I made it safely to Connecticut, and the weather is beautiful here, too, but the critters were pretty shy this morning.

I did spot three green herons at the same time spread out over the water were I spotted them nesting in the spring, so that’s a potential very good sign.

Near the end of my walk, I was thrilled to spot my first sandpiper in CT, this darling young solitary sandpiper.

Finally, atop the flagpole out in front of the old Ball and Socket Mfg. Co. building, these starlings had found an interesting perch.

And that’s it for today, I’m afraid. Wish me better luck for tomorrow.

I’m off to Connecticut to see my folks for a week, and I may still be on the plane as you are reading this. Happily, yesterday’s outing in Estabrook Park went into extra innings, and I have a few more pictures to show you.

As I was trying to capture images of the asters and pearl crescent at the south end yesterday, a crowd of people was forming in the parking lot, and they turned out to be on a field trip with Professor Michael Pauers for his Ichthyology 511 class at the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences. They were headed down to the river to try electrofishing to see what they could find, and they allowed me to tag along.

Besides providing a way to catch little fish that you might never catch with a hook and line, electrofishing is supposed to leave most of the fish stunned but otherwise unharmed. Anyway, while the professor was out on the river with a couple of students making their first collection, I spotted this character buried up to its eyeballs in the river mud.

The anglers came back in short order, and the first haul included this common shiner (Luxilus cornutus), …

this hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus), …

and this emerald shiner (Notropis atherinoides), all of which the professor IDed from just memory.

The next haul included this round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), an invasive species from the Black and/or Caspian Seas, …

this beautiful rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), …

and this stonecat (Noturus flavus).

Finally, the third haul included this wee white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), …

and this gorgeous pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus).

Lastly, as we were waiting on shore for more fish to come in, this gorgeous creature was flitting about above us, and I kept hoping that it would land someplace so I could take its picture. Well, sometimes miracles do happen, and this mourning cloak is your butterfly of the day. If you are wondering, we saw the in/top side of the wings last June.

Wish me luck finding something to show you on Thursday.

It was another beautiful morning in paradise, similar to yesterday, but with a lot less wind.

The first big surprise was finding a great horned owl back at the north end. We haven’t seen the likes of them since they had a run-in with a Cooper’s hawk back in August. “Welcome back, Gorgeous!”

While the owl was overhead, this migrating northern waterthrush was across the water foraging on the shore of the southern island.

At the north end, I caught a glimpse of this stunning golden-winged warbler. Can you imagine how it would have looked if my lens had focused on the bird instead of on the leaves in the foreground. Sadly, the bird did not give me a second chance.

Thankfully, this little cutie, a young and/or female magnolia warbler, I believe, came out a little clearer.

Another face we haven’t seen since August is that of this osprey, who perched statuesquely over the northern island.

If you ever wondered what an indigo bunting looks like as its blue feathers come in, here you go. This might be the youngster we saw just after labor day.

The great blue heron was back on the pond, but there were already enough photographers there, so I tried the river again, and this eastern phoebe was my reward. The most recent phoebe picture I can find is from April. “Watch out for that fishing line, Cutie!”

I could not find the spotted sandpiper on the lily pads today, so when I heard one down on the river from atop the bluff, I hustled down to find one on a rock in the middle of the river.

In the trees along the west edge of the soccer fields, I finally managed a photo, suitable for identification only, of a ruby-crowned kinglet, whom we also haven’t seen since the spring.

In the weeds beside the soccer fields, I was able to find a dragonfly that is not a green darner. Instead, this is a wandering glider, which we only saw for the first time this summer.

Finally, asters are starting to blossom throughout the park, and these stunning New England asters are growing right beside the southern parking lot and attracting quite a crowd of hungry pollinators.

Lastly, as I was trying to line up the asters, this faded beauty landed on a leaf right behind them. As far as I can tell, this is our very first pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos), and close cousin of the northern crescent that we have seen a few times. There’s plenty of variation between the sexes and the individuals of a species, but the only images I can find online of crescents that have those dots along the hind edge of the hind wings fully boxed in, as this one does, is of pearl crescents, and here’s hoping that the experts agree with me.

It turns out that the white sky yesterday was caused by wildfire smoke, but it stayed up high, and a wind out of the west kicked up, so the sky was nice and blue again in Estabrook Park this morning.

My first greeter of the day was this darling palm warbler in the trees west of the soccer fields, and our first palm warbler of the season. The image is so grainy because the sun hadn’t even come over the trees to the east, and so there wasn’t much light yet. Thank goodness they are such good posers.

At the river, I was happy to see the spotted sandpiper was back on the lily pads, and here it is already hard at work before the sun had even reached down into the valley.

I beat the great blue heron to the pond, and there wasn’t much else to see yet, so I headed back to the river. As I was about to cross the parkway, I watched a Cooper’s hawk chase a red-tailed hawk back and forth over the baseball field. The red-tailed eventually swooped into this tree, and the Cooper’s continued on to the river.

At the north end the migrating ducks had moved on, leaving only dozens a mallards and a few geese. The trees on shore, however, were full of little birds, and here’s a female redstart flashing us her distinctive tail feathers. I read that “this seems to startle insect prey and give the birds an opportunity to catch them.”

Here’s a yellow-bellied flycatcher, I believe.

Back at the pond, I finally caught a male redstart in all his black and orange finery.

A great crested flycatcher swooped in to check out the scene, and then quickly moved on.

A black-and-white warbler foraged on branches and trunks as nuthatches do.

The yellow belly on this vireo marks it as another Philadelphia vireo. Compare it to the white-bellied and red-eyed vireo we saw just yesterday.

On this second visit to the pond, I found that the great blue heron had finally arrived, and here it is on break after giving fishing lessons to a couple of photographers on the west lawn again.

On my third visit to the river, the sandpiper was still picking bugs off of the lily pads, but now the sun was high enough in the sky to light up the scene.

Finally, the only butterflies I saw today were fiery skippers, and I just showed you one two days ago, so this green darner will have to serve as your “butterfly” of the day.

The air was a smidge warmer and a lot calmer this morning in Estabrook Park, and it would have been a perfect day except for a high, thin overcast that gave the sky a bright white color. The birds didn’t seem to mind, however, and they put on quite a show.

The great blue heron was already on the pond when I arrived, and it grabbed a quick snack before the regular crowd assembled for their fishing lessons.

At the river, there was a pair of female blue-winged teals, …

and here they are flashing us that namesake wing.

The far bigger surprise, if my identification is correct, would be this molting male cinnamon teal far out on the water. It’s got a nice cinnamony color and a red eye, as far as I can tell. It would be the first such teal spotted in Estabrook, but not the first in Milwaukee. Curiously, there was also a young or female hooded merganser with it, and that’s the bird with its back to us just under the tail of the teal and about to nudge the teal off that rock so it can have a turn at preening in the sun.

While I was taking countless pictures of the teal, in hopes that one would come out, check out the action I noticed over the Barnabas Business Center across the river. That’s a Cooper’s hawk, the smaller bird on top, fighting with an American crow, the larger, black bird beneath it.

Anyway, back on our side of the river, the little migrant birds were thick in the trees, and here’s a black-and-white warbler, …

a red-eyed vireo flashing its red eye, …

a young or female chestnut sided warbler, pictured for the first time this fall, …

a Tennessee warbler wondering if maybe somebody’s trying to hide inside that curled up leaf, …

and yet another black-throated green warbler. I took all these pictures while barely taking a step.

Finally, there were a few monarchs out and about, now that the wind has died down, and here’s your butterfly of the day.

Wow, it was chilly out this morning! I read 48°F, plus there was a nice breeze out of the north, so I had to layer up for the first time of the season. The cold might have kept some folks home for a bit, so I had the pond to myself when I arrived, and that enabled me to spot our first green heron of the month, probably a youngster by the looks of those light marks on the wings.

As I was looking to see who else might be around, the great blue heron flew in to provide fishing lessons again, but nobody was on the west lawn yet.

At the river, I had just plunked myself down on my favorite log, when I heard a familiar squawking from above from a pair of Cooper’s hawks with a lot to talk about.

At the far north end, as I scanned the bridge for pigeons and the power lines for starlings, I spotted this pair of crows who were up to something.

They repeated this act a few times, and the one on the right didn’t budge, but they were too far away for me to see what the one on the left was looking for.

Anyway, back at the pond, a couple of catbirds were meowing, and here’s the one I could get eyes on.

The tall trees around the pond were providing a nice windbreak, so the lower branches were full of little birds. Here’s a young bay-breasted warbler, another species we haven’t seen since May.

If my identification is correct, this is a Philadelphia vireo, which the fine folks at ebird have been flagging as “rare” for the last week or so.

Grackles are still around, though not in their usual haunts beside the river, so it was fun to catch this one over the pond.

Back out of the wind, here’s another black-throated green warbler.

The pond didn’t have a monopoly, however, and here’s a shy magnolia warbler lurking deeper in the leaves beside the river. We did see one of these just last month.

The breeze was pretty stiff at the pollinator garden, so my expectations were met when I didn’t find anyone there. Instead, this American rubyspot damselfly was perched in the sun right beside the walking path just north of the soccer fields.

Finally, there were a couple of intrepid, if tiny, fiery skippers on the thistle blossoms beside the soccer fields, so this will be your butterfly of the day.

We did get that forecast change in the weather, so it was cool, breezy, and sometimes cloudy in Estabrook Park this morning, but the breeze was out of the north, so much of the river valley was pretty still, and the sun had plenty of opportunities to poke through the clouds, so it was a nice change of pace.

The paths along the river and around the pond were unusually busy this morning, so I didn’t see any critters to photograph until I reached the north end, where this chickadee just kept posing for me, as if daring me to take its picture.

The park is full of robins these days, I counted 58 this morning, so it would be surprising if there wasn’t also a robin, a young one in this case, posing in that same tree.

I didn’t see anybody out on the water that we haven’t already seen plenty of, so I headed back to the pond where I found this blackpoll warbler foraging in the trees at the north end. They haven’t all flown south yet. Yay!

Right next to the blackpoll, this chipmunk might take the record for the highest chipmunk I’ve seen so far, and by “highest” I mean “highest in a tree,” in case some other meaning popped into your head.

A bit farther east, a Swainson’s thrush posed perfectly, and got photobombed by a much larger robin, of course.

The great blue heron on the pond was giving lessons again, but I liked this one on the river better, working without an audience.

As I approached the weeds along the west edge of the southern soccer fields, I caught movement overhead out of the corner of my eye, and look who it turned out to be: our first black-throated green warbler of the fall migration! Fantastic! We haven’t seen one since May.

When I finally did reach the weeds, I found the breeze too stiff for butterflies, but these goldfinches were undeterred. Here’s a male, in all his finery.

And here’s a juvenile.

Finally, I did spot one interesting critter in the river, and it was this giant common carp, but I couldn’t get a better picture than this, so I didn’t want to lead with it. It did turn nicely to give us a side view, but my camera kept focusing on the reflection of the trees across the river. Anyway, I’d bet the thing was 18 inches long, or longer, and 5 to 6 inches in diameter, at its widest.

Lastly, I did find one butterfly, on the goldenrod along the edge of the meadow at the north end, and that’s gonna be your butterfly of the day.

PS. So that you don’t have to search for it, in case you’re looking for it, here’s the link to North Shore School for Seniors again.

I see that our string of nice weather is forecast to peter out soon, but not before we had one more beautiful morning in Estabrook Park.

The big surprise for today was that the young spotted sandpiper was still foraging on the same lily pads. I didn’t take a picture yesterday, but I saw it there, so that makes three days in a row. It even stayed long enough for the sun to come over the trees and light up the scene. Outstanding!

Not every lily pad was up to the task, however, but the bird simply flapped its wings and hopped to the next one.

And that’s all I’ve got for birds, I’m afraid. Luckily, there were plenty of bugs to pick up the slack. Here’s a spotted orbweaver who builds its web across the path I take along the riverbank to see the deer, owls, and even sandpipers. It has been there for the past three mornings, and it pains me to damage the web, but the brush is really thick there, so my only real alternative would be to turn around, and then we’d miss those amazing sights. I can only hope that if the repairs were too onerous, it would have moved on by now. In any case, “Sorry, Sweetie!”

In happier news, I just read that “an international team of researchers has revealed an unexpected genetic process that shapes the intricate and colorful patterns on butterfly wings,” so let’s celebrate with some of the butterflies I saw today, starting with this monarch.

Then this acrobatic silver-spotted skipper.

A few dozen yards south, the thistle blossoms change from purple to yellow, and that’s where I found this orange sulphur.

But the butterfly of the day should be this gorgeous common buckeye, the likes of which we haven’t seen in a while.

Finally, there was an article in yesterday’s paper about swarms of dragonflies at the lakefront, and it explains that “the insects are making their yearly migration south,” including common green darners, which probably explains why I’m seeing fewer and fewer of them in Estabrook Park these days. The last picture I captured of one was back on August 31, 2024, when I used a blue dasher picture instead.

Lastly, if you’ve been thinking to yourself, “these posts are all well and good,” and I sure hope you have, but then you continue, “if only there were a way for him to show me these pictures and tell me these stories in person,” then today is your lucky day. Well, I’ve already written today’s post, and you’ve already read most of it, so let’s not do it today. Instead, how about Tuesday, November 5 from 2:30 to 3:30 when I’ll be presenting for North Shore School for Seniors. They do charge a small fee, to cover expenses of their brick and mortar operation, but I hope that won’t be a deal breaker. Anyway, you can check out all the details, and sign up, if you are so inclined, at their website: Nss4s.org. I hope to see you there.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Someone left me another park beer, and it looks like a fresh one, so thanks for that!

I wasn’t seeing much worth photographing in Estabrook Park this morning, despite the continued beautiful weather, until I approached the north end. There, I was off the trail along the bottom of the bluff, and following the riverbank instead, when I spotted this beauty out in the shallow river water.

Better yet, she was heading toward the southern island, even though it was clear she had spotted me on the mainland, so I was able to get another picture in better light. She didn’t just clamber up onto the island, however, and stood still in the water for a while.

When I glanced upstream, I realized why. She was waiting for her little one to keep up.

Unfortunately, it didn’t follow mom’s route exactly and ended up getting into deeper water than it liked.

Despite also probably seeing me, it veered right and pressed on toward the mainland to climb up the riverbank just about twenty feet upstream of me.

Mom waited a bit, and then dutifully followed.

I figured that was the last I would see of them today, but I also waited a bit, to give them a chance to reunite, and then I continued north along the riverbank. They hadn’t bothered going very far, however, and I soon spotted them together about thirty feet inland.

The brush was pretty thick between us, so I didn’t have a clear shot, but I waited a moment, and they eventually put their heads together and both faced the camera. I took this picture, gave them a little wave, and quietly continued on my way.

Meanwhile, in the avian world, the Swainson’s thrushes are still scattered throughout the park, and here’s one of about a dozen I saw.

The house wrens also continue to come through, although not nearly as thickly, and here’s one of the two I saw.

Finally, the young great blue heron on the pond continues with its fishing lessons for the photographers seated on the west lawn, and here it is showing them the fish it just caught.

Lastly, I did see a couple of butterflies today, but the big ones evaded me, and we’ve seen enough of the little skippers, so the butterfly of the day will have to be this European comma (Polygonia c-album) that I spotted outside of Riga, Latvia, last week. As you might expect, it is a cousin of the eastern comma we see in Estabrook Park, but their ranges do not overlap.

I wish I knew what I stepped in, because it sure has brought a nice long streak of beautiful weather to Estabrook Park. It was cooler this morning, closer to 50 than 60, which created some low fog over the soccer fields and the river, but the air was still again, and the skies were clear, so it was just perfect for a walk in the park.

I stopped by the river again before the pond, and I arrived just in time to watch this Cooper’s hawk make an unsuccessful try for a belted kingfisher, after which it perched nearly over my head to see what else might be on the menu.

Oddly, it seemed not to notice, or care for, the young spotted sandpiper foraging atop the lily pads on the water almost right below it. Perhaps it was just as amazed as I was to learn that sandpipers could even do that.

The kingfisher went by again, and the hawk gave it one more try, without success, and perched overhead again to contemplate the error of its ways. But this time, it faced the camera and hid behind fewer branches, so hurray for us.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement enough already, then a beaver steamed down the river, …

and a couple of mallards came up river to greet it. I mentioned the fog already, right?

Anyway, the party eventually subsided at the river, I checked the pond, which was quiet again, and returned to the river at the north end. I was sad to find the teals had moved on, but a family of indigo buntings, dad with two hungry and noisy offspring, made up for that.

By the time of my second pass at the pond, a great blue heron had arrived and was giving fishing lessons to a gaggle of photographers on the west lawn.

Since I had a few minutes left on the clock, I stopped by the river one last time, and I was thrilled to find the sandpiper still foraging on the lily pads, but now with a nice warm sun lighting up the scene.

From there, it was a quick walk up to the pollinator garden, where I did spot a monarch, but it stayed away from the flowers. Instead, this red-belted bumblebee (Bombus rufocinctus) was nearly climbing into the obedient plant blossoms.

On my way out of the park, I swung by the Benjamin Church House, and look who I found lurking in a lilac bush there: perhaps our last house wren of the season.

Finally, the warblers appear to be thinning out, so I was extra happy to spot this Cape May in the evergreen right next to the Church House.

Lastly, your butterfly of the day is this magnificent monarch tanking up on thistle nectar beside the soccer fields to fuel its long journey south.