Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

All kinds of treats to see today…

Sorry for the delay. It was a stupendous morning to return to Estabrook Park, despite the storms overnight, but it’s been a busy afternoon. The breeze was light, the air was warm, the sky was mostly clear, and there were plenty of lake flies in the air, so conditions were ideal for finding new arrivals.

I see that the wildlife walkers already noticed an uptick in the number of ruby-crowned kinglets yesterday, but I suspect that even more flew in since then, because I counted at least four dozen today. They were everywhere, and with that many subjects to choose from, I’d be embarrassed if I didn’t have at least one presentable picture to show you.

Other new arrivals, which may have snuck in after yesterday’s walk, were eastern towhees, and I counted at least four. This handsome devil is the one that selected the nicest background.

Although they are still considered “rare” for Milwaukee this early in the season, we had our third palm warbler sighting.

This next bird, a green-winged teal drake, is not technically “rare”, but they sure are infrequent in Estabrook and another first for the year.

In case all the grebes look the same to you, a pied-billed grebe has joined the horned grebe around the islands in the river, and here they are trying to take their naps together. The pied-billed is on the left and in front, and the horned is on the right and in back.

Finally, we’ve seen turtles for a while already this spring, but today I saw my first snapping turtle for the year. It is wild to contemplate that they were in their present form and already 24 million years old when the Chicxulub asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago.

Well, the National Weather Service has just issued a tornado warning for our area, so I’d better wrap this up. Hopefully, things will be fine, and I’ll have another post for you by tomorrow.

Dallas wraps up with quite the flourish…

I woke up nice and early for my free day today, and I was greeted by the sound of rain on my windowpane. Ugh! Even worse, I checked the radar online, and Dallas appeared to be under a huge green blob that wouldn’t drift away until the afternoon. Argh! That was not what I had ordered at all.

When it became light enough outside to suggest that the sun had risen, however, it was no longer raining, and since I had no better idea, I grabbed my gear, hopped in my rental, and drove to a spot reputed to be one of the best birding locations in Dallas, “White Rock Lake & Old Fish Hatchery“.

It felt like I was at a zoo! I counted twelve (12!) black-crowned night herons. They were just standing around on a huge spillway at the south end of the lake, and here’s one of them.

There were so many, in fact, that one pissed off a great blue heron, who dramatically expressed its displeasure.

I saw eight great egrets fly over, but I was more excited to see my first snowy egret ever in the US.

I was there for nearly three hours, and it never did rain, but I finally tore myself away so that I would have time to visit another nearby hot spot: Harry Moss Park. There, it did rain a bit, but I had my umbrella, and I finally saw my first ducklings of the year, these cute little mallards taking a nap under Mom’s watchful eye.

There was even a tufted titmouse, which I’ve shown you already from Connecticut, and which has been reported in Estabrook, but I have yet to see. I’m making a point now to photograph them every time I hear them so that when I do get the chance in Estabrook, I’ll be ready.

Finally, I saw this beauty earlier in the morning, back at the White Rock spillway, but I saved the picture for last because it is so amazing. I was just walking up the path beside the spillway, and I noticed a slight movement behind the chain-link fence they put up to keep us from falling in. Once I saw what it was, I froze and held my breath as I brought my camera to bear.

Kitty hardly moved, however, and we just stared at each other through the fence for a minute, although as I write this, I can see that it isn’t even looking at me in this picture. I was so preoccupied with making sure that I captured a nice image through the fence and brush, that I didn’t take the time to see what it might have been looking at. Maybe it was also preoccupied by something, because it even let me take a step-or-two forward so that I could frame its whole face in a single gap in the fence.

When it did start to move, it did so nice and slowly, and for a tenth of a second, I thought it might come over to rub against my leg, it seemed so calm. Alas, that was not to be, and instead, it merely ducked under a gap in the fence, made sure the coast was otherwise clear, trotted across the path not even ten feet away from me, and disappeared into the brush on the other side.

In case you haven’t recognized it yet, because its non-house-cat features are not obvious in this picture, this is only the second bobcat I’ve ever seen. Now how’s that for a Texas-sized sendoff?

If everything goes according to plan, I’ll catch my flight home early Monday morning and arrive back in Milwaukee before this post goes live, early in the afternoon. I should be back in Estabrook Park Tuesday morning to resume our regularly scheduled programming.

Day 3 in the Lone Star State…

Well, yesterday was quite a day at the ASME Human Powered Vehicle competition here in Dallas, TX. Things got off to a great start in the 2.5-hour endurance race, and the UWM team was doing well, but then a component in the tilting mechanism broke. Happily, we managed to “fix” it with copious use of cable ties, and we were back in the race. Then it started to pour, but the students all kept going. Finally, the chain derailed, somehow wrapped around the wheel, tore the derailleur off the frame, put a huge gash in the tire, and that really cooked our goose. Oh well. The students learned a ton, seemed to have fun, and are excitedly talking about what to do differently next year. Mission accomplished, right?

Anyway, speaking of geese, I could hear some of you grousing that the gosling I showed you yesterday looked a bit grown up, and you’d love to see some freshly hatched ones, so here you go.

I see that chipping sparrows are starting to show up in the Milwaukee area, but I haven’t seen one in Estabrook yet this year, so here’s one of the little cuties from Dallas.

We do get to see cedar waxwings in Estabrook all year, though much less often in the winter, but how could I resist taking a picture of these two beauties?

I know I’ve already shown you a mockingbird on this trip, but this one was posing so nicely that I thought one more couldn’t hurt, right?

The fun treat of yesterday morning, before the race got underway, was spotting a couple of eastern meadowlarks. We’ve seen them in various locales in the Milwaukee area, but not yet in Estabrook. The pale underside on this one marks it as a youngster, and it seemed very curious about, but not alarmed by, the old guy peeking over the top of the hill.

Finally, here’s a striking little butterfly I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before, which my sources tell me is a common checkered-skipper (Burnsius communis).

Lastly, I took the liberty of scheduling myself a free day before I fly back home, but the weather forecast is a little iffy, so here’s hoping that I can find something interesting or pretty to show you to make it worth our whiles.

Day 2 in D-town…

The human-powered vehicle competition got underway on the Dallas College, Richland Campus yesterday morning, but before the students all arrived with their contraptions, I had a couple hours to myself to see what wildlife might also be making their home there.

They have a nice water feature running through the middle of the campus, so we shouldn’t be surprised to find Canada geese there, and given how far ahead of ours their spring it, of course they have goslings.

There are also plenty of trees, so squirrels should also not be a surprise, but if you look closely, this one has a yellow tinge to its underside, and that, along with their slightly larger size, which is hard to see in this picture, makes them eastern fox squirrels. Fun! I’ve only been able to show you one once before, from Colorado, and I only saw the one there, but here, they are everywhere.

I heard killdeer calling, but I also saw a bunch of starlings, which mimic killdeer like crazy in Estabrook, so I was skeptical. When I crossed a parking lot, however, sure enough, there were three killdeer, and they were quite bold, so here’s a nice portrait of one.

Also in that parking lot, I could hear a yellow-rumped warbler, and there weren’t many trees there in which it could hide, so here’s another nice look.

As I continued to try to get across that lot, suddenly a small flock of shorebirds swooped in, and they turned out to be least sandpipers, which I’ve only seen a couple of times in Estabrook. Sadly, they soon realized that “this isn’t sand!”, and they quickly continued on their way.

Then the show really got started. I had noticed a couple of scissor-tailed flycatchers flitting about, but they often flew up to perch at the top of some very tall light poles. Happily, for us at least, they eventually noticed each other, and it appears that there is some dispute between them, perhaps about territory or mates, because they really got into it.

The good news, for us at least, is that their kerfuffle led to sights like this. Holy smokes, right! I’ve seen some fancy birds before, and I’ve seen some fancy displays, but this might be the best combination of the two I’ve seen so far.

Then the students started to arrive, I helped our team reassemble their vehicle, and they performed well in the safety inspection and drag race. Today is the endurance race, but before that gets underway, I’ll get a second chance to stroll around the campus, so wish me luck!

Day 1 in The Big D…

I had a nice and uneventful trip to Dallas yesterday, and I got in early enough to stop at a park on my way to my hotel. The first bird who would sit for a picture was this northern mockingbird, which hasn’t been reported in Estabrook Park since 2021, and I’ve never seen there, but I do get to see pretty often in Connecticut.

The Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) were pretty noisy, and this one stood still long enough for a picture. It appears that one has never been reported in all of Wisconsin, but I did see one in Illinois when Anne and I drove down to see the eclipse a couple of years ago, and somehow I never showed you. Sorry!

The star of the show, for me at least, has got to be this amazing scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), the first one I’ve ever captured on film. I searched for them in Nicaragua, and I glimpsed one a couple of times, but none ever perched on a wire in the open for me like this. Wow!

Finally, the cherry on top was this gorgeous variegated fritillary butterfly, which we only saw in Estabrook for the first time last summer. Woo hoo!

Alrighty, the students also made it safely down to Texas last evening, and I hope they got a good night’s sleep, so that they’re ready for the first day of the human-powered vehicle competition today. Wish us luck, cause I bet we’re gonna need it!

A few pictures to tide you over…

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m traveling today to support the UWM ASME Human Powered Vehicle student organization I advise, as they take their vehicle to an in-person competition this weekend for the first time since before the pandemic. Hurray for them!

Anyway, it looks gorgeous outside as I type this, but I don’t dare take the time to venture into Estabrook Park, so here are a few pictures I haven’t shown you yet. In addition to all the mergansers, our resident horned grebe was still on the river yesterday, and here it is, before the sun came out from behind the clouds, taking a moment to maintain those feathers.

And here’s another look at the belted kingfisher at the pond, from the side this time so you can see some of that rusty belly band that marks her as a she.

Finally, the day was so pretty yesterday afternoon, I took a moment to check on the great horned owl I showed you last week, and she’s still parked on her nest. I sure hope we get to see a fuzzy little face poking out from there soon.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for today, and I hope to have something to show you from Texas by tomorrow. Wish me luck!

One last winter scare, or so we can hope…

It started out as a cold, wet, and windy morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it didn’t snow, and the wet, along with the clouds that brought it, soon blew away. Better yet, it might have been the threat of snow that brought us a resurgence in winter waterfowl. We had a half dozen red-breasted mergansers on the river around the islands, and here’s an immature male.

There was also a trio of hooded mergansers, and at least two of them look like non-breeding males.

We even had a lone female common merganser.

By the time I reached the pond, the sun was starting to light things up, and it was just in time for this female belted kingfisher portrait.

By the time I was back at the south end, the sky was nice and blue, which made a great background for this male house finch that was nibbling on that bud of tree leaves in front of it.

Finally, I heard a few winter wrens today, but none came out for pictures, so here’s one more look at the one from yesterday.

Lastly, I’ve gotta take a quick work trip tomorrow, and I probably won’t get to visit Estabrook before I go, but I’ll sift through the archives for some nice old pictures to show you until I can take some fresh ones.

Lots of little beauties…

The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was similar to yesterday, but a little colder and a little less windy, which is a trade I’ll make any day, especially when the sky is clear. My hike upstream along the river was pleasant but uneventful, and when I climbed up onto the bluff at the beer garden, a kind passerby alerted me to an eastern bluebird just a bit farther north.

We had heard one yesterday, but we could not get eyes on it, and I didn’t want to miss it again, so I hustled right over there. I did spot it right away, hurray, and I did take a safety picture, just in case, but before I could get a portrait lined up, this darling yellow-bellied sapsucker presented a shot I just couldn’t pass up.

Then, I was back to the bluebird, but once again, I got an offer I couldn’t refuse when this kestrel, our first of the year in Estabrook, flew across the field to the big oak tree between the playground and the beer garden. I had to get south of it, of course, so the light would be good, and that’s when I discovered that it was busily defeathering some small bird it had just caught. If you zoom in (click on the image to view it in flickr), you can see it has a beak full of feathers. The reason it is looking upwards, instead of at me, is because the top of the tree is full of grackles that appeared to have opinions to share about raptors consuming songbirds in their neighborhood.

Anyway, I eventually returned to the bluebird, and I thanked my lucky stars that it must have found the hunting good enough just where it was, because it was still there after all those distractions. So, here it is, our first eastern bluebird of the year in Estabrook. “Good morning, Beautiful!”

With that finally handled, I continued on to the islands in the river, but I couldn’t find any of our winter visitors today. Instead, the most exciting sight was another flight of cormorants heading to the lake.

Back on shore, and a lot closer to the ground, one of the half-dozen winter wrens I’ve been hearing or glimpsing throughout the park finally relented and let us get a real nice look at it. “Hello, you feisty little cutie!”

At the pond, I was a little relieved to finally see some dark-eyed juncos, which I had begun to fear had all flown north for the summer.

Lastly, the hermit thrushes are as thick as ever right now, and here’s one, but soon they will be outnumbered by Swainson’s thrushes. Thus, as with the juncos and winter wrens, we’d better enjoy them while they’re here.

It appears that our weather rollercoaster is heading next towards another another windy, cloudy, and possibly rainy morning, but at least it will be warmer that today, so that’s something, I guess.

Plenty of happy sights to go around…

It was a pretty morning in Estabrook Park, with clear skies and seasonably cool temps, but we could have used a little less of that stiff breeze out of the north. Luckily, there are plenty of places for us and the critters to get out of that breeze and let the bright sun warm us up. We had a nice turnout for the wildlife walk with five regulars and three newbies, and we opted to check out the river first. There, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the horned grebe is still with us. Sweet!

The big surprise, however, which Jenny and Barb claimed to have found together, was another palm warbler. The folks at ebird still considers them rare for this date, so it was a nice treat for the whole group. In the picture below, you can see that it even just caught a fly, so it’s not going hungry. Yay, and thanks to Jenny and Barb!

When we were done chasing the palm with our binoculars and cameras, we climbed back up onto the bluff just in time to spot a flock of about 30 double-crested cormorants fly pretty low right over our heads. As we were trying to determine just how many we saw, another, larger flock, which we estimated at 60 birds, followed right behind the first. Even better, we watched as a handful peeled off, circled the island a couple of times, and landed on the river. I raced back down to try for a picture, but they didn’t stay long, and all I was able to capture was them taking back off again.

Next, we headed for the pond, and there I finally managed to sneak our first picture for the year of a ruby-crowned kinglet. It didn’t give us a glimpse of its ruby crown, but that white eye-ring is a sure giveaway.

The other nice surprise at the pond was finding both the male belted kingfisher …

and the female, so we have a hope of seeing young kingfishers, once they fledge, on the river this summer. Woo hoo! As you can see, neither one was allowing portraits today, but we should have all summer for that.

Finally, there were four pairs of wood ducks floating around, and here’s a drake catching that morning sunlight just right. In fact, if you zoom in on his cheek (click on the image to view it in flickr), you can see he’s got a tiny fly catching a ride, and I’m sure there are plenty of kinglets and a few warblers who would love to help him with that.

I’ll be out next Monday, but John Kasper told me this morning that he’ll be there, and he’ll be happy to lead around any wildlife walkers that care to join him.

Happy Pascha, for those who celebrate.

It was cool, windy, and cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it wasn’t raining. When I saw this eastern cottontail, I thought it would make a nice picture for today, but it appeared to want no part of that, and this is the best it would let me have.

Meanwhile, this muskrat, just a bit upstream, made its best cute pose and let me take all the pictures I wanted, as if to ask, “what am I? Chopped liver? Why do rabbits, black cats, reindeer, and even groundhogs get to be holiday mascots, but muskrats get nuthin’? That just doesn’t seem fair.” The best reply I could think of was, “sorry, little buddy, but be careful what you wish for.”

A bit farther upstream, I was thrilled to capture a yellow-rumped warbler picture for you, at last. It’s no portrait, but it does show the three yellow patches: “rump”, side, and top of the head.

By the time I was making my way to the pond, the clouds were starting to break up, but I could find no sign of the rusty blackbirds today. Instead, these two male northern flickers were putting on their own show, and it appeared to be some kind of highly choreographed duel.

Here they are squared off again after a brief tussle, which I failed to capture, of course.

Anyway, the best treat of the morning, for me at least, was finally getting eyes on a female belted kingfisher. We’ve been seeing the male for a while, but without a female around, he might move on, and we could be stuck with no kingfishers for the summer. Heaven forfend!

Despite the beautiful blue sky we got this afternoon, the forecast for tomorrow morning looks like a return to the recent norm, but at least it’s not supposed to be below freezing nor raining, so come on out for our weekly wildlife walk and help me find the next new arrival.