Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Estabrook Park Report #1500!

You read that right, Campers. This is indeed my 1500th post since this little operation got underway back on March 26, 2020. Since then, we’ve cataloged 322 critters in Estabrook Park on this site and about 450 on iNaturalist, where I feel free to post any recognizable picture, no matter how dark or blurry, and the number depends a little bit on exactly where you draw a rectangle to represent the border of the park. That 450 includes 216 vertebrates, comprising 19 mammals, 170 birds, 7 reptiles, only 2 amphibians, and 18 ray-finned fish. The 234 or so non-vertebrates include 33 butterflies, 45 moths, 21 dragonflies, 9 damselflies, and 11 spiders.

Anyway, we had 4 intrepid souls, including 2 first-timers, who braved the heat and humidity this morning to join me on our weekly wildlife walk, and these are some of the sights we saw. The juvenile black-crowned night heron was at the pond again, at least for the 7 a.m. crew.

The doe was beating the heat by laying in the cool weeds on the far riverbank, and we didn’t see the fawn, but we can suppose that she left it safely stashed on the island.

When we all returned to the pond, with the 8 a.m. crew, the hooded merganser put on a nice little disappearing act with this crayfish. Now you see it, …

and now you don’t. Where could it have gone?

I was surprised to find a couple of turtles, including this painted, up out of the water because the sun wasn’t shining very strongly at the moment, and I wonder if they might have been trying to cool off instead.

A special treat for me came in the meadow at the north end when I spotted this stunning chickweed geometer moth (Haematopis grataria), my very first, and I did not know that moths even came with that color scheme. I read that “male chickweed geometers have feathered antennae, while females have thinner, thread-like antennae,” so this one’s a dude.

Finally, we spotted the first red-spotted purple I’ve seen in the park so far this year, and it sure look fresh out of its chrysalis. Doesn’t it?

Lastly, this afternoon I’m off to Kohler-Andrae to join Anne at her extended family’s annual campout, and maybe this will be the summer when I finally get a picture of a least bittern. Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you posted!

Given the humidity, with a dew point in the low 70s, it was about as nice a morning in Estabrook Park as one could hope for. The temps were also in the low 70s, the air was still, and the sky was clear. For a slight change of pace, I skipped the pond on my way north, so I got to the meadow a little earlier than usual, and there I found the doe enjoying her breakfast alone again.

We’ve been seeing her pretty regularly there lately, so the bigger surprise was spotting this hawk perched high above. I figured it was a red-tailed hawk, whom we haven’t seen much of lately, but when I got home, my panel of experts pointed out that it is more likely our broad-winged hawk back again. “Woo hoo, and welcome back, Gorgeous!”

It was a pretty long shot, so I immediately backtracked to get up onto the bluff in hopes of a better picture, but the hawk had already cleared out by the time I caught sight of where it had been perched. Oh well. It was worth a try, and my consolation came in the form of this chipmunk who really wanted to finish enjoying that mulberry before scampering off.

Back in the meadow, the weeds were full of spider webs bejeweled with dew, and one still had a spider in it, who turned out to be this striking Arabesque orbweaver (Neoscona arabesca), who I believe to be the first representative of that species I’ve ever seen.

This next critter, which I found in the middle of the gravel path through the middle of the meadow is nearly as much a symbol of summer to me as are the cicadas singing in the trees. It’s our first road-duster of the year aka Carolina grasshopper, and I read that they “do not migrate,” but instead “overwinter as eggs.” Once they hatch, they can “complete development in [26 to 52 days],” depending on the temperature, so that helps explain the timing of their appearance.

When I finally did reach the pond, I found a youngish great blue heron slinking in the shadows along the far shore and momentarily striking this picturesque pose.

But the bigger surprise was finding this young black-crowned night heron in the bushes just above it and catching just the perfect ray of sunlight.

Finally, the ears of this eastern tailed-blue must have been ringing from my post yesterday, so today it gave us a fresh look at the tails and eye spots on its hind wing, although it didn’t stick around long enough for me to notice if it was wiggling them.

The forecast for tomorrow morning looks almost as good as today’s, so come on out for our weekly wildlife walk if you’re in town. Based on recent participation, we’ll be still doing both the 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. starts. If traffic goofs you up, and you miss both of those times, just look for my phone number hidden in the wildlife walk page, shoot me a text, and I’ll let you know where you can find us.

Finding what I can on a rainy day…

It was raining when the sun came up in Estabrook Park this morning, and it rained pretty steadily till almost 9 a.m. Since there didn’t appear to be any significant gaps nor heavy downpours, I grabbed an umbrella and headed out.

I guess it is a little remarkable that I didn’t get a single bird picture, but not too surprising. I did see these two, however, in the meadow on my way back south from the boat ramp, and that’s not too shabby. Oh, and you can see that the Parks Department has mowed the lawn again, but only a thin strip this time on either side of what is left of the gravel road through the middle, which is a nice improvement over last time. So, if one of you whispered in their ear to convince them to leave more flowers, it worked, and thanks! Yay!

The rain finally petered out as I approached the south end, and the hungry butterflies were the first to emerge. Here’s a monarch sampling the nectar from recently opened burdock blossoms.

And here’s a summer azure just parked on a leaf in the herb garden by the Benjamin Church House. If you look closely, you can see that the hindwings don’t quite line up with each other. In fact, it was slowly alternating which one it rotated forward while rotating the other rearward. I’ve seen this before, and today is the day I finally decided to try looking it up.

Well, I’m sure you will be as fascinated to learn as I just was that on butterflies in the same family (Lycaenidae) that have tails and eye spots on their hind wings, such as the banded hairstreak and eastern tailed blue, this behavior is “hypothesized to mimic a head with moving antennae [and is called] the ‘false head effect’,” and is “likely to deflect attacks away from vital parts.” I can only guess that other butterflies in the same family that do not have tails and spots simply inherited the ‘false head effect’ behavior anyway. Wild, huh?

Keeping cool by the lake…

While the rest of the country broils under the latest heat dome, Estabrook Park and its surrounding communities is enjoying the cooling effect this morning of its own giant misting system, aka a gentle breeze blowing off of Lake Michigan.

With all the mist and heavy cloud cover, I didn’t have high hopes for this morning, so I couldn’t believe my luck when I found this beauty lurking high in a tree just west of the soccer fields. Well, I must admit that my “luck” was hugely aided by the jays, flickers, robins, and even orioles who were all loudly urging it to find another tree somewhere else. You can get some indication of how dim the light was this morning by how dilated its pupils are. With almost no yellow iris showing, which I don’t believe I’ve seen from them before, I wondered for a second if it might be a barred owl, but the “great horns” really give it away.

At the pond, I was a little disappointed to find no herons today, but the hooded merganser did its best to fill in for them, and I think it did a fine job. Don’t you?

The sandpipers were also sleeping in this morning, so I didn’t find anything to photograph at the north end, but this tough-looking chipmunk staring me down as I made my way back south made up for that. I even wondered for a moment if it was going to let me pass, but it eventually relented and scampered into the brush beside the trail.

Most of the dragonflies were in hiding, as well, so here’s a handsome male blue dasher from yesterday, when they were plentiful.

And here’s a striking female to go with, if they both should so choose, of course.

Finally, I was thrilled to find a butterfly this morning, given all the other absences, and that it was a mourning cloak was just icing on the cake.

Lastly, I finally remembered to take a picture of the sign that MMSD has posted at the top of the stairs by the beer garden, which I believe shows what they intend to do with the falls better than any image I could find on their website.

Look who the hot and humid air brought with it this time…

The cloud cover has grown pretty thick, and there was a good breeze for a while, so the heat wasn’t really as bad as the forecast had suggested for this morning in Estabrook Park, although it was already in the 80s by 8 a.m., and the humidity percentage was in the 70.

I did see the hooded merganser, a wood duck, and a great blue heron all at the pond, but my favorite this morning was this green heron fishing just off the far shore.

At the river, I was surprised to find a mallard hen and her two ducklings grazing on a landing about halfway up the falls, but I guess the penalty for slipping would be simply having to scamper back up again.

At the north end, I did see kingfishers and a spotted sandpiper, but the star of that show today was this solitary sandpiper just off the near shore and catching a bit of morning sun.

At the weeds beside the soccer fields, I found our first wandering glider of the year. Yay! And welcome back!

Finally, at the crest of the bluff just south of the beer garden, I spotted this butterfly dancing around, and I held my breath while hoping for it to land where I could see it. Well, it finally did land, and when I got a good look at it, I figured it was another variegated fritillary, which we have seen in Estabrook for the first time only a month ago.

I am thrilled to report, however, that it turns out to be a great spangled fritillary, instead. I have seen one before, in the Mequon Nature Preserve, but I had only dreamed about finding one in Estabrook someday. Woo Hoo! And what a beauty, eh?

Failing the sniff test…

In an effort to beat the heat forecast for today, I got out nice and early and was already at the north end by 6:30 a.m. I don’t know if it was my early arrival or we were just due, but I finally found our first black swallowtail in Estabrook. It was waiting for the sun in the wildflowers that survived the mowing of the meadow, and sure, it looks a little “like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone,” but the parts that are left are darn pretty anyway.

As I was kneeling in the grass trying to get the best picture I could, look who came sneaking up the path to check me out.

I’ve seen this with youngsters before, and it is always a wonderfully mesmerizing experience, but this is the first time I’ve had an adult try to get close enough to catch a whiff. It appears that she eventually caught something, which I hope was mostly the insect repellant I’ve been bathing in for most of this wet, hot, and buggy summer, because then she turned and pranced off. “Sorry, Sweetie!”

Anyway, by the time I was able to turn my attention back to the swallowtail, it must have decided that there was enough sunlight to try catching some.

Another little critter I found snoozing in the weeds was this red-belted bumblebee, who looks a bit like the golden northern bumblebee we saw just yesterday, but with red belts on its tail instead of yellow.

That’s it for critters today, I’m afraid. Perhaps everyone was laying low in anticipation of the line of thunderstorms that rolled through around 9 a.m. Thus, I finally have room to share a picture of the work that MMSD has begun to reshape the falls so that native fish species can get back to their historical spawning grounds upstream. There is a great picture at the top of the stairs by the beer garden that shows the details of what they intend to do, which I was sure I could find online, but I’ve had no luck, so I’ll snap a picture of it for you tomorrow.

Since I still have a little room left, and I didn’t get a single bird picture today, here’s a spotted sandpiper on a little spit of sand in the river on Monday.

Finally, here’s another look at the monarch from yesterday, but this time on some swamp milkweed blossoms. I had great light at the time, and the monarch was very cooperative and/or hungry, so the image has good resolution, and you can see a lot more detail if you click on it to see the original on flickr and zoom in.

Feeling the humidity, and waiting for the heat to arrive…

The beautiful weather we’ve enjoyed for the past couple of days is beginning to fray, and by the time the temps hit 75°F this morning, the humidity was still 75%. Soggy!

The first picture I thought worth taking didn’t come until I reached the north end, when I spotted this doe wading from our riverbank to the upstream island, …

with her fawn in hot pursuit. I would have liked to get a nice portrait of the two of them together, of course, but they didn’t dawdle and soon disappeared inside the thick brush that grows on the island.

Just a bit upstream, I found another mom with her young charges also in hot pursuit.

As I approached the meadow on my way back south, I spotted what I presumed was another doe gobbling up blossoms, but upon closer inspection, I suspect that she may be the same doe who had just parked her fawn on the island, and she is now out carefully collecting the nutrition she needs to keep them both healthy.

Once the doe ambled off, look who I found napping on a Queen Anne’s lace blossom. That’s a golden northern bumblebee, whom we first saw right about this time just last summer.

Finally, the stars have aligned at last, and here’s a monarch butterfly sipping nectar from a purple cone flower in the pollinator garden.

Just a perfect summer day…

The beautiful weather has returned to Estabrook Park, with cool, dry, and not too breezy air, so we had a gorgeous morning for a wildlife walk. As usual, I stopped by the river on my way to meeting folks at the beer garden, and the air was cool and still enough for a thin blanket of fog to form over the warm river water, which made a nice background for this young great blue heron fishing among the arrowhead leaves at the water’s edge.

There are a few plumb trees that grow around the top of the stairway down the bluff from the beer garden, and this red squirrel was enjoying the dropped fruit and/or pits so much that it didn’t even seem to mind me taking its picture for a change.

Five folks arrived for the 7 a.m. start, and we headed to the pond to check on the hooded merganser, who appears to be finding our crayfish tasty enough to stick around.

Back at the river, this deer appeared to be comparing and contrasting the plants that grow in the water with the willow growing on shore. I have no opinion about how each tastes, nor their nutritional value, but I believe that the willow leaves do make a better picture.

On my way to collect the 8 amers, I was surprised to find a white breasted nuthatch that I could get my camera on. They’ve been keeping mostly out of sight for a while, and they’ve even grown pretty quiet lately, but they are obviously still here.

Finally, I didn’t get any butterfly or dragonfly pictures today, but a few of us took advantage of the wonderful weather and continued our walk in Lincoln Park, just a bit up river, and the beebalm is in full bloom there, so I immediately checked for snowberry clearwings, and here’s our first of the year. Yay! As luck would have it, on my walk home through Estabrook, I found one on catnip by the southern parking lot, but the bee balm was in much better light.

All kinds of babies at Oak Creek…

It was quite cloudy and a bit breezy this morning in Estabrook Park, and I got off to a pretty good start when I spotted this youngish-looking great blue heron wading a little deeper in the pond than they usually go. But then I remembered that the Milwaukee Birders were going to the Oak Creek Parkway today, about which I’ve heard plenty, but to which I’ve never been, so I declared “Victory” in Estabrook and hitched a ride to South Milwaukee.

We started at the mill pond, where Mill Road crosses the parkway, and things got off to a great start when a bystander was kind enough to point out this fawn lurking at the water’s edge. Noice!

We also saw some herons, sandpipers, kingfishers, and swallows, but the big surprise for me came when we started following the creek down to the lake and came across two mallard hens who both had broods of ducklings that looked brand-spanking new. It’s getting to be pretty late in the summer for that, I would think, but I suppose they would know better, and not having to migrate might give them a little more leeway than other species might enjoy.

I also spotted a wild turkey hen along the creek, which we’ve seen before in Estabrook, …

but this one had a couple of poults with her, which I can only dream of seeing in Estabrook, at least for now.

When we finally reached the outlet into Lake Michigan, we couldn’t help but notice the killdeer flitting around and calling for the murder of cervids at the top of their lungs. What took a little more searching, however, was a pair of youngsters, who already have most of their adult plumage in, but whose tail feathers still look a little fuzzy. We see the adults in Estabrook regularly, of course, and probably some of them are enjoying their first summer, but I have yet to see an obvious youngster there yet.

There were dozens of ring-billed gulls, and a few herring gulls, but the treat for me was the trio of Bonaparte’s gulls. Someone has reported seeing them in Estabrook Park, but not since 1994, and we’ve seen them at the lakeshore, but not in Estabrook yet, so yet another sight to dream about.

The South Milwaukee Yacht Club has a little marina right next to the creek outlet, and the swallows were loving the low perches right next to the water, and here’s a gorgeous barn swallow on break from hunting and without a white sky background for a change. Sweet!

At first glance, this next cutie looks just like the northern rough-winged swallows we see in Estabrook every summer, but that brown band across the top of its chest marks it as a bank swallow, instead. I have managed to photograph them in Estabrook during spring migration, but it was nowhere close to a portrait like this, so I didn’t even bother to show you. Maybe someday, eh?

Finally, the brush beside the creek was loaded with ebony jewelwing damselflies, and here’s one whose white spots on her wingtips marks her as a she.

P.S. Thanks to Milwaukee Birders for hosting the walk and for providing the lift!

P.P.S. I am sure that you will be as relieved to hear as I was that the broad-winged hawk we thought we saw yesterday has turn out to be a real broad-winged hawk. That’s our thirteenth bird of prey in Estabrook. Woo Hoo!

P.P.P.S. The weekly wildlife walk is ON for tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. and again at 8 a.m. Be there or be square! (_{Please note that the author, the editorial staff, and the entire graphic arts team, realize that birding can only be enjoyed if participation in it is completely voluntary and do not wish to imply any pressure whatsoever for you to attend. We will certainly miss you but will not actually consider you to be square if you are not there.})

Several mid-July surprises…

As forecast, the cool and dry air we’ve enjoyed in Estabrook for the past couple of days has moved on, and it was warmer and rainier in the park today. The air has remained nearly still, however, and with non-holiday, early Saturday traffic, it was wonderfully quiet this morning.

My first treat of the day was finding this darling female hooded merganser on the pond. There was also a young great blue heron and a couple of wood ducks, and once the merganser saw me, she drifted right over to the wood ducks for comfort, moral support, or protection, but she wouldn’t say which.

The lighting wasn’t great, so I left the heron and ducks alone and headed down to the river to see if there were any scenes I could capture. Happily, these three youngish mallard ducklings had selected a perch pretty close to our riverbank, and they did not want to give it up, so I was able to sneak this picture without rousing them. Mom was just off to the right, and she drifted over to get between us once she saw me.

On quiet days like today, I’ve been hearing one or two common yellowthroats across the river at the north end and just about ever since they arrived, but today one was calling loud and clear from what’s left of the wildflower meadow on our side of the river. They are usually quite hard to spot, but he kept on singing as I carefully approached, so I gave a look, and was thrilled to find him almost right away. He even gave me enough time to sneak this picture, and then he bolted for deeper cover.

The biggest treat of the day, however, came soon after, when I spotted a dark bird perched high in a dead tree, as I often see cowbirds do. I hadn’t seen a cowbird yet today, and it wasn’t making its characteristic call, so I first tried the binoculars, but the back light was so bright that I couldn’t make out the brown head. So, I tried my camera, which can sometimes tease out a detail like that if I way overexpose the image.

Well, the bird turned out to be a grackle, but just as I was realizing that, a hawk flew right under it and perched a few trees back. I figured it was a Cooper’s hawk, based on size and behavior, but I hadn’t gotten a picture of one in a while, and my camera was already on and ready to go, so I gave it a try, and this is what I got.

It does look a bit like a Cooper’s hawk, but the tail is too short, and they don’t have that brown bib extending from the face onto the breast, as this one does. Thus, I wasn’t sure who it was, so I consulted with my sources, and they both agreed that this is our very first broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus). For reasons that the range map does not make clear, ebird considers them rare for here right now, but there are not a lot of rarities being posted these days, so I shouldn’t have to wait too long for the fine folks at ebird to weigh in to accept or reject my identification. Keep your fingers crossed!

And that’s it for the birds today, so here’s another look at the doe and her fawn from Monday. I’m sorry to say that they’ve kept out of sight since then.

I did get several moth pictures today, but these particular moths are not especially photogenic, and I failed to get any dragonflies or butterflies, so here’s a sulphur, either clouded or orange, from yesterday, when the butterflies were plentiful.

Finally, here’s another monarch-on-thistle picture, also from yesterday, because I simply cannot resist those colors.

Lastly, a friend of mine is trying to preserve a little bit of accidental wetland in Whitefish Bay, where she has documented over 80 species of plants and animals. You can read a very nice article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about it here, and you can participate in a super-easy letter-writing campaign here. Remember that the more friendly habitat there is around us, the more wildlife there can be, and the more we’re likely to see of it in Estabrook Park.