Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

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.

April reminds us that it’s still April…

It was cool, cloudy, and windy in Estabrook Park this morning, so yeah, spring in southeast Wisconsin. At least it wasn’t raining again, because we’ve had just about enough of that for a while.

Anyway, look who chose today for its big first outing at the pond for the year.

Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the size spectrum, we still have at least one winter wren hanging around, but they won’t be here for much longer, so get your looks in while they last.

When I arrived at the river, there were ten double-crested cormorants in the water or up on the island drying out. Here’s one, on the left, showing off its namesake “double crest”, which I read is “only visible on adults during breeding season.”

The bigger surprise at the river, for me at least, was our first batch of swallows busily hunting lake flies over the water. Sure, it would’ve been nice if they were all posing calmly on branches beside the river, as they did in April 2022, but I’ll take what I can get and like it! Here’s a barn swallow, with its forked tail.

Here’s a tree swallow, which I just showed you yesterday on a nesting box at Lakeshore State Park.

And here’s a northern rough-winged swallow, looking a lot like an immature female tree swallow, but with a “dingy-brown breast” instead of the “clean white breast” on a tree swallow. All we’re missing is the cliff swallows, which I hope return to nest again under the eave of the Holliday Inn.

Finally, back at the pond, the look on the face of this female belted kingfisher seems to be saying “that’s enough already with all those fuzzy pictures!”

Lastly, if you skipped my presentation on the wildlife in Estabrook at North Shore School for Seniors a couple of weeks ago because you’ve already seen it three times, have I got great news for you! The big boss there asked me, “Andy, isn’t there anything else you can talk about?”, and I replied, “Hmmm. I do have a few pictures of wildlife from my travels with Anne. Would anyone want to hear me talk about capturing those?” Well, we’re gonna find out soon because that’s what she’s got me presenting at 1pm this Tuesday. Come on out, if you’ve got the time.

The forecast for tomorrow is a little cooler, a little less windy, a little sunnier, and no rain, so woo hoo! I can’t wait to see who I’ll see next.

Some nice sights, despite the fog…

It was a cool and foggy morning in Estabrook Park, but there wasn’t any rain for a change, so it was a fine time to see who has arrived lately.

The first newcomer I spotted was this very shy green heron at the river. I actually glimpsed it already yesterday, but it wouldn’t let me sneak a picture until today. “Welcome to Estabrook, Sweetie!”

The next fresh arrival was this female red-winged blackbird at the pond. She was making a racket, too, and I couldn’t tell if she was shouting, “Oh dear, I just love it!” or “I flew all that way for this?!?!?” Either way, I’m sure she’ll make the best of it.

This next scene is not for the squeamish, but it is a big part of how nature works, so here you go. This is a mature Cooper’s hawk with its fresh catch, which I suspect was an eastern towhee, based on the look of the tail feathers in some of the other shots.

With the morning so dim and gray, I don’t have much more than that, but by happy coincidence, I have a few pictures from yesterday afternoon when I rode down to check out the lakefront.

My first stop was Juneau Lagoon, and it was full of blue-winged teals, but they were keeping pretty far from shore. Instead, the better sight, in my opinion, was this mature black-crowned night heron, our first of the year.

At Lakeshore State Park, the tree swallows were back and very energetically sorting out who was going to use which nesting box. Here’s a pair checking to see if the basement stayed dry after all that rain.

Finally, there was still a single redhead sticking around and diving with the scaups. What a handsome bird, eh?

Lastly, back to Estabrook, I don’t know exactly what their threshold is, but we must have crossed it last night, because there were spider webs, dripping with water they had scooped out of the fog, all through the park this morning. There is not enough information in this picture for my panel of experts to determine the exact species of spider that made these, but they are pretty sure it is an orb weaver.

The forecast for tomorrow suggests that we’ll have a little less fog and a little more wind. I heard my first house wren of the year this morning, so maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to get my eyes on one. Keep those fingers crossed!

Just when I thought April couldn’t get any wetter…

Sheesh! It really poured last night. I hope you stayed dry. The river wasn’t as high as it got during the great flood last August, but the pond was higher than I’ve ever seen it, and high enough to completely cover the island, which inundated the goose nest. She was off it when I arrived this morning, and I could see at least three eggs floating in the water. Ugh! I’ll spare you the depressing picture, and the good news is that she has lost her first clutch before, likely to predators last time, and then went on to lay a whole new batch, which did finally hatch into goslings. So, not all hope is lost.

A happy sight at the pond was our first brown thrasher of the year, singing up a storm in exactly the same spot I saw it yesterday.

This little red squirrel found one of last year’s black walnuts and was so intent on chewing it open that it seemed to completely ignore me.

Another new arrival yesterday morning was our first pine warbler of the year and only the second one I’ve captured on film in Estabrook. This picture is a little better than the first, but not by much.

Late yesterday morning, it got so warm that even this mourning cloak butterfly was out.

Finally, my one good picture from this morning is this white-breasted nuthatch performing their signature pose.

Lastly, there are several wildflowers up in the park, including marsh marigolds and Virginia bluebells, but my favorite of the current batch is this white trout lily.

I see that the chance of rain in the current forecast stays below 25% until tomorrow evening, woo hoo, so maybe we’ll have a chance to dry out a bit. Keep your fingers crossed!