I picked it up. It’s only about 2 inches long.

Finally, I stopped by the patch of asters along the Oak Leaf Trail, but they looked about as bedraggled as the hawk, and nobody was visiting them. Instead, here’s another shot of that thirsty sulphur from Wednesday.

That turned out better than I expected, give the soggy start.

It seems like it has rained all day, so thank goodness I saved some pictures from yesterday.

As I was trying to capture that shot of the reflection off the river of the foliage glowing in the morning sun, I climbed down the bank onto some rocks in the water for a better angle. From at least 200 yards way, that darn heron said “oh no, you don’t”, and flew further upstream. Here that stinker in its new spot. Notice that geese and ducks haven’t moved.

After I scrambled back up onto the bank and continued north along the path, this handsome character gave me an inquisitive look.

But, this brown creeper seemed to ignore me completely, as always.

When I finally got to the north end, I found that the waterthrushes haven’t all flown off yet.

And here’s a rusty blackbird male, who was foraging with the female I showed you yesterday and demonstrating how they were methodically flipping over the fallen willow tree leaves to see if anything tasty was hiding underneath. I found it mesmerizing to watch.

Here’s another shot of that flycatcher, perhaps an eastern wood-pewee.

The golden-crowned kinglets are also still around.

More surprising, however, because I haven’t seen any in over a week, was this ruby-crowned kinglet with its ruby crown concealed.

Finally, at the patch of asters along the Oak Leaf Trail, there are also some sow thistles still blossoming, and this one attracted both a honey bee and a bicolored Agapostemon sweat bee (Agapostemon viriscens).

Well, the forecast is for more rain tomorrow, so we’ll have to wait and see just how bad it is. Maybe I’ll be able to sneak into the park between the raindrops. Wish me luck!

Gadzooks! When I hoped that “partly cloudy” would give us a little bit of sun this morning, I never imagined that we would get so much. What a beautiful morning it was, and I made it to the park before the streetlights shut off.

Before I even got to the pond, I was greeted by a little batch of juncos foraging on the lawn, and I got a few pictures of them there, but then this little one hopped up onto this branch to make the best shot. It’s a little grainy, but so were all of them because it was still so dark, and you can’t beat that pose.

The wood ducks were still on the pond, but I haven’t seen that little yellow duckling in a couple of days. Maybe someone came to collect it. In any case, nothing looked particularly photogenic so off to the river I went.

As I approached the north end, the sun was finally coming over the trees and lighting up the island, which made for this pretty scene.

On the far side, I could see a cormorant and the pintails again, I believe, but they were too far away for decent pictures. Instead, it appears that all the mallard drakes are now in their full breeding plumage, and this one was lit up by the morning sun right in front of me.

Three of the killdeer were back, and this one was probably too busy foraging to even notice its own reflection.

Some rusty blackbirds were back, also foraging on the exposed rocks, and the morning sun really brings out the colors on this female.

Meanwhile, the trees above the river were full of activity, too. Here’s a wren foraging.

Here’s a flycatcher, perhaps an eastern wood-pewee, pausing between sorties out over the water.

Here’s one more yellow-rumped warbler looking for treats on the willow leaves and branches.

Here’s yet another warbler, and this one looks like a Nashville warbler.

I finally had to drag myself away and head home, but on the way, I found another catbird picking berries.

Lastly, I checked the patch of asters on the Oak Leaf Trail and found one more sulphur butterfly enjoying the nectar while it lasts.

Well, by now you probably know the drill. I’ve gotta go to school tomorrow morning, so no time for a visit to the park, but I did my best to save some nice pictures from today to show you tomorrow. See you then.

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures from yesterday’s magical Monday morning.

First up, a bit after the four deer strode up onto the island and disappeared in the brush, this young one came back out seemingly to see what that weird old guy on the far shore was up to.

“What is he doing there?”

“What does he want?”

“A mystery for the ages, I guess, but I hope he finds what he’s looking for.”

I sure did, Kiddo, and thanks.

Meanwhile, a great blue heron was too busy fishing to pay any attention to that nonsense.

And our newest visitor, the pintail, seemed oblivious to it all.

I did finally will one of the blue-winged teals to line up with a mallard so I could show you just how tiny they are.

On my way back south, I was happy to find that the solitary sandpiper hasn’t taken off yet.

A male northern flicker was uncharacteristically still and visible.

And the male downy woodpecker gave us a nice view of his red spot.

This grey catbird was after the berries you can see in the foreground, and every time it turned to grab one, my autofocus couldn’t follow, so all I got was a blur, but at least this one still image came out.

Finally, the yellow-rumped warbler was really in a posing mood, so we get one more look.

Lastly, we’ve seen these elsewhere recently so I tried to look them up, got crazy lucky, and hit the bull’s-eye on the first try.

Say hello to shaggy ink cap, lawyer’s wig, or shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus) a “choice edible mushroom,” but just make sure you don’t confuse it with “common Ink Cap, which can induce coprine poisoning, particularly when consumed with alcohol.“

The forecast for Wednesday is for “partly cloudy” so let’s hope we get another nice little batch of morning sun and blue sky to make the pictures pretty.

This morning was supposed to be dark and grey, again, so I lolled in bed till 6:30, and the reward for my sloth was about an hour of warm morning sun and even a bit of bright blue sky. Do not get me thinking that sloth might pay!

Anyway, by the time I managed to stroll up the parkway, this grey squirrel was also enjoying the morning sun and blue sky with a tasty looking nut in a comfortable looking perch on top of a lamp post.

At the pond, another photographer was deep into a session with the wood ducks on the west lawn, so I just captured a quick image over his shoulder and made a bee line for the river.

Happily, I made it to the river just in time to capture one more, well-lit glimpse of a yellow-rumped warbler before the clouds rolled back in.

“That’s right, little cutie, I’m looking at you, and thanks for sitting still for a millisecond.”

They will eventually all bug out to Illinois or further, for the winter, so we gotta enjoy them while we can.

After I captured what I figured was going to be as good a warbler image as I was going to get, I turned my gaze to the river, and you will not believe what I saw. First one…

then Two…

then THREE…

THEN FOUR, YES FOUR, RIVER DEER!

(Disclaimer: “River deer” are not a “thing”, of course, and I just get a kick out of calling them that. Instead, for those of you just joining our show already in progress, these are white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), the only deer we have, and who just happen to be taking advantage of the low water to cross the river to graze on the island for a change. Maybe I’d better call them island deer.)

Anyway, also out on the water, the pair of female blue-winged teals were still here, yay, and this one took a moment to demonstrate how they got at least part of their name. I suspect “teal” is for the “greyish blue head” of adult males. In any case, they soon will be on their way to “the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and south into the Caribbean islands and Central America.“

Meanwhile, back on shore, a white-throated sparrow checked in…

A gray catbird stopped by…

An American goldfinch said “hi”…

And this male downy woodpecker completely ignored me.

I can’t tell if that’s a tasty morsel or just a wood chip, but let’s hope for the former, eh?

Finally, I made one more scan of the mallards out on the water, and looky who I found. That black bill, grey face, and long neck makes me think we’ve got ourselves a female pintail. How about that?!?!? She’s only got to fly the length of Illinois to her wintering grounds, so perhaps she’ll stick around a while and let us have another chance at a better look.

Whew! After all that action, let’s bring it down a notch with this serene looking mushroom growing peacefully right out of a box elder knot.

Stay tuned to find out tomorrow what pictures I kept in my pocket to show you while I go to school.