Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

A break in the heat, at last…

Well, the heat wave is starting to break, at least here in Estabrook Park, and it is still only 75°F outside as I write this. The bigger break for me, however, was that the howling wind we’ve had for the past three days has finally subsided, so I can hear myself think out there, for a change. The downside to that, however, is that the mosquitoes are plentiful, quite hungry, and perhaps a little crabby about having been pinned down over the weekend. I swear I saw a mosquito biting a mosquito that was biting my knuckle as I tried to take a picture.

Anyway, our little celebrity guest is still at the pond, but the crowd it has been attracting is also finally subsiding.

I couldn’t find the family of wood ducks on the river today, but look who I found instead, a brood of pretty fresh-looking mallard ducklings.

The young hooded merganser is still on the river and now there are even two of them, but this picture, of just one up out of the water for a moment, came out a lot better.

The first surprise guest of the morning was this osprey who paused for a moment to check out our fresh fish assortment.

I checked on the hummingbird chicks, of course, and I didn’t find Mom with them this time, but look who’s getting big enough to start peeking over the rim of its nest.

By happy coincidence, look who I found taking a break over the edge of the bluff quite a bit south of the nest. I have no idea how many hummingbirds might be in the area, nor what kind of range they might maintain during breeding season, so I really can’t tell you if he has any relation to the chicks in the nest upstream, but the human brain sure does yearn for a good story, doesn’t it.

After all the toad excitement last month, I haven’t been paying them much attention lately, but it was hard to ignore this tree toad wannabe.

The recent parade of dragonflies continues, and today’s entry is this striking twelve-spotted skimmer in the weeds beside the soccer fields.

Finally, the butterflies will not be outdone, and here’s a stunning little northern or pearl crescent, the jury’s still out on exactly which species it is, beside the river at the north end. If you really need to know, feel free to click on the two links in the first sentence just above and decide for yourself.

Lastly, a reader who is currently out of town wrote in to ask for a picture of the meadow at the north end that I went on about yesterday, so here it is. I struggle to capture on film what my eye can see in scenes like this, but the image has pretty good resolution so if you click on it, you can zoom in a bunch to see some of the individual blossoms. I noticed today that I forgot to mention that there are also daisies, fleabane, campion, and St John’s wort in the mix, so that’s eleven species currently in bloom, just in my rough counting.

Keep your fingers crossed that Parks has changed its policy or simply forgotten about it, since they removed the asphalt from the road down from the parkway a month or two ago, and that no one reminds them about it. Yes, I realize, of course, that some kind of maintenance is necessary to keep trees and bushes from invading an artificial clearing like this, but I’d like to think that it doesn’t include mowing it while it’s in full bloom. Okay, that’s enough of that rant.

Migration may be over, but the show sure goes on…

The heat wave is still with us, so I tried to get into Estabrook Park right around sunrise to avoid the worst of it. When I reached the pond, I was thrilled to find our celebrity guest, the immature yellow-crowned night heron, was also still with us and already drawing a crowd at that early hour.

The next big treat came by the river where I found Mom at her nest for the first time since we’ve seen her chicks. Hurray! The sun hadn’t yet come over the bluff, and I froze when I spotted her from afar, so these pictures are rough, to say the least, but they are able, I believe, to convey the important information.

Here she is stuffing the gullet of the chick on the left, her right, …

and here she is doing the same for the chick on the right, her left.

Then I hiked back up to the parking lot by the beer garden to welcome five intrepid wildlife walkers. It was great to get the band back together and we went straight to the hits, with a stop by the night heron and then the hummingbirds. From there, we checked the river, and I was glad to see the wood duck hen still has her six ducklings.

The surprise guest this morning was this darling hooded merganser, and her dark eye makes me think that she’s a female.

By the time I had captured the best merganser picture I thought I might, it was already nap time for the wood duck ducklings.

Finally, there was a new dragonfly today, this stunning Halloween pennant, and I spotted one both in the meadow by the boat launch at the north end and in the weeds beside the soccer fields at the south end.

Speaking of the meadow at the north end, I am thrilled to report that the parks department hasn’t mowed it yet this year, so it is awash in colors. There are pink clover and crown vetch, which I understand is invasive, sadly; bright yellow bird’s-foot trefoil and yellow sweet clover; white clover and white sweet clover; and a few blue/purple alfalfa blossoms, which I don’t believe I’ve noticed before. Perhaps they finally won’t mow it this year, but I’m not holding my breath, so if you can find the time, do yourself a favor and go see the spectacle before it is gone.

It’s gonna be a hot one…

My thermometer was reading 80°F at 7 a.m., and the heat index is expected to exceed 100°F later today, so I did my best to get a nice early start in Estabrook Park this morning.

Another upside to chasing the sunrise is that I got to visit our young guest, the immature yellow-crowned night heron, before the crowds arrived to get a look. A couple hours later, as I was making my way back south, Anne caught up to me on her morning walk, and she reported seeing “four or five guys with huge cameras at the north end of the pond.” I sure hope they don’t chase it off before the folks who come to the wildlife walk tomorrow get a chance.

Down on the river, I caught this female belted kingfisher just before she plunged into the water below and then sped off for a different perch, and I bet that exercise feels a whole lot better today than it did last December.

A bit upstream, here’s another mallard hen with her brood of eight, who look a bit older than the four I saw yesterday.

On my way back downstream, I checked on the hummingbird chicks, and you can really see their beaks this time.

The big surprise for the day, however, was finally spotting a brood of wood duck ducklings. Yay! They are tiny, and they were all the way across the river at a wide point, but you can still make out their six little yellow necks and faces.

Another dragonfly has emerged, and this one is a widow skimmer.

Finally, I’ve already seen a few of these tiny summer azure butterflies, and this picture is far from “portrait quality”, but I believe you can see the tip of its abdomen is curved down and pointed at the top of a bud, which suggests to me that it is a she, and she’s laying eggs, which I have not had the privilege of seeing before. For comparison, check out this picture from last Labor Day.

Lastly, as I suggested above, I’ll be back at the weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning, and I hope you’ll join me. To beat the heat, I’ll continue starting at 7 a.m., and I’ll swing by the beer garden parking lot again at 8 a.m. for the folks who can’t make it by 7. Also, if you arrive just a bit late, perhaps due to traffic or whatever, I’ve hidden my phone number in the text of the weekly wildlife walk page, and you can text me to see where we’re hiding.

It feels like summer has finally arrived.

Anne and I made it safely back to Shorewood from BRAW yesterday afternoon, and I was just too lazy to write a “Happy Summer Solstice” post then, but the good news is that I did venture back into Estabrook Park this morning, and look who I found waiting for me at the pond.

When I first spotted this beauty, I figured it was one of the green herons we’ve seen there on and off this spring, but it was less of a fraidy-cat then the green herons have been lately, so I took a closer look. If my identification proves to be correct, this is an immature yellow-crowned night heron, which we have seen at the pond before, but who is considered a rarity for here and now. Once again, wordpress is throttling the image resolution, so if you like to enjoy the details, this is an image worth clicking on.

There was also one wood duck hen at the pond, and here she is checking to see what I might have left for her to eat after she watched me scour the west lawn for discarded fishing tackle and food packaging.

I checked on our ruby-throated hummingbird, of course, and look who I found in the nest instead! Yup, those are the beaks of two hummingbird chicks, and you can even see some of the head feathers at the end of the one on the left, especially if you click on the image so you can zoom in. I never did see Mom, even after a second visit, but on a warm day like today, I suspect the chicks are fine on their own, and she was probably busy collecting nourishment for them and herself. She may also be keeping her distance, now that the need to incubate is over, when someone else is near.

The goslings are almost all starting to get their adult plumage, and I haven’t seen a single wood duck duckling yet, but there are still young mallard ducklings on the river, and here are four of them.

The warm weather has brought with it a veritable explosion of bug life, and I finally spotted my first mourning cloak of the year, but this silver-spotted skipper, also a first for the year, picked a prettier background, which made a much nicer picture.

Finally, the dragonflies are plentiful, and here’s a magnificent common green darner perched on the remains of last year’s weeds along the west side of the soccer fields. This one is also worth a click.

Lastly, as we were packing up our gear yesterday morning for the drive home from Perrot State Park in Trempealeau, this butterfly landed on my shoe and literally dared me to dig out my phone to take its picture. It’s a hackberry emperor, which we have seen before in Estabrook, but only once so far.

As I watched Anne drive up with the rental van we were about to load our bikes into, look who I spotted plodding across the parking lot. I first assumed it was a painted turtle, like the ones we often see in the Estabrook pond, but the yellow striping on its face was swirlier and a paler yellow, and that’s because it is a northern map turtle, which I’ve also only ever seen once before in Estabrook.

I gave it a lift across the parking lot, and here’s a closeup of that pretty face.

I see the weather is forecast to be even warmer tomorrow morning and just as windy, so I wonder who I will find next.

BRAW, Day 5

We made it this afternoon to Perrot State Park, just up the Mississippi from Trempealeau, WI. The total distance was about 260 miles, and the tunnels on the Elroy-Sparta trail were well worth the trip.

My excuse for not posting yesterday is that my battery was dead, and there was no juice at our trailside “campsite”.

My excuse for a short post today is that the connectivity here is sketchy at best.

The good news is that I’ll be back home tomorrow and back in Estabrook Park Saturday morning.

BRAW, Day 3

All is well, but I’m too exhausted to write more of a post than this. I’ll have more time and energy tomorrow.

BRAW, Day 2

After an exciting day of riding, we made it to Smoky Hollow Campground outside of Lodi, WI.

The excitement came in the form of rain, on and off all day, riding down State Street and around the State Capitol in Madison, braking a shift cable on our tandem, and finally hitting hills worthy of the Horribly Hilly or Dairyland Dare.

But, we’re here now, and the nephews are scheming a good route for tomorrow.

So, another absolute favorite critter picture of mine, partly because I had to work so hard to get it, is of this male variable sunbird in Malawi.

If you like to see the details, this is a good image to click on so you zoom in on the original.

We on to Wonewoc tomorrow, so wish us dry skies and no more mechanical issues.

BRAW, day 1

That’s right, I’m on “Bike Ride Across Wisconsin,” with Anne, two of her nephews, and a buddy from the recent Ukraine trip.

After riding 60 miles, we’re camping at Sandhill Station Campground in Lake Mills.

As I mentioned already, I didn’t have room to bring my camera so here’s one of my favorite pictures from a different trip.

This stunning creature is a hoatzin from the Brazilian Amazon forest, which Anne and I were lucky enough to visit back in 2023.

Finally, happy Father’s Day to all the dads out the, including my own. “I hope you had a great one, Dad, and sorry I wasn’t there to celebrate with you.”

Still waiting for summer to arrive…

It was a little warmer this morning than yesterday in Estabrook Park, and the breeze was a little lighter, but the clouds and wildfire smoke still kept the sun from warming things up to summer-time temps.

Nevertheless, critters gotta eat, and so my first treat of the morning was this female northern flicker digging something, probably pavement ants, out of a crack in the asphalt of the paved path.

I did see a kingbird this morning, probably even this kingbird, but it didn’t want any pictures today, so this picture is from yesterday morning in about the same spot.

Out over the river at the north end, this female belted kingfisher appeared to be preening after a bath.

I heard a few red-eyed vireos this morning, but they must be in the same union as the kingbird, so they also stayed out of sight, and this is another picture from yesterday.

The wood duck drakes are starting to molt out of their fancy breeding plumage, and here are a pair up on a rock in the river and starting to look a little frayed around the edges.

The female ruby-throated hummingbird was still on her nest again this morning. Yay!

I’ve shown you a few hoverflies before, but I don’t believe I’ve ever noticed ones this tiny. If my sources are correct, this species is called margined calligrapher (Toxomerus marginatus), and as you can see, they are smaller than a dandelion petal, and this isn’t even a very big dandelion blossom.

This picture might look a little gruesome at first, but it actually shows a fascinating behavior, which I’ve read about before, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen with my own eyes in the wild. Again, if my sources are correct, these are prairie mound ants (Complex Formica fusca) “farming” or “dairying” black bean aphids (Aphis fabae), which means the ants protect them the aphids from predators in exchange for the honeydew they excrete. How amazing is that!?!

Finally, as a pallet cleanser, if you need it, here’s our first American lady butterfly in Estabrook Park for the year.

Okay, time for another bit of news. I’m taking off on a trip again, and it’s just six days, but it is by bicycle, so I won’t be bringing my camera along. Plus, I’ll have to miss another wildlife walk, but I saw that folks logged birds last Monday, the 9th, so I hope that can happen one more time.

Believe me, I realize that two trips back-to-back are a bit suboptimal, but both trips include a slew of people, and these were the dates that worked for everyone’s schedule, so I’m just happy I get to go on both. As before, I’ll post a few pictures to tide you over until I’m back.

A fine welcome home…

We had a nearly-flawless day of travel yesterday, arrived home around 9:30 last evening, and I was able to get back into Estabrook Park early this morning after a pretty good night’s sleep. So, yay! The weather today, on the other hand, was cloudy, cool, and breezy, which isn’t my favorite, and perhaps partially due to Canadian wildfire smoke, but at least it wasn’t raining. So, yay again!

It appears that spring migration has pretty much wrapped up while I was away, and I don’t believe I saw a single bird that still has some more traveling left to do. Luckily, we’re well within the breeding range of yellow warblers, so a few may stick around all summer, and here’s one I found singing by the pond.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I found our female ruby-throated hummingbird still on her nest.

The mallard ducklings have gotten bigger, and here are five, out of eight total, out for breakfast on the river with their mom.

I thought I might have missed snapping-turtle-egg-laying-season, but perhaps the cool spring has held things back a bit, because here’s one trying its best to dig into the gravel beside the river at the north end.

As I’ve learned in the past, it’s just best not to mess with the determination on that face.

The ducklings aren’t the only youngsters growing up, and here are a gaggle of goslings already starting to get their adult plumage in.

I thought I spotted some cliff swallows hunting over the river, along with the northern rough-winged swallows and some tree swallows, so I hiked across the Port Washington Road bridge to check their nests on the south-west side of the Holliday Inn, and sure enough, here’s a swallow appearing to add a dab of mud to one of the nests.

And here’s a second one, at a different nest, appearing to inspect the progress.

Back on our side of the river and on my way south, I found this red squirrel who appeared to be in no hurry to go anywhere.

Finally, when I checked the weeds that grow along the west side of the soccer fields at the south end, I found our first skipper of the year, a Peck’s, as it perched on what appears to be lesser stitchwort (Stellaria graminea) and perhaps tried to soak up what sun it could.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for about more of the same, with maybe a little less breeze, but still no rain, so here’s hoping that I can find as much to show you as I found today.