Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Gotta remember to add a title…

This morning in Estabrook Park the weather was similar to yesterday, but warmer, a tad breezier, and a tad sunnier, sometimes. The wildlife appeared to be loving it.

Before we get to that, however, take a look at these beauties, our first ever American avocets (Recurvirostra americana), taking a breather on the Lake Michigan shoreline at McKinley Beach early yesterday afternoon. They have been spotted in Milwaukee County before, from time to time, but we are way out of their natural range, so they are considered rare for here, and they drew a crowd. As soon as I heard they were there, I jumped on my bike and hustled on down, and that’s why my post was so late yesterday, but I think it was completely worth it.

I realize this picture isn’t the greatest. I and a bunch of other enthusiasts were all trying to leave the birds enough room to feel comfortable, and you should have seen the absolute cannon the guy next to me had, but if you click on the image, or this link, to look at a copy of the full image in flickr, you can zoom in to see that it does have some nice detail anyway, despite the heat distortion and my meager equipment.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. We have yet another new arrival this morning, and it was this male Baltimore oriole, whom we last saw in Guatemala, of all places, and who was already busy announcing his arrival in song.

As I was trying to get a picture of the oriole, without scaring it off, there was quite a ruckus down the bluff, and when I was finally able to go check it out, there was just this one character left. Its adversary must have moved on by then.

As I was trying to get a shot at the racoon without scaring it off, I could already hear this eastern towhee calling me to come take its picture.

I stopped by the pond, and the geese and goslings are all doing fine, but how many gosling pictures do you need, right? Instead, check out this action over the islands in the river above the falls. That’s our first osprey of the year. Woo hoo!

Okay, okay. If it’s babies you really want, cast your eyes upon these two hot chicks, literally. It’s a bit hard to count, but there are at least two northern cardinal chicks in the nest we saw just Monday, and they are supposed to run at 106°F. That’s 2° hotter than the maximum safe hot tub temperature. Don’t worry, when I went back by, 5 minutes later, Mom was already back on the job. She must have just needed a little break.

Finally, your new blossoms of the day are these precious Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) opening right beside the river path at the far northwest end.

I actually saw quite a bit more this morning, but I’ve got a plane to catch at 7:35 tomorrow morning, so I’m saving the rest to tide you over until I can get some pictures in Arizona. Wish me luck!

Not all new arrivals come by air…

I found the forecast last evening for the weather this morning to be very exciting. Sure, it was going to be cloudy, and it might even sprinkle, but the temps were supposed to be seasonably cool, not cold, and winds were supposed to be dead still, so just perfect conditions for bugs to waft into the air and for me to hear the warblers twittering amongst themselves as they gobbled them up.

The first interesting twitter I heard, however, was from this rusty blackbird, one of a pair, high in the oak tree at the north end of the soccer fields. We haven’t seen one since back in March.

The river was quiet at the midpoint, and on my way to the pond, the screech-owl was, too.

The main story of the day, though, has got to be the hatching of seven (7!) darling goslings. Here they are with Mom and Dad up on the lawn on the west side of the pond. Boy, she’s gotta be thrilled to stretch her legs and get something to eat, for a change. Right? I had gotten a tip from a reader yesterday afternoon, who had gone looking for that purple finch, but found goslings instead. A fine consolation prize indeed.

Careful readers with a good memory may recall that just 28 days ago, when I first spotted Mom on her nest, I said “we’ve got just 32 to 48 days to wait.” Now, either these eggs hatched early, or she had been on her nest while I was in Colorado, and was taking a short break when I stopped by the pond on the 25th. I suspect the latter scenario is the more-likely.

Here’s a closeup of one of the hungry little rascals.

Back at the river, and at the north end, I found one more pair of blue-winged teals, and here’s the drake pausing for a quick preening.

Back on shore, I did eventually hear a lot of warblers, but they were almost all yellow-rumped, and the still air let them stay up nice and high in the trees, which I had obviously failed to anticipate. Luckily, there were a few palm warblers around, as well, and they often seem to be a lot more comfortable with the camera, so here’s our first palm warbler picture of the year.

Finally, the new blossom of the day is this white trout lily.

The influx gathers steam…

It was cool and pretty cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but the wind and rain were on pause for a moment, so I brought the rain cover for my camera and headed out to see who was new today.

My first treat came at the pond, where I found this handsome devil, my first male purple finch. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a female before, and I’ve mistakenly thought I’ve seen a male once or twice, but this is the first unmistakably “raspberry red” finch I believe I’ve ever set eyes on. As I was told would happen, once I saw it, I knew exactly what it was and why all the others simply weren’t.

I couldn’t find a grebe or heron at the pond today, so I headed to the river, where the great horned owl was also absent, but this white-throated sparrow, in full breeding plumage, was kind enough to let me sneak a closeup through the sticks while it was taking a break from singing and foraging.

All the fancy ducks appear to have moved on, at least for today, and the next interesting sight at the river was this pair of pigeon chicks on their nest under the Port Washington Bridge. You may recall that we saw the mom on her nest back on the first day of spring, and this is what she has to show for the effort.

On my way back downstream, I managed to catch a ruby-crowned kinglet, seemingly in a moment of repose, but it was only a moment before it bolted off to gobble down its next bug. They’ve begun singing energetically throughout the park, so it was nice to get a picture to go with the song.

I continued past the islands, and that’s where I caught this glimpse of our first northern waterthrush of the year. In the past, they haven’t been too shy, so I have a hope of getting a nicer picture for you soon.

The biggest surprise of the day, however, was spotting this stunner as I tried to keep tabs on the waterthrush. This is our first ever prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea), and it was also darting from branch to branch, right over the water and behind all this sticks, so I’m thrilled to have gotten a picture even this good. What an absolute beauty, eh?

I read that “it is named for its plumage, which resembles the yellow robes once worn by papal clerks (named prothonotaries) in the Roman Catholic Church,” and it is “the only eastern warbler that nests in natural or artificial cavities.” How about that?

Finally, as soon as I lost sight of the warbler, it started to sprinkle, so I turned towards home. I stopped by the pond one more time on my way, and there I found this pair of wood ducks working hard to make more.

Lastly, I see that the Milwaukee Birders are visiting Lion’s Den Gorge on Sunday, and I’d love to go with them, but my sister is dragging me to Arizona instead 😉, so I’ll have to miss it. If you go in my place, see me something good, would ya?

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.