Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Back in the broiler we go…

The promised heat dome has arrived, but it wasn’t too bad yet when I reached the pond at about 6 this morning. Unfortunately, that’s also when this raccoon decided it was time to amble off to bed, and this is the best look it let me have.

Happily, this great blue heron is not nocturnal and was still looking for its breakfast, so I had plenty of time if I managed not to scare it off. They’ve been quite skittish on the pond so far this year, but perhaps this one felt safe in the cover of those reeds.

When I got to the river, I was thrilled to see a turkey on the far riverbank again, and thank goodness it was less successful at hiding in the grass than the heron was.

The treat of the morning came on the river bottom, which is become more exposed every day, around the islands. As has become the norm lately, I was checking for spotted or least sandpipers, and I thought this little cutie was one of the former, ‘cause it was way too big to be one of the latter, but it didn’t look quite right. It was a little taller and its beak was a little longer.

Well, I hope you’ll be as thrilled to learn as I was, that this is because it’s our first solitary sandpiper of the fall migration. We last saw one at the end of May, just 52 days ago, but that’s about 7.5 weeks, and I read that their breeding season is only “about 6 to 8 weeks, running from late May through mid-July,” so this one is right on schedule. “Safe travels, Sweetie, and give my best to the Gulf of Mexico when you fly over.”

Back on shore, the warm morning had the butterflies out nice and early, and here’s a clouded sulphur appearing to sip dew from the leaf on which it is perched.

Farther downstream, a nice patch of swamp milkweed is coming into bloom, and here’s a western honeybee sipping up that sweet nectar.

Finally, in scene I look forward to seeing for much of the summer, here’s a monarch sampling the thistle nectar in the weeds beside the soccer fields.

In case you’re wondering, I did receive an email reminder late this morning that the Friends of Estabrook Picnic is still on for 5-7:30 this afternoon in the Estabrook Park Beer Garden, so wear something cool and come on out to join us for an ice-cold refreshment. It’ll probably be too warm for cheese and crackers, so I’m gonna try bringing cookies to share this time.

It’s sure starting to feel like peak summer…

The heat dome is back, with temps well into the 90s this afternoon, and it was already warm enough during our weekly wildlife walk this morning, for this great blue heron on the river to be demonstrating its gular fluttering to keep cool.

The recent high water from heavy rains up north, which was just high enough to cover much of the exposed river bottom, has started to recede, and I was happy that shorebirds are returning so I could show the gang one of the least sandpipers that I’ve been seeing lately.

Most of the goslings have switched to the classic black, white, and brown pattern of Canada geese by now and look like young adults, but the one surviving gosling of the late brood on the pond is still sporting the fuzzy yellow feathers of a youngster.

The Carolina grasshoppers, aka “road-dusters”, which “ride out the Wisconsin winter exclusively as eggs buried in the soil,” have finally reached adult form, just in time for this heat wave, and fled before my feet every time I strode along the gravel path through the meadow at the north end. Seeing them fly, hearing the dog-day cicadas starting to sing, and feeling the heat of the sun sure make it feel like peak summer.

When I first saw this damselfly, I got all excited because it looked jet black but not shiny black like the ebony jewel wings I’ve seen, so I thought it might be a new species for us. When I took a picture, however, and overexposed it enough to bring out the color, I could see that it was just another one of our old pals, the American rubyspots. Oh well. It’s a pretty picture anyway.

This beauty, on the other hand, which we saw by the beer garden as soon as the 7 am group headed our, is out first summer azure of the year. I read that they survive the winter as pupae, in their chrysalises, and enter a state of suspended animation, called “diapause“, by “drastically lowering their metabolism and producing specialized sugars and proteins that act as natural antifreeze.” I’m sure glad to see that it worked!

Finally, here’s another red admiral in the weeds beside the soccer field, but this time showing us a little of the beautiful dorsal side of its wings and perched on a thistle blossom instead of just a green leaf.

I haven’t heard word that the Friends of Estabrook picnic at the beer garden has been canceled for tomorrow evening, so I still plan on being there. Join me if you can.

Back after a day of playing hooky…

I never did manage to write something for you yesterday, as I had promised, and I apologize for that. I had gone to the dragon boat races in the Lakeshore State Park inlet, as part of the Friends of Lakeshore State Park team, “Fishful Thinking”, and it ended up taking up most of the day, which I had not anticipated. The fun news is that we got faster in every heat and ended up winning our division, in case that’s any consolation.

Anyway, I did make it back into Estabrook Park today, and it was a spectacular morning, but it seemed as though the wildlife was miffed about me skipping yesterday. I only managed a couple of bird pictures, and that was from across the river. Here’s a great blue heron that was just too busy preening to give us a look.

And here’s an osprey that was too busy looking for fish to look our way.

I didn’t see the kingfishers at all today, but here’s one more picture from Friday, when they were in a better mood.

Here’s an eastern amberwing dragonfly on the pond from Thursday.

Here’s another question mark butterfly, also from Thursday.

One butterfly who did strike a nice pose this morning, because it hadn’t heard about my transgression or it simply didn’t care, was this pretty hackberry emperor.

Finally, here’s a gorgeous American lady butterfly from Friday.

I see that it is forecast to be warmer tomorrow morning but otherwise just as nice as today, and I don’t have any conflicts on my calendar, so I’ll be there for the weekly wildlife walk, at 7 and again at 8 am, and here’s hoping that the critters will have forgiven me by then and come out for some pictures.

If, on the other hand, you are not so forgiving and would like to tell me about it in person, you can find me at the Friends of Estabrook picnic in the beer garden from 5-7:30 pm on Tuesday. I’ll even buy you a beer.

A nice day for number 350…

It was a gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park, with temps in the 60s for the first time since I don’t know when, mostly clear skies, and nearly still air.

I watched this beauty fly by as I crossed the ball field on the way from the pond to the river. They’re not very comfortable at the pond yet, but they’ve become pretty common on the river, and I could count five today on the far riverbank as I stood on the boardwalk.

As we’ve already discussed, the belted kingfishers have been pretty scarce this summer, but we had two visitors today, and the mix of blue and red feathers on the breast along with the “sort of new at this” behavior suggest to me that they were youngsters. “Welcome to Estabrook! Make yourself comfortable and stay a while.”

Speaking of “new at this”, here’s another batch of mallard ducklings that look fresh out of the incubator.

Meanwhile, the fawn on the island was getting breakfast on its own and starting to look a little grown up, except for the spots, which usually don’t fade until “late summer or early fall.”

It’s a little too soon for cedar waxwing fledglings, so this one can’t use that excuse for why it let me get an uncharacteristically nice portrait. Maybe the bug hunting was just so good out over the river that it was in an especially good mood. “Thanks, you handsome devil!”

I took this next picture earlier in the morning, by the pond, but the tradition has become to save the bugs for last, so here it is. Long-time readers may see the similarity to one of my favorites, the snowberry clearwing, but this one is sure not sipping nectar from a bee balm blossom. Instead, this is my very first Nessus Sphinx moth (Amphion floridensis), and it is exhibiting behavior that I read is called “‘carrion feeding,’ where it absorbs moisture, essential salts, and amino acids from decaying matter,” which is the carcass of a young raccoon in this instance. I normally don’t include pictures of the carcasses I encounter, as you may have realized, but all you can see is the fur of this one, and this is the very first Nessus Sphinx moth I’ve ever seen, so who knows when, if ever, I might see the next one. Plus, this will be the 350th animal I’ve gotten to log in the not-very-scientific index I keep on the website, so there’s no way I could leave it out.

Okay, now for a simpler pretty picture to act as a visual sorbet. I’ve glimpsed a few red admiral butterflies already this year, and even taken a couple of bad pictures, but this is the first one that gave us a nice pose since last October.

Tomorrow morning I’ve got a very early appointment with a boat, so I won’t be able to visit Estabrook, but I’ll post something to keep you going until Sunday.

Several nice surprises…

It was a dark morning in Estabrook Park, but the predicted storms never materialized, though it did sprinkle a bit, and the air stayed pretty still, so it was a nice enough time to look for wildlife.

My first surprise was finding this young-looking great blue heron with a crayfish just below the falls, and it may have been as surprised as I was. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that combination before.

Yesterday’s plethora of shorebirds around the islands upriver has subsided, and I only saw this one least sandpiper today, in addition to a couple of spotted sandpipers and killdeer. It sure was fun for a while, though!

The mallard ducklings continue to grow up, and this trio looks like middle schoolers.

These wood ducks, on the other hand, look like high schoolers.

The big surprise of today, however, was brought to my attention by a noisy mob of crows, and it’s the first great horned owl I’ve seen in the park since back in February. “Welcome back, Gorgeous!” Once I finally spotted the bird, I had to back up so I could fit it all in the frame, and if you’re a detail lover, as you know I am, this image will be worth your click.

Since I’ve got a little room left today, here’s one more look at the doe and fawn from Sunday. The kid looks like it still wants to play, but mom looks like she might be done.

Finally, here’s a crescent butterfly from the still-unmowed weed patch at the north end yesterday, when the sun was out.

Lastly, as I was cleaning up after some anglers, I found that they left me a little thank you gift. Sweet! That’s the first white Russian anyone’s ever left me, and it’s chillin’ in my fridge as I write this.

As of now, we’re forecast to be done with this leaky weather by tomorrow morning, so viewing should be good, and I wonder who I’ll see next. Tune in to find out.

A shorebird bonanza!

The day has gotten pretty warm out by now, but conditions were quite pleasant in Estabrook Park right after sunrise.

We still have a few broods of ducklings on the river, although they mostly look like teenagers these days, and here’s a sextet of mallards just above the falls. The second one from the left looks like it’s telling its siblings to “just be cool.”

The big surprise for today was the plethora of shorebirds on the river between the islands. There were at least two killdeer, which has become pretty common lately.

There were eight spotted sandpipers, which I could all see at the same time, and which is certainly the highest count I’ve ever had.

Best of all, merely because this is only their fifth visit, least sandpipers were back, and I was thrilled to see these four (the fourth one is hunkered down a bit on the right side of the image), but when they all decided to take off, it turns out that there were ten of them! That makes twenty shorebirds in all, which is just fantastic!

Even this great blue heron was amazed!

Our weed meadow at the north end remains unmowed, and I counted five butterfly species, but the best pictures didn’t come until the weeds beside the soccer fields, where there are still Halloween pennant dragonflies hanging out.

And the monarchs are still sipping nectar from thistle blossoms.

It looks like we’re in for some precipitation overnight, but that should dry up by morning, and I can’t wait to see who’s on the river tomorrow.

Point Beach State Forest!

We did break camp today and safely delivered the grandson to his mom early this afternoon, with only a few “mystery” bites under his shirt. We speculated at length about who might have caused them, but Anne was sure that it was none of my suggestions, and the best we could surmise is that it probably wasn’t anybody too dangerous.

On to the more-photogenic wildlife! After I returned from the library yesterday afternoon, where I had gone to tell you about my morning, Anne told me she had found a pollinator garden not too far from our site, so I went to check it out. The garden was nice, but I wasn’t seeing anyone new until this cutie caught my eye at the edge of the woods just beyond the garden. That’s a hooded warbler, and long-time readers may recall that I was able to show you one from Belize last fall, and I’ve heard them in Estabrook, but they have evaded my camera there so far. “I’ll catch you there someday, you little rascal!”

This morning, I paid another visit to the impoundment, and my first surprise was finding that the least sandpiper had been replaced by this lesser yellowlegs. Ha!

The wigeon had been replaced by this green-winged teal. It was quite the game of switcheroo.

The canvasback drake was still there and had been joined by a hen, but their pictures were even worse than yesterday’s. Instead, the best picture I managed at the impoundment this morning was this ruddy duck drake. I’ve seen them in Connecticut, Port Washington, and Horicon Marsh, but they’ve made like the hooded warbler and have kept me waiting in Estabrook.

On my way back to our campsite, I stopped at the Little Manitowoc Slough again, and this time it was an eastern kingbird that posed like a pro.

This barn swallow didn’t do to bad either, but I could tell that my proximity was starting to make it nervous, so I backed off and left it alone after this picture.

Finally, after I got back to our site, and we had everything packed up, there was plenty of time for another visit to the pollinator garden, and the star of the show today was this male ruby-throated hummingbird.

Then it was time to head home. The end.

Manitowoc!

Yes, that’s the same Manitowoc as in Charlie Berens’ “Manitowoc Minute”. Ya see, Anne promised the grandson an overnight camping trip, she opted to host it this week at Point Beach State Forest, in Two Rivers, and I got to go with. Then, when I was looking for where I might find some interesting wildlife to show you, I learned about the Manitowoc Impoundment. Please note that I wrote “impoundment” not “impound lot”, and that’s because it is a Confined Disposal Facility for sediment dredged from Manitowoc harbor and not a lot for towed cars. Phew! Right? Anyway, when they were done dredging, they finished it off with a nice little pond and wetland that appears to attract birds from miles around, and that’s where I went first thing this morning.

The first bird I noticed, because how could I miss it, was the American white pelican, and not only was there a bunch of them, but they kept coming and going like jumbo jets at JFK. Here’s one on short final with flaps and gear already down.

The star of the show, for me at least, was this canvasback drake (Aythya valisineria). As with Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee, the lighting can be a challenge early in the morning, but this is the very first canvasback I’ve ever seen, so I was thrilled just to get a picture good enough for a positive ID, and I’ll leave the portrait for another day.

There were plenty of mallards there, which should come as no surprise, and one hen even had a trio of fresh ducklings, but what I didn’t expect was watching her catch and gulp down a nice little fish. I’ve seen wood ducks do that plenty of times in Estabrook, but I’ve never caught a mallard doing that, until now. Live and learn, right?

The next big surprise was spotting this American wigeon drake. We’ve seen them in Estabrook, but not in the middle of the summer, so eBird considers this one to be “rare” for this location on this date. Ha!

I thought he had a pair of hens with him, but my editor pointed out that, while those are indeed hens, they are gadwall hens, and not wigeons at all. Sheesh! It was turning into quite the menagerie.

I eventually had to tear myself away and get back to the campsite before Anne reported me missing, and on my way back to the mainland, I checked the gulls on the beach, as one does. Well, one of them did not look like all the others, and that’s because it’s our first Bonaparte’s gull since last summer in Oak Creek.

Finally, there were a couple of martin houses there, but they appeared to be unoccupied. On my drive back to Two Rivers, however, I noticed another one at the Little Manitowoc Slough, and look at the gorgeous creature I found perched there with a bunch of its housemates.

We’re camping one more night and then driving back to Milwaukee tomorrow. I’m sure I will be able to get out in the morning, but I don’t know when I’ll get to show and tell you what I saw, so tomorrow’s post might be delayed a bit. Don’t worry, though, I’ll get to it eventually.

Starting off our next half-century in style!

Estabrook Park was cool, cloudy, and quiet this morning. The first two are simply weather conditions, of course, and quite welcome after the week we’ve had, but the third is perhaps due to folks celebrating our 250th anniversary a lot harder that I thought they would.

In any case, now that the celebration is over, the fawn, whom we haven’t seen in a while, took the opportunity to step out into the open for a change.

Mom ventured out soon after, and she spotted me right away, but seemed comfortable with the distance I was at. “Don’t worry, Sweetie. I’ll be cool.”

The fawn seemed oblivious, or simply couldn’t help itself, and proceeded to scamper around on the exposed river bottom.

After a bit, the youngster appeared to ask Mom if she wanted to join in the fun, …

and it turned out she was game. Excellent!

She seemed to really get into it, too.

Then the fawn seemed beside itself with glee and raced around for a bit more on its own.

Good job, Mom.

Oh, before I forget, I won’t be able to make the wildlife walk tomorrow morning, but please don’t let my absence stop you from getting out to take a look for yourself. I’ll be back for next Monday.

A few holiday surprises…

The first fun surprise today was finding a quartet of least sandpipers on the exposed river bottom around the upstream island. We haven’t seen them since last spring, and they must have been quite hungry because they were hustling around much more than the spotted sandpipers or killdeer usually do. Luckily, I was able to catch this one standing still for a moment.

The rough-winged swallows were in the same tree but on a different branch today, , which enabled me to get a closer look.

I didn’t see a single goose yesterday, so I was glad to find this nice gaggle on my way back downstream today, but I was even gladder to spot a few wood duck ducklings trying to take a nap right in the middle of them. If you don’t see them, look closer. They’re right in the middle of the picture.

This image is actually from yesterday, but I wanted to confirm my identification before I showed you. Today, however, I’m thrilled to announce that this really is our very first black-and-gold bumble bee (Bombus auricomus) and our eighth bumble bee species in Estabrook. Woo hoo!

Finally, if I had to guess, the first brood of monarch butterflies that hatched in Wisconsin this year is just now emerging from their chrysalises because, after I have failed to capture a single one on film yet this year, there were suddenly three shiny, new individuals leisurely sipping nectar from the thistle blossoms beside the southern soccer fields. At last!

I see that the heat wave must really be over, at least in Estabrook Park, because it’s supposed to be in the 60s tomorrow morning and then only in the 70s later in the day, and I can’t wait to see who that brings out.