Jeepers! The weather must have heard me mention fall migration season yesterday and gotten all excited because it sure was cool and dark in Estabrook Park this morning, and even at lunchtime we’re still in the lower 60s.
Luckily, birds still gotta eat, so here’s a green heron who just snatched a crayfish out of the pond.
And here are a couple of young-looking mallard ducklings getting their breakfast out of the river as Mom keeps watch.
The cool air really slowed the bugs down, but this one dragonfly, a spot-winged glider, still flew its patrol over the pollinator garden, and I had to practice my patience before it let me get this shot.
I only saw one butterfly today, and it evaded me, so here’s a female monarch from yesterday and on swamp milkweed by the river.
And here she is laying an egg.
After the warm spell we’ve had, I sure don’t mind this cool air, but I do hope the sun comes back out eventually.
The beautiful weather we’ve been enjoying in Estabrook Park is starting to look a little rough around the edges today with towering clouds embedded in a hazy sky. Thus, it was a little darker than usual at the pond when I arrived, which made a nice background for the youngish great blue heron we’ve been seeing there lately.
Then a green heron showed up, and I really wanted to get a nice picture of both of them together, and this was the best I could manage, but it does give you some sense of the difference in size between them.
When I gave up on the “family” portrait idea, I had better luck.
Meanwhile, there was another “family” reunion going on at the river when a pair of solitary sandpipers showed up. We haven’t seen them since the last “family” portrait back in May. Since their breeding range is well over the border into Canada, and they winter south of the Florida panhandle, I believe their arrival must officially mark the start of fall migration season! Woo hoo!
This visit was a little more contentious than the last, however, and one of the spotted sandpipers, who’ve been here all summer, seemed to have a bone to pick with their larger cousins, whom it kept chasing off. Perhaps it just didn’t want to share the breakfast buffet with these out-of-towners, or something else was up, but either way, there were no group shots.
I’ve shown you a blue dasher dragonfly already this month, but this one did a much nicer job of showing off the dashing black and yellow stripes it has under its wings.
The recent great weather in Estabrook Park continued this morning, the cicadas were already singing at 7 a.m., and this green heron making one of its infrequent visits to the pond was icing on the cake.
On the river, the belted kingfishers are still feeding their noisy young.
As I was trying to capture the kingfisher feeding, these two large snapping turtles floated by and appeared to be “wrestling,” but I never got to see who “won.”
No sooner had the turtles drifted beyond range when this deer waded from the upstream island to the mainland, but there was no sign of the doe with her fawn today.
Back on shore, this dapper-looking American goldfinch male used some chicory as a perch from which to pick grass seeds, which you can see him deftly clutching in his right claw.
Just below, this less-flashy female did about the same.
I’ve seen both swamp milkweed and large milkweed bugs before, but never quite like this. It looks like they’re having quite a time.
I only captured my first amberwing image just last August, but it sure made me wait for it that day, and even then it didn’t let me get very close. Today, however, I didn’t have to wait long at all, and this one let me have a nice closeup. What a difference a year makes, eh?
Finally, despite the warm temps, calm winds, and plentiful blossoms, I didn’t see a lot of butterflies today, so it’s back to the monarchs again. The light was great, and the subject sat still, so the image has some pretty good details. If you click on it so you can zoom in, you can see how the scales on the wing appear to be arranged in a circular pattern around the “shoulder” joint.
It was another beautiful morning in Estabrook Park, and it seemed that the Canadian wildfire smoke, which had dimmed yesterday a bit, has mostly moved on.
My first treat of the morning came on the river, just north of the falls, when I saw that a big section of a cottonwood tree had fallen into the water, and then I noticed a little movement among the branches. It turns out that I was not the first to discover this literal windfall, and here’s a beaver busily taking advantage of it.
Just a bit upstream of the beaver, I was pleasantly surprised to find ten wood duck ducklings that look nearly full grown. In fact, I can’t even decide if there’s a mom in the group or not. It’s great to see that we should have plenty of new wood ducks to come visit us next spring.
Speaking of “moms”, look who brought her fawn out to greet the day on the upstream island.
Then John mentioned that he had just seen bobolinks on the south side of town, and Jeff said he’d love to see bobolinks in Milwaukee, a sentiment that I immediately seconded, so we wrapped things up in Estabrook, and Jeff drove us down to the southside. At first, all we were seeing were savannah sparrows perched and swallows on the wing.
But the Milwaukee bobolinks eventually began to appear, and here’s a female.
And finally, here are a couple of males, in various stages of getting their breeding plumage in or molting it out. Thanks for the tip, John, and for the lift, Jeff!
Lastly, the tall grasses and wildflowers also brought us our first black swallowtail of the season. Yay!
So, I went looking for our latest celebrity guest, a kelp gull (Larus dominicanus), who is far, far away from home, and is making the best of it on the roof of general cargo terminal 2 in the Port of Milwaukee. This morning was my second attempt, and I came up empty again. With nothing to write about, I was moping around the house early this afternoon when I saw that someone had just spotted it, and it turns out that the third time was the charm for me! Here he is, our southern wanderer, with his local sweetheart by his side, from 400 feet away and through a chain-link fence. “Welcome to Milwaukee, Buddy! Try the fish!”
Now that we’re all here, I might as well show you the one picture I took in Estabrook yesterday morning of three wood duck hens practicing their logrolling on the pond. Two had been perched there nicely, but when the third hopped up to join them, the floating log did not want to stay put, and after a few attempts, one of the ducks just gave up and swam away in disgust.
I see the weather report looks gorgeous for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning, with clear skies, nearly still air, and temps in the mid-sixties, so come on out, if you can, and I’ll see you in the parking lot by the beer garden at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., depending on your schedule. Oh, and I heard from an attendee last week that my phone number hidden on that page is discoverable, so if you’re a few minutes late, just shoot me a text, and I’ll tell you where to find us.
The first treat was seeing three (3!) American kestrels, which I understand are part of a family with two fledglings. I’m not sure if this is a parent or fledgling, but it sure is a pretty bird, isn’t it?
House wrens are not nearly as exotic as kestrels, but they are quite the singers, and this guy was no exception.
We see orchard orioles once in a while in Estabrook, but they must not find there the habitat they are looking for, because they never stick around. Instead, Havenwoods must fit the bill because we saw a pair of them today, and here’s the male.
The same must be true for marsh wrens, because look who I found in the cattails at the edge of one of the ponds they have.
Given the big, open fields, I would have been surprised if there were not meadowlarks, but they did keep out of sight until the last field we checked.
The wildflowers in those big, open fields also attract butterflies, and I counted at least five species, and this is our first red-spotted purple of the year. I hope to see one in Estabrook soon.
I realize I also just showed you a wood nymph last Sunday, but this one posed to nicely with such good lighting, that I couldn’t help myself.
Similarly, I just showed you a wood satyr on Thursday, but how often do you get to see a nymph and a satyr on the same day, so you can really compare and contrast them? Plus, we got a completely different pose today.
Well, that turned out to be totally worth the bike ride up there, and I may have to do it again sometime.
It was a soggy morning in Estabrook Park, and the rain was coming down pretty good at sunrise, but it didn’t last, I’m happy to say, and I was able to get out the door by about quarter after six.
My first treat of the day was finding our osprey perched on our side of the river and just about at eye level. If you click on the image so that you can zoom in, you can even see that it still has drops of rainwater on its back.
Given the weather, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that my next treat was this family of wood ducks on the river above the falls.
Meanwhile, just a hundred yards upstream, this family of mallards appeared to be settling in for a nap.
There was a second family of mallards on that sandbar, however, and the mom with the younger ducklings strode over and chased the first mom off. She’s now out of frame, but you can see her five ducklings now at attention and wide awake.
Then the first mom decided it was time to go, and I swear I could hear her ducklings clamoring “why do we have to go? We liked it there,” as they trailed behind her, and the look on her face sure sounds to me like “because I said so, that’s why.”
Back on shore, and high above the meadow at the north end, the biggish surprise of the day is our first rose-breasted grosbeak since early May. They’re not considered “rare” for this time of year, just “infrequent”.
The grosbeak was quiet today, but this young kingfisher made up for it with incessant calls of “Feed me! Feed me!”
Finally, in the weeds beside the soccer fields, I was thrilled to find this colorful Halloween pennant dragonfly on such a gray day.
It was another beautiful morning in Estabrook Park, and I thought there was enough light for me to get a nice and early start. So early, in fact, that I surprised this raccoon, who was still out foraging by the underpass when I walked by.
Things were quiet, however, and the only bird picture I took today is of this darling spotted sandpiper. It’s young, so it doesn’t have spots yet. Instead, you can still see its fluffy baby feathers poking out all over.
Since I wasn’t seeing much today, I decided to hike back home, grab my bike, and ride down to the Urban Ecology Center for their 8 a.m. bird walk. We saw a decent number of birds, but I still failed to capture any on film. Instead, I found another spiny softshell turtle on the far riverbank, and I couldn’t resist.
Then there were two more! Wow, they’re thick down there.
On our way back up from the river, we went by two (2!) raccoon dens, and this is the one with better lighting.
Not to be outdone, this chipmunk held its pose perfectly for me.
I saw a few dragonflies on the wing today, but I never got a good look at one perched, so here’s a ruby meadowhawk from yesterday.
I did have a butterfly perch this morning, and it was this pretty little wood satyr.
Finally, if you like black raspberries, now is the time! They are ripe and delicious.
Lastly, I found these two beauties by the river on Monday, and Lisa was kind enough to keep them in her car for me during our wildlife walk. You’ll be glad to know that I’ve tested them already, and they both turned out to be safe to drink. Ha!
It was a super nice morning in Estabrook Park, with mild temps, mostly clear skies, and nearly still air. Once the channel 12 news helicopter was done reporting on an early-morning traffic tie-up on I-43 north, things really quieted down, and I could even hear the blue-grey gnatcatchers calling softly.
Before we get to the critters in Estabrook, however, I’m a little light on little birds today, so here’s one more cutie from Horicon Marsh yesterday, a male common yellowthroat who was uncharacteristically sticking to that perch even after it saw me standing about just 15 feet away.
Okay. Now back to Estabrook, where I was greeted by this red-tailed hawk in the TV tower at the far south end even before I could cross Wilson Dr.
Meanwhile, at the other end of that same island, the family of kingfishers was out, and one of the youngsters was playing with a stick like a puppy, which I have not seen before. Actually, it was most likely practicing for when it catches a live fish or crayfish and needs to thrash it against the branch it is perched on before gulping it down, as we have seen kingfishers do before.
Here it is checking to see if I’m watching, and I’m not just watching, I’m very much enjoying the show.
Nor was I the only one watching. Here’s the osprey perched high above the far shore and looking right at the island.
Back on shore, I saw a few dragonflies today, but no new ones, so let’s go with this eastern pondhawk, who chose the prettiest perch.
I did manage to see another first-of-the-year butterfly, and it was this stunning banded hairstreak on a branch above the pollinator garden.
Finally, I believe I have laid eyes on my very first rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis). They are considered to be “critically endangered,” so I sure didn’t go out expecting to find one, but if my identification is correct, and my sources suggest that it is, then this makes the 7th species of bumble bee I’ve managed to find in Estabrook Park. Who even knew there were so many? I’ll have to start a new section in the index just for bees.
There were also a few black-necked stilts, which I also saw back in 2023, but this time they had a couple of chicks with them, and you can see one of the little grey cuties just above and to the right of the adult.
Plus, I was able to make a couple of nice portraits.
I’ve also seen yellow-headed blackbirds before, during my visit in 2024, but this is the first picture I can show you of a breeding male in all his finery.
Another bird I’ve also glimpsed before, but never managed to photograph, is the Virginia rail (Rallus limicola), and here’s a youngster on the hunt. Just look at the size of that foot!
Here’s the youngster together with one of its parents.
And here, finally, is one of the elusive parents out in the open.
This male, with a few orange feathers mixed in with the white on his back, is a bit of a mystery, and my best guess is that he’s already starting to molt into his yellow, non-breeding plumage.
Finally, here are those two males again with a yellow female in between.
That’s a wrap for the always-amazing Horicon Marsh, thanks to Donna and Katie for all the driving, and I plan to be back in Estabrook Park bright and early tomorrow morning.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 