Our recent stretch of beautiful weather in Estabrook Park continued this morning, and without clouds to block the sun, I had enough light for a nice early start.

My first treat of the morning was catching this cute pair of young spotted sandpipers flitting back and forth across the river. Better yet, they paused for a moment to visit the sandbar reemerging from the river just downstream of the southern island.

At the north end, this red squirrel appeared to be foraging for apples as the sun started to reach down to the river, but I didn’t get to see which one it picked.

Out on the water, a great blue heron fished while a gaggle of geese preened.

The next big treat, however, came on my way back south when, by sheer luck, I opted to refollow the riverbank around the low ground next to the southern island, instead of taking the nice path inland along the bottom of the bluff. Look who I found perched high in a bare tree on the northern tip of the island. I think that’s the young female great horned owl that we’ve been seeing lately, and ain’t she absolutely gorgeous?

But wait! Who’s that peeking out from behind a branch behind her?

I bet that’s her little brother, Shorty, whom I believe I’ve only seen that one time they were down close to the water on the far riverbank. Boy, it sure is great to see them sticking around.

Back up on the bluff, I got a fleeting glimpse of another fall migrant, a yellow warbler this time, on his way south to the Yucatan peninsula or even farther.

The pond is still full of wood ducks, I counted 15 today, and here’s one making another nice reflection.

The pollinator garden was nice and busy, and here’s a red-spotted admiral on one of the tall cup flowers in the back row.

Better yet, it closed its wings for a second so we could see those namesake red spots.

The weeds beside the soccer fields were just as busy, and here’s another wandering glider showing off just a little more color than the first one.

Finally, the butterfly of the day is this beauty, back at the pollinator garden.

What type is it; you ask? Well, it was also kind enough to close its wings for a second to show off the small white crescent near the middle of its hind wing that makes it an eastern comma.

Donna and Katie brought their Sunday morning birding group to Estabrook Park today, but I wanted to see what I could find before they arrived at 8 am, so I slipped into the park right around sunrise. I didn’t see the blackburnian warbler by the beer garden again, but I did see this crow who was very excited about something.

When the group arrived, we visited the pond first, and an olive-sided flycatcher (or two) put on a nice little show for us over the north end.

As we rounded the east side of the pond, we caught this white-tailed deer by surprise, and she quickly exited stage right into the woods. That’s her right, our left.

At the river, we saw a great blue heron or two, a couple of belted kingfishers, and a few eastern wood pewees, which kept together, so perhaps they were a parent with a fledgling or two.

Out on the water, as I counted the mallards and the Canada geese, look who I spotted sunning itself on the far riverbank. That is probably the big one of the three spiny softshell turtles I first spotted just one year and ten days ago. It may not have been what the birders were hoping for, but I was thrilled.

Fortunately, the air show began soon after that when the osprey, which I had already glimpsed three times this morning, decided that the crowd of people standing on the near riverbank with binoculars was no big deal and started hovering and circling over the river right in front of us.

That’s a five-and-a-half-foot wingspan.

We eventually wrapped up the visit, and most folks seemed happy with it as they went on their way. Phew. I headed to the pond to see if I could get any more pictures, and I almost startled this young great blue heron, but it must have been as intently focused on fishing as I was on finding dragonflies in the weeds at the edge of the water. Happily, I noticed it in time and backed away before anyone had to fly off.

In the northeast bay, a painted turtle was up for some sun, which we don’t get to see much of since I’m usually back home by this point in the day.

To round out our turtle trifecta, look who I spotted hiding in the algae right in front of me. You can just make out the little “saw-tooth ridged tail” of a small common snapping turtle.

At the other end, you can see its head and about a quarter of its four-inch-diameter shell.

AAt the south end of the pond, I found one of the several small orange dragonflies, which I had seen flitting incessantly over the water, finally taking a break. As good luck would have it, this appears to be our very first eastern amberwing (Perithemis tenera).

Finally, there was also a striking new butterfly on the burdock blossoms beside the soccer fields at the south end of the park, which appears to be a field skipper (Atalopedes campestris) huron sachem (Atalopedes huron), and that’s gonna be our butterfly of the day. I have since learned that field skippers, though similar in appearance, are limited to the west coast.

It was another beautiful and cool morning in Estabrook Park, I was walking north along the river path, and as I neared the boardwalk just below the falls, a couple of chickadees flitting into a bare tree at the top of the bluff caught my eye. I see chickadees all the time, of course, but I paused for a second just to make sure my first impression was correct, and there was a third bird with them who appeared, from that distance, to have an orange tint. I tried my binoculars, and I could not believe what I saw: our first blackburnian warbler of the fall migration. Woo hoo!

I immediately grabbed a couple of shots with my camera, but it was pretty far away, and then I thought maybe it would stay there for a second or two. So, I ran up the boardwalk, took the stairs up to the beer garden two at a time, and then did my best smooth-and-fast walk back to the tree it was in. Sure enough, the little darling had waited for me and even posed for a portrait. Ta da!

Well, that was an amazing way to start the morning, but there was more park to see, so I eventually continued north along the river. When I reached the bottom of stairway three, look who I spotted at the top of a bare tree over the southern island: our first olive-sided flycatcher of the fall migration. Holy Smokes!

When I finally got to the north end, there were dozens of Canada geese and mallards on the river, as has been the norm lately, but no raptors today. Oh well. Instead, I was very happy to see this quartet of recently fledged wood ducks fly in.

In the sky, there were a half dozen swifts, at least one barn swallow, and five pigeons made a fly over, so I was thinking of skipping the hike up to the Port Washington Road bridge. I thought I spotted a cliff swallow farther upstream, however, which we haven’t seen in a while, so I figured I better go up to check it out anyway. Well, the swallows turned out to be rough-winged, which I have seen lately, but the big surprise was spotting this cutie scurrying across the path. We haven’t seen a mink since May 10. How could this morning get any better?

I headed back south, and after checking the river again, thought I’d try the top of the bluff. The breeze was out of the west, and so the bugs would be pushed to the east side of the trees, where the warblers would follow them. When I got up there, look who I found instead, our first merlin of the fall. I don’t believe we’ve seen one in Estabrook since last December.

After that, things finally started to settle down. A blue jay posed for a nice picture as I hiked over to the pond.

Not all the wood ducks have fled the pond, yet, and here’s a couple enjoying the morning sun.

A great blue heron scratched another itch.

At the pollinator garden, there were a couple of dragonflies which did not look familiar. They seemed to be quite happy flying without stop, but one eventually did park for a minute to let me have this image. Say “hello” to the very first wandering glider (Pantala flavescens) I’ve ever seen. I read that other common names include “globe skimmer” and “globe wanderer” because “it is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet, with good population on every continent except Antarctica … Globe skimmers make an annual multigenerational journey of some 18,000 km (about 11,200 miles); to complete the migration, individual globe skimmers fly more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles)—one of the farthest known migrations of all insect species.” Yikes! No wonder they were in no hurry to perch.

After all that, we’re gonna need a good butterfly of the day, so I’d better go with a monarch.

Wow! What a stunningly gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park. A cold front came through last evening, and the air had a refreshing chill to it this morning. As I hustled north along the river, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the owl(s) again, I came across a guy at the falls with a pair of binoculars, and he turns out to be Dave, a recent subscriber, who had the same hope. So, we continued north together, but today was not Dave’s lucky day. He did get to see an osprey that we inadvertently startled from its perch over the northern island, which would have made an amazing picture, but we could find no owls. Oh well. As Dave said, “that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Dave had to go to work, poor guy, and I continued north, where I found a spotted sandpiper, with spots, on our side of the river.

On my way back south, I searched again for the owl(s), an osprey, or even a red-tailed hawk, but still had no luck, so I pressed on. As I neared the southern end of the southern island, however, I could see a big bird flying north over the far channel, so I ran back north to see who it might be. Ta da! The osprey had come back and brought with it a nice, big fish.

After getting that picture, I gave going south another try, and found a great blue heron had an itch to scratch, south of the falls,

At the pond, a male downy woodpecker found something in the end of that branch that had him all excited.

High over the north end of the pond, a male, yellow-shafted, northern flicker, with a nice ‘stache, appears to be just enjoying the warm sun.

A branch or two over, a young European starling, with a nice array of spots, appeared to be doing the same thing.

Meanwhile, down on the water, seven (7!) wood ducks crowded onto the same log.

At the pollinator garden, a young, or female goldfinch was enjoying seeds from a cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum).

As I continued south, I bumped into Ken, a long-time reader and fellow amateur naturalist, and he tipped me off to a new bug on the thistles in the weeds beside the soccer fields. Sure enough, here’s my first ever, and amazingly-named, “turbine cylindrical weevil” (Larinus turbinatus), at least according to iNaturalist. Wikipedia does not provide a common name.

A few yards farther south, I was thrilled to spot an example of the ever-astounding, common green darner.

Right next to the darner was my second ever spot-winged glider, which I completely do not recall seeing for the first time just six weeks ago. In my defense, however, that was the same day I got to see four (4!) beaver at once.

Finally, there were plenty of skippers and a single monarch glided by, but we’ve seen a bunch of them lately, so the “butterfly” of the day is gonna be a moth instead, and it’s our first ever artichoke plume moth (Platyptilia carduidactylus). Yup, that is really a moth, our second species of plume moth, in fact, and only the third species reported in Estabrook Park, so far.

The air was cool and still enough this morning for a little “evaporation fog” to form over the relatively warm soccer fields. It might be a sign of things to come.

Anyway, I was happy to find a bit more critter activity in the park today. I’ve been skipping my first visit to the pond lately in hopes of getting to the north end in time to see the owls, and on my way along the river today, I thought this great blue heron showing off its fancy neck feathers was worth the few seconds it took me to snap this picture.

As luck would have it, I did reach the north end in time to see at least one of the owls. I believe this is the big sister, and she was high over our riverbank. I did my best to keep my distance and snuck this picture through a gap in the leaves. She was mostly looking out over the water, but did flash me those big, beautiful yellow eyes a couple of times. I kept my own eyes hidden behind my camera, which seemed to do the trick, and she calmly just returned her gaze to the river.

As if that wasn’t enough, when I checked the river myself, from a bit farther upstream, look who glided in to do a little fishing: our osprey! Yay!

But wait! There’s more! If you order before midnight tonight, a murder of crows will chase a red-tailed hawk out of the trees above, and it will hustle across the river to perch in a tree right next to the osprey. Holy smokes, that’s a lot of raptors!

I eventually did make it to the far north end, and the pigeon chicks look bigger, but otherwise unchanged. For me, the more-interesting sight was this orb weaver, maybe a spotted orbweaver (Neoscona crucifera), working on the huge web it has in the branches above the trail.

At the pond, the wood duck ducklings are starting to fly over the water and look really grown up. Here’s one checking its reflection.

The pollinator garden was busy this morning, and here’s a monarch on a blazing star blossom.

I’ve been seeing these huge black wasps for weeks now, a gold-marked thread-waisted wasp (Eremnophila aureonotata) in this case, buzzing over the flowers and hunting for prey to feed its young, but one finally parked for a minute this morning.

There were several damselflies out today, and this American rubyspot was the prettiest of the bunch.

Here’s another striking big, black wasp but with quite the red abdomen and distinctive white marks on its antennae, which iNaturalist thinks is a Protichneumon grandis, but that species does not have a wikipedea page nor even a common name.

Finally, there was a red-spotted admiral really showing off its bright blue wings, and that’ll be the butterfly of the day, even if there is a little piece missing.

Beautiful weather has returned to Estabrook Park, and I hoped I’d have a great morning of picture taking, but perhaps we’re entering a period of doldrums before the fall migration.

One exception was this little eastern wood pewee hunting from the same chain at the north end as Monday, but today it let me get a lot closer.

Another exception was this youngish great blue heron at the pond who seemed transfixed by something ahead of it and let me sneak this picture through the reeds.

At the other end of the pond, this young catbird was too busy crying for its breakfast to worry about me.

There were still plenty of wood ducks on the pond, but there was only one mallard, and the hooded merganser appears to have moved on. Perhaps this snapping turtle surfaced to see where everyone had gone.

That’s it for the birds and reptiles, I’m afraid, and I didn’t see any mammals, so thank goodness for the bugs. We’re having a bumper crop of fiery skippers this summer, and here’s one on a blazing star blossom at the pollinator garden.

This Peck’s skipper on a purple cone flower appears to have the same markings but with the colors inverted.

There are still plenty of dragonflies around, and this one appears to be a ruby or cherry-faced meadowhawk, which I read can be quite tricky to distinguish.

Finally, I’m glad to start seeing monarchs more frequently, and this one on a thistle blossom will be our butterfly of the day.

First, a correction. Karen Wesener wrote in response to yesterday’s post that “butterflies emerge from a chrysalis, not a cocoon. Cocoons are for moths.” In other news, my entire fact checking team chose a terrible week to go on vacation and left me here by myself to make up stuff willy-nilly.

Anyway, it was a pretty soggy morning in Estabrook Park but not a complete washout. There was a green heron on the pond doing its best Gru imitation.

There were over a dozen wood ducks, many of whom we’ve watched grow up since they first hatched, and here’s a quartet keeping four eyes on me.

Here’s a fledged robin on the lawn east of the pond and still getting fed by a parent.

While a male house finch watched impassively from above.

Back on the pond, the hooded merganser is still with us, and here it is with a nice big fish while a wood duck hurries over to offer help.

The hoodie declined any assistance and deftly choked down that fish all on its own.

As I started to make my way back south, I spotted this northern cardinal parked right in the middle of the road. I couldn’t tell if it had been injured or was just a fledgling that can’t fly too well yet, but I did manage to urge it back up onto the lawn.

The flowers were all empty today, but I was able to sneak out yesterday afternoon, when the sun was still shining, and here’s the littlest bee I’ve ever seen, on the cone of a purple cone flower. It was easily half the size of a honeybee, and the interwebs suggest that it is our first ever ligated furrow bee (Halictus ligatus).

Finally, the butterfly of the day, also from yesterday, but desperate times call for desperate measure, is this dashing silver-spotted skipper on a burdock blossom.

After all the surprises of yesterday’s air and water show, it seems the critters were taking a break today. Plus, it was quite cloudy this morning, so a good time to sleep in.

I did get to see a belted kingfisher over the river, and this one is a male, for a change.

At the north end, this little eastern wood-pewee took a perch uncommonly low to the ground. Perhaps it’s a recent fledgling and doesn’t know the rules yet.

I was happy to see the hooded merganser is still on the pond.

At the pollinator garden this tiny and quite-colorful feather-edged petrophila moth (Petrophila fulicalis) caught my eye.

This female monarch was also there and had perhaps recently emerged from a cocoon chrysalis because they are usually much more flighty.

The pollinator garden was quite fruitful this morning, and also hosted our first red-spotted admiral aka red-spotted purple (Limenitis arthemis) of the season. I read that “they have evolved to mimic the poisonous pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor),” which I would also love to see, but haven’t yet. In fact, no one has reported seeing such a swallowtail in Estabrook Park, so far.

Back at the south end, the weeds beside the soccer fields were hosting our first eastern thistle longhorn bee (Melissodes desponsus), similar to the two-spotted longhorn bee we first saw in July, but without the two spots on its little bee butt and with yellow pile on its back instead.

Finally, it would appear that some angler(s) left me a tip for picking up their leftover fishing tackle. “Thanks!”

Lastly, let’s anoint the FOY red-spotted admiral as our butterfly of the day.

We’re back from camping at Kohler-Andrae, and it was a perfect morning to get back into Estabrook Park.

My first pleasant surprise of the day was finding this young or female hooded merganser floating amongst the wood ducks and mallards on the pond. We haven’t seen one since early July when one hung out on the river for a few days, and they are always a treat.

The next pleasant surprise was spotting the young great horned owl again over the southern island in the river. Long-time reader, Carrie, had just come by on her way south and reported seeing an owl in the river upstream, so I had my eyes peeled. If you read the comments that readers post, you’ll know that it was Carrie and her son who finally got that dang chair out of the river. “Thanks, Carrie!”

This next surprise goes a bit beyond just “pleasant”. There was a second young-looking great horned owl on the far riverbank, and it appears to be a bit shorter than the first one. In this pose, it almost looks like a caricature.

As I tried to reposition myself on our riverbank, this gorgeous female belted kingfisher perched perfectly in the morning sun on the remains of the big dead tree off the southern tip of the southern island. Who could ignore that picture, right?

And then, the first owl flew over to join the second one, who had hopped up onto a higher branch. Once again, if you click on the image to zoom in, you can see that the second owl, on the right, really is a lot shorter than the first. I read that “the female great horned owl is larger than her mate,” so that would suggest that “Shorty” is the male, and the larger bird might be his sister. Meanwhile, you can see the kingfisher streaking across the bottom of the image as it tried in vain to persuade the owls to hang out elsewhere.

Before I could get any closer, however, surprise number four appeared in the form of this tiny red butterfly, which happens to be the very first least skipper (Ancyloxypha numitor) I have ever managed to capture on film and ID, and the tenth species of skipper butterfly posted on inaturalist from Estabrook Park, for those keeping score. (Note that they are not listed in the order in which they were identified, but there has been only one observed so far, and that was by me today.)

Okay, back to the owls. Happily, Shorty moved again so I can show them in a single image, and they don’t look like sparrows. For what it’s worth, I tried and failed to find a place on our shore from which that branch was not in front of the face of the owl on the left. Oh well. Good thing we got a great look at it earlier.

The last surprise of the morning, surprise number five, was finding this red-tailed hawk, with the help of a few alarmed robins, in the tower across the river and in which we’ve seen falcons a few times. When I checked, I was stunned to learn that I haven’t gotten close enough to a red-tailed hawk to show you a picture since back in April.

When I swung by the pond again, the merganser was up on a log taking a break with a pair of sleepy wood ducks.

As I was trying to get a presentable merganser picture, this young common grackle hopped up onto a branch just above me and was in no hurry to take off.

Finally, despite all the excitement about the least flicker, I’m gonna name this monarch, on the flowers at the pollinator garden, the “butterfly of the day.”

I expect this to be my last morning at Kohler-Andrae, and I opted to give the Black River Marsh another try. Oddly enough, I managed few photographs even though I saw more bird species than last time. So it goes.

I was happy to see the pelicans again, and this time they flew right over my head, so I had a chance to get a closeup of one in flight. Check out that “96.1-114.2 in.” wingspan. That’s 8-9.5 feet for the folks in the back.

I hardly saw a wren out on the marsh, although I heard plenty, but thankfully, the blue dasher dragonflies were willing to fill in. In fact, I got such a nice portrait that I can see their compound eyes have two distinct resolutions.

Here’s a closeup that shows it better. The ommatidia are much coarser above those tiny black antennae than below. If you click on the image, which takes you to the original on flickr, then you can zoom in and really see the dividing line between coarse above and fine below. I have not noticed that before.

Anyway, I was thrilled to find this ruby-throated hummingbird again. I saw it in the same tree on Tuesday, but my pictures were just not up to even my loose standards. This one is still not my best, but plenty good enough for this operation.

That’s it for today’s pictures, but luckily, there are still some good ones from earlier in the week. Here’s a young green heron on Tuesday and perched nicely in the sun on a wire above the old park road.

Here’s one more look at a marsh wren, also from Tuesday when they were plentiful, doing its signature spread-eagle perch.

Here’s a stunning goldenrod crab spider (Misumena vatia) lurking on the underside of what looks like a joe-pye weed blossom.

Here’s another look at the very obliging thirteen-lined ground squirrel from Friday, doing its best prairie dog impersonation.

Finally, here are three sandhill crane silhouettes as dawn broke over the dunes Friday morning.