My siblings and I did manage to get our folks moved last week, without too many tears, and I arrived safely back in Wisconsin yesterday afternoon. Thanks for all your well wishes.

Before I left, I was also able to sneak one more picture, of this gorgeous, red-shouldered hawk as it soaked up some warm morning sun while searching for some breakfast.

Back in Estabrook this morning, things were pretty quiet, as you might imagine. I couldn’t find any redpolls at the pond, but there were plenty of house finches, and here’s a handsome male.

I couldn’t find any odd ducks on the river, yet, either, but a pair of belted kingfishers are still fishing around the islands, and here’s the female.

Back up the pond, this mourning dove tricked me for a second with a striking shadow across its face.

Finally, I found this mature Cooper’s hawk perched right over where someone has been placing bird seed for years in the woods behind the pond, and I wonder if it will have any luck with that.

Anne and I are at her mom’s place for dinner today with her extended family, my folks are at my brother’s place out east, and I hope that you and your family are able to celebrate the holiday together, as well.

I know I told you that I wouldn’t have time to go looking for wildlife on this trip, but there I was, minding my own business, and simply stepping outside to greet my brother and his son, who had come over to help pack up my folks’ worldly possessions, and I noticed a bird in the woods behind them because it seemed large and swooped down near the base of a big tree, which suggested a tantalizing possibility. So, I quickly said, “hi, come on in,” and ran inside myself to grab my camera and my binoculars.

Once I had my gear, I started scanning the woods, and the first bird I found was this little downy woodpecker. Sure, I’ve shown you dozens of downy woodpecker pictures that are better than this, but I’m telling a story here, so bear with me.

Then another bird moved, and this one was a little bigger, but it was “just” a northern flicker. They’ve been gone from Estabrook for the winter since October, but are still hanging out in Connecticut, and that’s not the bird I’m looking for, either.

A couple of red-bellied woodpeckers stopped in, and this one at least posed against the pretty blue sky, but they were still not who I was hoping to find.

Finally, one more woodpecker poked its head out into the open, and it was indeed a big bird low on the side of a tree. For those of you who don’t recognize that face, this is a pileated woodpecker, “one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent [and] nearly the size of a crow.” Be still my heart.

They have been reported in Estabrook, but I haven’t seen one there yet, and I have seen only one in all of Wisconsin, so far. But here’s one right in my folks’ backyard. It moved around a bit, and it did let me have a little better look, but then it moved on to check the trees closer to my sister’s house.

Well, the movers are coming this morning, and if things go well, we’ll be sleeping under a new roof tonight, so wish us luck.

As I mentioned last time, I’m back out in CT, but this is a “work” trip, so I don’t have time to go looking for wildlife, unfortunately. I do have a minute, however, to dig up some more pictures from our recent trip to Central America, and this time they’re from Belize.

Here’s one more look at a magnificent ringed kingfisher, but this time at Crooked Tree Lodge.

Here’s another look at one of the two northern jacanas who seemed to be perpetually foraging at the water’s edge in front of our cabin at Crooked Tree Lodge, and without all that golden morning sunlight that flooded the previous picture in Flores.

After we spotted the groove-billed anis but before the five squeezed together on a single branch, I got my very first glimpse of a shy ivory-billed woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus flavigaster) who appeared briefly and quickly took off.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a white-eyed vireo at Crooked Tree who really put on a show, and who we have seen before in Estabrook, but I have only been able to show you that one time, until now.

Here’s another look at that gorgeous vermilion flycatcher, but this time he’s giving you a side view so you can better see his black wings and tail.

Finally, here’s a long-tailed flicker on Caye Caulker, where they were plentiful but quick moving. They look quite similar to the silver-spotted skippers we see in Estabrook, and I tried and tried to get a picture that better showed off their long tails, but this was the best I could do.

Okay. Now I’d better get busy helping to pack up a household before my sister gets any more annoyed with me and starts calling me “Androit!”

Well, it’s rainy and dark this morning, just as forecast. Plus, I’m under a bit of a time-crunch today, so let’s see if there aren’t any trip pictures left that I haven’t already shown you.

We saw these pretty little birds, ruddy ground doves (Columbina talpacoti), in several locations, and I was sure I had shown you a picture before, but it appears I was mistaken. So, here’s a pair seeking cover in some blossoming bougainvillea on a side street in Flores, Guatemala.

I have managed to show you a picture of this big-beaked beauty, a ringed kingfisher, once before from Brazil, but the lighting was a little harsh in that photo. Instead, here’s one catching some gorgeous golden-hour sunshine in Flores.

We did get to see a black-headed saltator before, in Antigua, but it was quite shy, and it only let me capture its backside. This one at Tikal wasn’t much bolder, but at least now we can see its front side.

Also in Antigua, we got to see a Deppe’s squirrel, and then a Yucatán squirrel in Belize. So, to fill in the set a bit more, here’s a husky-looking Yucatán squirrel at Tikal in Guatemala.

On this trip we saw anoles, iguanas, and geckos, but this is my very first Teapen rosebelly lizard (Sceloporus teapensis), and my sources tell me that “Teapen” refers to Teapa, Mexico, where the species was first identified.

Finally, I may have run out of butterflies to show you, so here’s a large grass hopper, instead, which was about the size of the first two digits of my middle finger, and which we saw repeatedly crawling around the outdoor pathway to our hotel room at Tikal. My sources tell me that it’s a Romalea obscura, which is a species of “horse lubber”, and I read further that they get that name from their “head shape, which resembles a small horse’s head, and the term ‘lubber’ from its large, slow, and ‘lubberly’ (clumsy) movements.” I’m not sure I see the horse head, but I can confirm that this individual was not quick on its feet.

Lastly, I’m headed back to CT this afternoon to help my mom and dad move out of the home they’ve lived in for nearly 60 years and the home I grew up in. Two of my siblings will also be there, but I’m sure we can still use all the luck we can get, so please keep your fingers crossed for us. I’ll post when I can, but service may be spotty for the next few days.

It sure it beautiful out now, and it was nearly as warm this morning in Estabrook Park, but the clouds were thick, and it even sprinkled for a bit. Worse, none of the critters wanted their pictures taken today. Thus, I am forced to resort to more recent trip pictures. Sorry about that.

We’ve seen this little cutie, a black phoebe, a couple of times before, but this time it was at Big Rock Falls in western Belize.

I only saw my first semipalmated plover this summer at McKinley Beach in Milwaukee, and here’s one on Caye Caulker.

We’ve seen palm warblers nearly every spring in Estabrook, and here’s one more but also on Caye Caulker this time.

I saw my first tropical kingbird just last February in Guatemala, but here’s a much nicer picture of one, and you guessed it, on Caye Caulker.

We had a pied-billed grebe on the pond in Estabrook for weeks this fall, and one of these could be that same bird, as far as I know, but at Crooked Tree Lodge instead.

The one time a limpkin was in Estabrook was the same weekend that I was in Sedona, and I had to run up to Kletzsch Park to find one in Wisconsin. At the Crooked Tree Lodge in Belize, this one came nearly to my front door.

Finally, the limpkin was not the only snail hunter at Crooked Tree Lodge, and here’s a snail kite gliding over the shoreline, whom I haven’t seen since Brazil.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who came out for the Estabrook Park cleanup this morning. My buddy, Mike, who spotted the nesting hummingbird for us, brought his waders, so we spent the two hours getting a few more tires and a lot more trash out of the river between the two islands. Yay!