Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Rain, rain, go away…

Sheesh, it’s been raining pretty steadily all day, so far, but there was a little gap just after sunrise, during which I did try to sneak into Estabrook Park. Needless to say, I only captured a couple of very dark, very grainy pictures, and I got soaked, too boot. Oof!

Luckily for you, however, the month of May has been otherwise so fruitful, that I still have some pictures that I don’t believe I’ve shown you yet.

Here’s one of the great horned owls on last Tuesday, another rainy day, and almost directly overhead, so definitely on our side of the river.

Here’s another look at that Baltimore oriole from Saturday, a cloudy and breezy day, who uncharacteristically posed and eventually sang for me.

Here’s an indigo bunting from the same day.

Here’s another look at that common yellowthroat on last Thursday, the cloudy day, who was far more interested in that worm he was smashing into submission to pay any attention to me.

Finally, here’s a tiny bee from Saturday, who is barely bigger than a single garlic mustard blossom, and iNaturalist suggests that it might be a Carlin’s mining bee (Andrena carlini).

Don’t worry. I patiently waited until the bee was done mining all the nectar and pollen it wanted, and then I carefully pulled up the garlic mustard, to get the taproot, pulled off the flowers and crushed them so they can’t go to seed even once the plant is pulled, and tossed it all on the paved path to be further ground by foot traffic. If that sounds a little harsh, perhaps you haven’t yet seen how garlic mustard choaks out all the native plants in its path and leaves nothing but a field of dried stalks full of seeds by mid-July.

Yes, buckthorn is bad, too, of course, but at least I see birds use it for cover all the time and eat its fruits all winter. On the other hand, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a critter get anything out of garlic mustard.

Anyway, your blossom of the day, about which I hope you can be glad, if iNaturalist’s identification is correct, is this pretty, native smooth yellow violet (Viola eriocarpa).

Rained on, but not out…

Well, the pouring down rain has arrived, but it held off until nearly 8:30 this morning, so I had plenty of time to look for wildlife in Estabrook Park. What I didn’t have, however. is enough light to take decent photographs, so here are some more recent pictures that didn’t make the first cut.

A huge treat of yesterday morning was spotting our first beaver in a while. It was swimming upstream beside the near riverbank, and once I spotted it, I ran ahead to have my camera ready when it approached. Here it is climbing over something submerged, probably just a rock.

As I made my way to the parking lot by the beer garden to meet folks for our wildlife walk, the trees beside the river were thick with warblers, and here’s a male American redstart.

Here’s a male magnolia warbler.

And here’s a female black-throated green warbler.

After the walk and on my way home, I was thrilled to find a pair of great blue herons fishing in the river at the far south end. Here’s the one that posed in front of the nicer background.

Finally, here’s another look at the sandhill cranes from Waterford on Sunday. Yes, yes, I should have closed the aperture a bit to get both birds in focus, but I didn’t think of that at the time. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Lastly, your blossom of the day is this May apple, also from Waterford. I am beginning to see them open in Estabrook, but it is always dark when I spot one, and I vow to take their picture later in the day, but I always forget.

A threefer, but in a good way…

As I mentioned might be possible yesterday, I did manage to sneak into Estabrook before we had to head downtown for a graduation ceremony, and I even took some pictures.

First up is this northern waterthrush who was finally ready to pose for my camera. Sure, the light was poor, so whatever you do, don’t zoom in on the image, but you gotta admit, that sure was a nice pose.

Although we are squarely in their year-round range, cedar waxwings make themselves pretty scarce over the winter, and I haven’t managed to get a picture of one since early last December, but they’re back now, Baby, and here’s one munching on some fruit tree blossoms.

In addition to the waterthrush, there were also plenty of colorful warblers, too, and here’s a gorgeous Blackburnian letting us have a little better look than last week.

After the graduation ceremony, we all went out to Anne’s mom’s place in Waterford to celebrate, and while I was waiting for folks to arrive, I took a look around. As usual, there were some sandhill cranes gleaning whatever seeds they could from the fields, but this time, they put on a little airshow, too.

The horned larks are back, as well, and here’s one blending into the background, despite its distinct yellow chin and short black bib.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, and I hung up my windbreaker, I saw my poofy coat, which I haven’t had to wear in a while, and I thought to myself how I never know at the time when I’m wearing it for its last outing of the season. Then I checked the weather forecast for this morning. Yikes! Temps in the low 40s, thick cloud cover, and a stiff wind that pushed the windchill temps down into the low 30s! What the heck month is this, anyway?

Happily, the weather didn’t stop people from joining our weekly wildlife walk, though John Kasper did pull on a sweatshirt, and we had our biggest crowd yet, with 15 folks, if you count me. Despite the cold, we counted 61 bird species, including 14 warblers, across three checklists; the 7 a.m. crew, the 8 a.m. crew, and the combined crew; which is also a new record for us. Woo Hoo!

Here’s a darling female bay-breasted warbler.

A female indigo bunting.

And here’s a bunch of goslings, in which one does not look like the others. Now, it certainly could be a runt, which apparently do occur sometimes, but I’d put my money on this just being a blended family, which we’ve already seen several times before in Estabrook, and in which some goslings simply hatched later than others. If you have a different opinion, I’m sure I can count on you to let me know.

Finally, your blossoms of the day are these little darlings, which appear to be (Cardamine bulbosa), commonly called bulbous bittercress, spring cress, or bulbous cress.

B-sides…

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be enjoying a graduation ceremony down at the Panther Arena most of the morning with a family celebration afterwards, so even if I do sneak into Estabrook beforehand, I won’t have time to write you a post. Thus, these are pictures from the past week that didn’t fit.

This first bird is a Philadelphia vireo, who is supposedly “rare” for here now, and who I thought was a Tennessee warbler when I was taking the picture yesterday beside the river. You can see the similarities here, and my guess is that it is only “rare” because of the timing, as we are in their migratory range, but after I reported seeing one, they’ve probably downgraded it to “infrequent”. After all, “if Dressel managed to see one, how rare can it be, right?”

This is the wood duck hen on the pond who was accompanied by the drake I showed you yesterday.

Since the indigo buntings arrived a couple of weeks ago, males have been calling regularly from their usual places, and here’s one beside the river at the north end yesterday. There’s that gray sky I was talking about, but he was kind enough to let me line him up with a trunk behind him.

A pair of spotted sandpipers have also become regulars, and here’s one from Friday with some nice backlighting to make its legs and beak glow.

The white-throated sparrows, who were thick on the ground for a week or so, seemed to have mostly flown north, and now it is the white-crowned sparrows, who only recently flew in, who seem to be everywhere. Here’s one of the latter beside the southern soccer fields on Thursday.

Here’s a green heron on the island in the pond, also from Thursday, when the fog was thick.

Finally, here’s a great horned owl, paying us a visit from the downstream island where I usually see them, and also in Thursday’s fog.

Lastly, your blossom of the day is this tiny one, which appears to be small-flowered buttercup (Ranunculus abortivus).

I’m gonna run into the park as soon as I am done here, if it ever gets light out, and then bring my camera to the family event this afternoon in Waterford, and if I get any pictures worth showing, I’ll see if I can squeeze them into Monday’s post.

Oh, and don’t forget, you can join our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning at either 7 a.m., if you’re an early riser, or 8 a.m., if you need your beauty rest.

Plenty of warblers, despite the weather

It was cool, cloudy, and breezy this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least the rain never amounted to more than spritzing. Also, the gray sky provides a less-than-ideal background, of course, but the wind forces the bugs to stay closer to the ground, and the birds follow them, so the sky might not even be in the picture.

Anyway, when I got to the pond, I was thrilled to find that the goslings hadn’t hiked down to the river after all. At least not yet, and here’s one of them grazing beside Mom or Dad, and you can really see how big they’ve gotten.

There was also a pair of wood ducks kicking around, and here’s the drake. I haven’t shown you them much lately because there’ve been so many new sights, but I was a little nervous about what pictures I might get today, so here you are.

The next nice surprise came when this Baltimore oriole, who tend to be shyer than this, swooped in to perch barely ten feet in front of me, and just about at eye level. I figured it would be gone in a second, but it turned, took a look at me, and proceeded to go about his business, which was singing, as though I wasn’t even there. So, I picked up my camera and snapped this nice portrait. Ta da!

On my way back south, toward home, I kept to the river path to stay out of the wind, and I must have found a spot where the bugs had accumulated, because it was just hopping with warblers. Here’s another chestnut-sided.

Here’s a black-throated green, who even found a bit of a thin spot in the clouds above.

And here’s our first darling female American redstart of the year.

Finally, your blossom of the day is this dainty little specimen, which I believe is a star-flowered lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum stellatum), and I am happy to report is a native.

Speaking of natives, Friends of Estabrook Park is hosting a “weedout” tomorrow (Sunday, May 18th) morning from 9-12, in an effort to beat back the invasion of garlic mustard and dames rocket a bit. If you’re interested, meet in the middle parking lot, by the maintenance yard, and wear shoes and clothing suitable for the weather and the task.

No, you don’t have to work for the full three hours. Every little bit helps, but I won’t be able to join you because I have the happy occasion of a graduation to attend, instead, and I’ll post some pictures that haven’t made the cut yet to tide you over.

More firsts, and some nice seconds…

I could tell there had been quite a storm in Estabrook Park overnight by the number of trees and branches down, including the last big dead tree over the upstream island. That’s were we saw the osprey perched just yesterday, and I don’t know if the big raptors we get to see there will like the remaining tall live tree that is now leafing out. We’ll find out soon enough, I suppose.

Anywho, the forecast for this morning proved to be accurate, and the weather was beautiful, with clear, blue skies, warm temps, and a light breeze, so I had high hopes.

My first treat came after I returned to the river from the pond and headed upstream from the falls. As I approached the downstream island, this prothonotary warbler appeared to have been dissatisfied with the pictures I took of the previous one, and so he proceeded to set the record straight.

Oh, we played cat and mouse for a few minutes, but then he either got used to me or was too hungry to worry about me, and then we made some pretty nice pictures, given the available light.

When I figured that I must have gotten what I needed, I continued upstream, and as I approached the second island, I found a second brood of mallard ducklings, this time with eleven. The first brood, of nine, was also around, but how many duckling pictures can one take?

The next relatively new sight came on my way back south and up on the bluff, where I found this female or nonbreeding male scarlet tanager, depending on how dark those wings look.

Just across the lawn from the tanager, I could hear the call of this Wilson’s warbler, but man-o-man, did it ever make me work for this picture, such as it is.

By the time I got back to the pond, it felt like a summer’s day, and that brings out the dragonflies, so here’s your first dragonfly of the year, a black saddlebags, which I only managed to get a decent picture of just last year, and that was at Kohler-Andrae State Park. The Bug Lady explains that “they are one of a dozen or so American dragonflies that migrate,” so that explains how it got here so soon.

By the way, while we’re at the pond, it appears that the geese really did marched their goslings down to the river this time, because there was no sign of them during either of my visits this morning.

Now, back to birds. It is hilarious, in hindsight, that I complained about how hard the Wilson’s warbler made me work, because compared to this next bird, that was child’s play. This is my very first picture of an ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla). I’ve heard their distinctive call plenty of times before, including just last Saturday, but I’ve only ever laid eyes on one once before. Now I just need one to feel about this picture the way the prothonotary warbler felt about his. In any case, I read that they get their unusual name from their “nest, a leaf-covered dome [on the ground] resembling an old-fashioned outdoor oven,” which the female “weaves … from the inside as a single, integrated piece.”

Dragonflies aren’t the only insects brought out by the warm weather. I saw a couple of butterflies flutter by at the pond, but both kept going. Instead, I caught this monarch taking a breather, but only for a second, a bit farther south. “Welcome back, Beautiful!”

Finally, your blossom of the day is our very own eastern shooting star. Yes, I know only one blossom is open, so far, but they’re growing right beside a trail, and I wanted to get a picture before some mishap befalls them.

Not impressed? How ’bout now?

Lastly, the forecast for tomorrow morning calls for clouds and wind, so don’t get your hopes up.

The fog thickens…

Man, if I thought yesterday was foggy, I hadn’t seen nothin’ yet. Here’s a picture of a least sandpiper, who was kind enough to visit again, that I think best captures the mood in Estabrook Park this morning.

Fortunately, the fog eventually dispersed a bit, so I was able to get a picture of our first Savannah sparrow in the park of the year, who we just saw down beside Lake Michigan on Sunday.

I’ve been glimpsing an osprey flying south over the river now and then lately, but it opted to perch high over the upstream island instead today, perhaps due to fog, so I guess that might be a silver lining.

The first big treat of the day was hearing the familiar song of an eastern wood-pewee, and it didn’t take me long to find this handsome little singer perched low over the downstream island.

The very light breeze off the lake, which caused all the fog, makes perfect conditions for warblers, and the trees were crawling with them in places. Here’s another magnolia warbler beside the river.

Here’s a common yellowthroat behind the dog park. I find them a bit tricky to get on film, but today I was already busy trying to get a wren picture when this guy caught a worm to eat right between me and the wren. Sometimes I get lucky.

As I was walking home on the paved path, look who I found almost at eye level where the path is squeezed between the bluff and the parkway. Reliable sources tell me that she’s a female blackpoll warbler, and she might be the first one I’ve ever seen.

Finally, your blossom of the day is this stunner, which other sources tell me is a blackish columbine or Bulgarian columbine (Aquilegia nigricans), and whose name suggests it ain’t from around here. Instead, it is native to “to several non-contiguous, mainly mountainous areas in the eastern Alps, the Carpathian Mountains, and the southern and eastern Balkans. It is found in Slovenia, Austria, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, and Greece, and in small areas of southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, northwestern Croatia, eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Hungary, Serbia, and western Ukraine. Reports of specimens in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy are thought to have been erroneous.” Wow, that’s a lot of information.

Anyway, not too impressive? Well, how about now? If still not yet, click on the image to see the original resolution on flickr. There you can also display it “full screen”.

Lastly, the forecast for tomorrow morning is a bit warmer, a bit breezier, and sunny! That’ll be a nice change of pace.

Not too foggy to see, thankfully…

Sheesh! It was foggy this morning in Estabrook Park. How foggy, you ask? Well, foggy enough to bejewel this spider web beside the soccer fields with dew drops. Sure, the picture would be a whole lot prettier with the sun shining on it, but how do you expect the sun to shine through a blanket of fog that thick?

As luck would have it, I saw my first bay-breasted warbler of the year in this fog, and this is as good as I can clean up the image. My picture from a year ago came out a little better.

On a mild morning like this, you can bet the toads were singing in the river again, and they are getting bolder. This guy just kept on going as I stood five feet away to take his portrait.

And with this goal in mind, who can blame him, right?

By the time I reached the north end beside the river, the fog had mostly lifted, and this black-throated blue warbler, technically my second of the year, gave me another chance for a fog-free photo.

By the time I was heading back south, the toads had begun to quiet down, and that let me concentrate on spotting our first veery of the year.

I stayed beside the river as I continued south towards home, in hopes of stumbling across another warbler feeding frenzy, and it didn’t take me long to do just that. Better yet, this one contained our first blackpoll warbler of the year.

Finally, your blossoms of the day are these delicate wild geraniums, which are starting to open throughout the park.

The forecast for tomorrow morning calls for even more fog, but if the parade of new faces continues as it did this morning, who can complain?

Lots to see, despite the rain…

It was raining this morning when the sun came up, but that wrapped up by around 7 a.m., and I hustled into Estabrook Park soon after that.

My first big surprise came early, and I could hardly believe my eyes when I turned my binoculars to a dark shape, which I thought was probably a robin, high in a tree beside the paved path that runs along the west side of the southern soccer fields. Once I realized what it was, however, I was so excited that I had to calm myself down a bit before I could hold my camera steady. Here, Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, is our very first common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), which I have glimpsed flying high over Shorewood once or twice at dusk, but never in Estabrook Park before, and never perched like this. Be still my heart!

Their range map indicates that this little sleepyhead has probably just flown in from the Caribbean or South America. In fact, I read that they have “one of the longest migration routes of all North American birds.“

Another recent arrival was waiting for me right across the path, in the remains of the weeds that grew beside the soccer fields last year. Here’s our first Tennessee warbler of the year, just in from the Caribbean, Central America, or Northern South America.

I didn’t find our next new face until I got north of the beer garden, where I could hear the ethereal call of our first wood thrush of the year.

The new faces didn’t even stop there. When I reached the riverbank across from the upstream island, I was relieved to find that the recent rain had not covered up much, if any, of the exposed river bottom, and as if to prove my point, a flock of seven tiny least sandpipers flew in to refill their tanks. I’ve only been lucky enough to see them once before in Estabrook.

I’ve been wondering lately where our great blue herons have been hiding all spring, and I even mentioned their absence to the crew yesterday, but look who finally decided to show its face as I was trying to get a good picture of the least sandpipers with what little light I had.

Back on our side of the river, the warblers were especially thick today, and here’s the first blackburnian warbler picture I’ve managed this year.

Our first magnolia warbler was a bit more accommodating.

Finally, your blossom of the day is from one of the first trees I see blooming in the park each spring, this common service berry.

More new developments in Estabrook…

We had the nicest weather of the year, so far, in Estabrook Park this morning, with clear skies, warm temps, and still air, which made perfect conditions for our weekly wildlife walk. Seven folks came out for the 7 a.m. start, and two more joined us at 8 a.m. I started a new checklist at 8, and we identified 52 species before we called it quits.

The first big surprise of the morning was finding our first ducklings of the year, these nine mallards, in the river just off the upstream island. They must have been hungry, because they had stayed on the bit of exposed river bottom as Mom had drifted away. When I showed up, they seemed to realize how far away she had gotten and made a b-line for her.

Surprise number two was the familiar call of our first red-eyed vireo of the year.

The scarlet tanagers are still around, and we saw at least three at once, and there might even have been five, altogether.

We also saw my first magnolia warbler, whose picture did not turn out well, and my first Wilson’s warbler, who I didn’t even try to capture on film. Instead, I have this pretty nice picture of our first willow flycatcher of the year.

When I first stopped by the pond, I didn’t see the goslings, and figured that Mom and Dad had finally marched them down to the river, but when we went by a second time, look who we found. Boy, they’ve gotten big, eh?

In the water, I believe this is the first American bullfrog I’ve seen this year.

Finally, your blossom of the day is this dainty little thing, which appears to be sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba), growing in the woods between the parkway and the Oak Leaf Trail.

Lastly, we have some rain in the forecast for tomorrow morning, but it might wrap up by sunrise, so keep your fingers crossed.