Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

More signs of love in the air…

After seeing the towhee in Estabrook Park yesterday morning, Anne and I drove out to her mom’s place in Waterford for a family get-together. There, we were treated to a couple of sandhill cranes and a wild turkey in the surrounding fields, and a parade of ducks on the pond behind her house. The best sight, however, was this great blue heron, who snatched a steady stream of tiny fish out of the water. You can just make out the tail of one about 2/3rds of the way down its beak in this picture.

Back in Estabrook this morning, the green heron was at the pond again, and we eventually spotted a 2nd one. Hurrah, and I hope they stay!

A great horned owl was at the river again, but it had tucked itself deep into the sticks this time, perhaps in an effort to get out of the wind and the rain.

Closer to the water, these two wood ducks were interesting, because he seemed a bit more agitated by my presence than she was. He kept stretching his neck higher and kept one wide-open eyeball pinned on me, while she just continued with her preening. Then, when she was finally ready, they both took off.

Just beyond the wood ducks, this pied-billed grebe surfaced for a second, took one look at me, and submerged again. I get that sometimes.

Farther upstream and back on shore, a male cardinal brought this tasty-looking morsel to his mate on her nest, which she seemed to readily accept and gobble down. Ah, true love.

Finally, it was time for me to hustle to the parking lot to meet the folks braving the weather for our weekly wildlife walk. There were nine of us, and we managed to spot 34 bird species, including a pair of Cooper’s hawks, a second grebe, and our first black-and-white warbler of the year, which the fine folks at ebird consider to be “rare” for this date. A keen-eyed birder in our group, with a lot more experience than me, tipped me off to the fact that the thick, black stripes across the eye and down the neck mark him as a he.

Lastly, we have another new wildflower starting to bloom in the park, and this one appears to be a false rue anemone or wood anemone, but I didn’t capture enough detail to be sure which.

Nice to see the sun rise again…

The temps had cooled off in Estabrook Park this morning, and the breeze had picked up a bit, but the clouds had cleared out, at least for a while, so I had a hope that the sun would light up some pretty pictures.

On my way to the pond, the screech-owl kept to the shade as it stared intently at something or someone in a neighboring tree, but I snuck a picture anyway.

I was thrilled to find the grebe at the pond again, and this time we had a little sun to light up the scene.

By the time I got to the river, the sun was high enough to bathe this great horned owl in a nice warm glow.

Initially, I could only hear this eastern towhee, our first for the year, and I spent some time searching for it without success, but I didn’t find it until I had given up and went to check on the birds out on the water. That’s when it hopped out of the shadows, right across the gravel road in front of me, and parked in the bright sun on the other side. “Hello, Handsome!”

There were some blue-winged teals and a common merganser out on the water, but no great pictures, and I didn’t have a lot of time, so I went back to the pond. That’s when I found the green heron again, but also basking in the nice, warm sun.

As I started to make my way home, I finally found a white-throated sparrow, perhaps one of the throng that had recently arrived, who wasn’t busily foraging.

Finally, here’s an eastern cottontail, just because.

Nature is calling…

The dreary weather continued this morning in Estabrook Park, but at least it had quit raining by “sunrise”, and the winds were light, so it was a pretty good time for using my ears to help me catch a glimpse of the new arrivals.

When I got to the pond, I could hear a new call, at least new for the season, from over by the softball field, and when I went in search of the source, the caller was kind enough to let me have a good look. Say “hello” to our first chipping sparrow of the year. We’re in their breeding range, but I don’t think they find what they’re looking for in Estabrook because I pretty much only see them during migration.

Meanwhile, back at the pond, I noticed something/someone poke out of the water for a moment and then quickly submerge again, and I thought it might be a snapping turtle, which I have seen do this from time to time, but it turned out to be the first pied-billed grebe I’ve seen at the pond this year. Yay!

I spotted another swimmer when I went around the back/east side of the pond, this muskrat who seemed especially pleased with the breakfast it had found for itself.

At the river, a great horned owl was perched high over the downstream island, but I just couldn’t get a good shot through the sticks, and there was a trio of blue-winged teals, but the light was just too low for such a long shot. Then, I heard another new-for-the-year call above, and a bit of staring straight up eventually led me to this elusive warbler, a pine warbler to be precise, and the first one I’ve ever managed to capture in an “image”, such as it is.

Finally, I was just about to hustle home to be in time for a morning event, when I heard one more newish song. Unlike the first two, however, this was long and complicated, and I initially thought I might be hearing our first grey catbird, since that odd winter holdover, but this call was louder and brasher than a catbird’s, and that’s because it was coming instead from our first brown thrasher of the year. Woo Hoo! We hit the trifecta again.

Then, I really did have to hustle home, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to see who else might have arrived.

A dark and stormy morning…

The forecast suggested that I had about a two-hour window between sunrise and thunderstorms, so I snuck into Estabrook to see who I could see, but I didn’t even need light for the first observation. There had been a big influx of white-throated sparrows since yesterday morning, and they were singing their songs throughout the park.

I sure do wish I had more light for my second observation, but I made do with what I had, and I believe this may be our first northern house wren for the year. It is right in the center, its beak is pointing to 8 o’clock, and its tail is pointing at 1 o’clock. The indicator for me that suggest that it is not just another winter wren, is the light color below the beak. Plus, it wasn’t making winter wren noises.

There was a kingfisher at the pond, as is often the case these days, and perhaps it even had trouble seeing me, so I was able to take a nice, arty portrait.

The biggest surprise of the morning, however, came when I inadvertently flushed this green heron, the first reported in Milwaukee County this year, from the bushes at my feet to this perch on the island. To have any color at all, instead of a silhouette as with the kingfisher, and not have the ISO go through the roof, I had to slow the shutter down to 1/15th of a second. Luckily, the heron was kind enough to freeze in each pose it struck, and I could prop my elbows on the railing of the little bridge in the path around the pond. “Thanks, and welcome to Estabrook, Sweetie!”

I also spotted a couple of hooded mergansers on the pond, but I didn’t even try for them. Instead, I found them again, or another pair, at the river, where the lights over the parking lot on the far shore provided some backlighting.

Finally, the sky kept getting darker, and the radar map suggested I was about to get soaked, so I started to hustle home. As I passed the downstream island, I couldn’t help but check for a great horned owl, and look who I found in its place. We do get to see wild turkeys in the park from time to time, and I do know that they can fly up into trees, but I have never seen a turkey in a tree in Estabrook Park before. I guess it really is true that there is a first time for everything.

Lastly, you may be stunned to learn that I’ve got some family activities to participate in this weekend, and gladly, too, so I’m not sure how much, if any, photography I’ll get to do, but if you don’t hear from me, have a great weekend, and I hope to see you in Estabrook at 8am on Monday morning.

The wind returns…

After a short reprieve, the wind is back today, and so now are the clouds, but there were a few minutes earlier this morning in Estabrook Park when the weather at least looked nice.

My first interesting sight came at the pond, when a bird call overhead caught my ear. I couldn’t place it right away, so I searched the huge oak tree above me, and soon found the source of the sound. It was this wood duck drake, whose call I do know, but coming from overhead must have made it out of context enough to throw me off. Yeah, that’s what it was: out of context. Anyway, the morning sun was lighting him up like magic.

Meanwhile, just on the other side of the path around the pond, this robin was taking a moment before hauling its prize off to add to its nest. Yes, upon closer inspection, that is a paper straw wrapper, but at least it’s not plastic and should behave in the nest just as a similarly-sized leaf would. Plus, that’s one less bit of litter that I have to collect, right?

From there, I headed to the river, where I found this yellow-rumped warbler, quite possibly the same one as we saw on Tuesday, reduced by the wind to foraging for bugs on the ground. Poor guy.

Meanwhile, just across the river path, this white-breasted nuthatch had also taken to foraging on the ground. Sheesh!

That’s it for critters today, so Jay was right, there was just a lot less to see today. Luckily, there are some sights that are impervious to the wind, and this skunk cabbage blossom is one of them.

And another is this marsh marigold just coming into bloom.

I see that the forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same, so who knows what I’ll find, but if it’s interesting or pretty, I’ll do my best to get a picture for you.

Odds and ends…

Despite the rosy forecast, the sun turned out to be the little engine that couldn’t get the job done this morning. Sure, the air was nice and still, for a change, but the clouds were pretty thick, and it has taken the sun nearly till noon to clear them out. Oh well.

This picture of our male American kestrel, is actually from yesterday afternoon and across the river. After I had sent you my post, I saw that someone reported seeing a white-fronted goose on the lawn in front of the Northshore Montessori School, and I haven’t seen any since I lived in South Holland, so I hustled right over there, but it was already gone. Dang, but my consolation prize was finding the kestrel hunting from the lamp posts around the lawn.

Despite the cloud cover this morning, I did walk through Estabrook, and since I was alone, the screech-owl was in. Even better, it let us have the best glimpse yet of its big yellow eyes.

I didn’t see anything new at the pond, the swallows were all sleeping in, and my grebe and teal pictures from yesterday were better than anything I could get today on the river. Instead, the excitement was over the downstream island, where one of the great horned owls was perched.

It wasn’t alone, however, and here’s one of the crows urging it to perch in some other park.

In fact, there were two crows, but I never saw the owl move, other than rotating its head, and the crows eventually just declared victory and went home.

I did see a few more yellow-rumped warblers beside the river, and made a valiant attempt at another picture, but I was getting nowhere until this brown creeper took pity on me and swooped in to provide an image that I could capture.

As I was heading home, the sun was able to poke through the clouds a bit, and it lit up this hermit thrush just perfectly.

Finally, I had so many pictures of wildlife to show you yesterday that I completely forget to get this picture off my phone. It shows the back 1/3 of a trilobite fossil, from the so-called “Milwaukee Formation“, which is about 385 million years old. I found it right at the water’s edge as I was reaching down to pick up a bit of leftover fishing tackle. How cool is that?

Lastly, speaking of cool pictures from my phone, I also found yesterday my first park beer in a while, this time floating in the pond. Sweet!

A little iffy weather won’t slow them down…

I gotta admit, I felt sorta iffy about visiting Estabrook Park this morning. At sunrise the wind was howling, the clouds were thick, and it was spritzing enough to wet the pavement. But, I always need the walk, and the nature is supposed to be good for my head, so I grabbed my raincoat and the rain cover for my camera, and into the park I went.

Holy Moley, am I sure glad I did!

My first treat of the morning was catching this darling pair of pied-billed grebes fishing and then preening together on the wide and slow part of the river under the twin radio towers.

As I tried to move into a better position on shore, I spotted our first eggshell of the year! It’s really happening, people!

When I reached the pond, there was a bit of a ruckus in the woods to the north, and here’s one of the culprits. You can see just the tail of its accomplice in the bottom right of the picture.

At the edge of the water, I found the white-crowned sparrow with brown stripes, whom we’ve been seeing all winter, and perhaps who was wondering when in heck the rest of the white-crowned sparrows are going to show up.

From the pond, I headed to the river, and look who was there to greet me.

Farther upstream, there were still about a half dozen blue-winged teals, and they sure are pretty birds, but I thought the more interesting sight today was this little cutie. At first glance, I figured it was another phoebe, of whom I had already seen a couple, …

but then look who I found on the next branch over. Those aren’t phoebes! Those are our first northern rough-winged swallows of the season! Woo hoo, and “Welcome back!”

They weren’t alone, either. Once the sun started poking through the clouds, there was a swarm of swallows hunting for bugs over the river, and here’s our first picture for the year of a tree swallow in Estabrook, …

and our first barn swallow of the year. It’s really starting to get crazy out there!

As the swallows were hunting bugs, this turkey vulture was looking and sniffing for carrion as it soared over the river.

I wasted a bunch of time and film trying to get pictures of swallows in flight, but I eventually tore myself away and headed back downstream, where I found one of our great horned owls again.

Finally, back downstream of the islands, I found this gorgeous yellow-rumped warbler furiously foraging on the low branches for bugs who were trying to get out of the wind.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be back to beautiful, so I can’t wait to see who I find next.

They just keep on arriving…

Despite the wind and partly cloudy skies, the mild temps made it a very pleasant morning for a stroll through Estabrook Park. Ten folks came out to join me for our weekly wildlife walk, and I recorded us seeing 40 bird species, including a few first-of-the-year tree swallows mixed in with a few bank swallows over the river and the upstream island.

The screech-owl was home for my first approach to the pond, but it made itself scarce after that, as usual.

Robins have begun nesting, and here’s one above the crest of the bluff at the far north end.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are still with us, and we saw a few today. Here’s a male on a birch tree on the east side of the pond.

Yellow-rumped warblers are becoming more plentiful, both at the pond and the river, and here’s one from beside the river.

One of the nice surprises of the morning was getting another look at the male American kestrel, this time perched high above the upstream island.

Right after we saw the kestrel, a male belted kingfisher swooped in to perch just off the downstream tip of the same island, and when I tried to time my shot with the bobbing of its tail, I also caught it with its beak open as an unexpected bonus.

Another nice surprise of the morning was finding the largest group of blue-winged teals that I’ve ever seen. It started with just two on the pond, and then eight on the river, but by the time the whole group reached the river, I counted at least 15, and there may have been as many as 20. The uncertainty was caused by their near constant motion, so that every time we counted, we got a different number.

Finally, a new blossom has begun to open in the park, this violet, probably (Viola odorata), which I read is called any of “wood violet, sweet violet, English violet, common violet, florist’s violet, or garden violet.“

A wild morning at the lakeshore…

Temps were pretty mild this morning, but the clouds were thick, and the breeze was strong, so it might not seem like an ideal morning to visit Lakefront State Park with the Milwaukee Birders. The wildlife was amazing, however, and I was lucky enough to have packed the right clothing, so I had a fantastic time.

On my bike ride down to the park, I stopped at Juneau Park Lagoon, and as I scanned the water for birds, look who I found on the far shore checking on the Canada geese. It was still pretty dark out, so the picture is grainy as heck, but I believe you can still make out one handsome coyote, and it appeared to be kindly checking on the geese to make sure they were all okay.

Once I made it into the park, I was greeted by the sight of this ring-billed gull devouring a crayfish that it had just caught. Yum! We eventually found dozens of claws scattered around the park, so crayfish appears to be a popular menu item.

The “quiet water basin” was quite full of ducks, perhaps because the wind was kicking up quite a chop out in the harbor, and these three bufflehead drakes were among them.

The most obvious new arrival, however, were the dozens of tree swallows, which were either zooming over the water and the lawn hunting for bugs, or tussling over which couple got to nest in which nesting box. It was quite a show, and I took a ton of pictures, but I got lucky with just this one to catch the meager light hitting the feathers just right for some beautiful iridescence.

Another species out on the basin was the blue-winged teal, and here’s a drake up out of the water for a moment to preen and give us a sneak peek at his namesake teal speculum feathers.

Not to be outdone, here’s a red-breasted merganser drake doing his best crazy-person impression.

The park has prescribed-burned the tall grass and wildflowers, in an effort to preserve the prairie biome, and here’s our first savannah sparrow of the year gleaning seeds out of the ashes.

We eventually spotted 28 to 30 species, depending on who was counting, and then it was time to make my way back north. As I went by Juneau Park Lagoon again, I stopped to see if there was anyone unusual swimming with the Canada geese, and I could barely believe my eyes when the white bird, which I had assumed was a gull, turned out to be only my second Ross’s goose ever. Holy Smokes!

As I stood on the east shore of the lagoon trying to capture the essence of the goose, it and the Canada geese naturally drifted towards the west side, so I decided to hustle over to that side in hopes of a better shot. As I pushed through the bushes that grow there, I inadvertently spooked a bird that must have been perched in the trees above, and look who it turned out to be: our first black-crowned night heron of the year. Sometimes, when it rains, it really does pour!

Well, you’ll be happy to know that I was careful not to clean my shoes when I got home so that some of the magic I must have stepped in this morning might still be on them for our weekly wildlife walk at 8am tomorrow morning. I see that a bank swallow and a Caspian turn was reported in Estabrook today, so come on out, if you are able, to help us find them again.

Not many perfect pictures despite a picture-perfect day.

It was a gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park with seasonably cool temps, crystal-clear skies, and nice-calm air. I was a bit surprised to find that the critters were laying low, however, perhaps in anticipation of the throngs of runners and spectators of the Milwaukee Marathon, but who knows.

One critter who was out and about was this eastern cottontail, who perhaps thought it could sneak in just a few more groceries before start time.

The screech-owl was in, and farther than usual, actually, but you can just make out its beak and plenty of its belly.

At the north end, most of the exotics have moved on, but the pied-billed grebe was still around. In fact, Dave said he saw two of them a bit downstream of me, so there might even have been three in total.

I didn’t see anything else that I could capture on film at the river, so I headed back over to the pond. There I plopped down on the bench on the west lawn, and once the gander climbed up to join me, on the lawn, not the bench, at least not yet, the wood ducks felt emboldened to come over to see if I was one of the old dudes that feeds the ducks. Well, I’m not, because it is supposed to be bad for them, but I did get some nice pictures before they realized their mistake. Do yourself a favor and click on this wood duck image so you can zoom to see all the fine detail in his face.

To whet your appetite, I’ve cropped the image, but wordpress still shows a lesser copy. When I view it in flickr, which you can, too, if you click on the image, it looks a lot sharper, and the rainbow of colors in his cheek feathers is worth the hassle. Trust me.

Meanwhile, a mallard drake gave me a look that seemed to say, “Big whoop, he’s got a little purple on his cheek. Sheesh, my whole head turns purple in the right light. Where’s my closeup?” With an attitude like that, Buddy, you’re lucky to get a picture at all.

Anyway, the forecast is for clouds and breeze tomorrow, but I believe I will head down to Lakeshore State Park to meet up with the Milwaukee Birders at 8am anyway. Maybe I’ll see you there.