Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

A wet wrap-up at Kohler-Andrae…

The rain didn’t start until 6:30 this morning, but I thought I had a little more time than that, so our tent is now hanging in the basement to dry. Oh well. Getting your gear washed for free is just one of the many benefits of camping. Right?

Anyway, before the rain arrived, I did get one more chance to visit with the sora that forages along the edge of the Black River.

As I was concentrating on the sora, I started to notice a familiar voice above, and it turned out to be coming from this colorful creature. It’s a Baltimore oriole, of course, but I hadn’t seen or heard a single one all week, and they’ve also been pretty scarce in Estabrook lately, so the sound was slightly out of context. Nevertheless, it was great to see one that hasn’t flown south yet, so let’s all wish it “safe travels!”

I still recognized this guy right away, on the other hand, and the marsh that surrounds the Black River is still pretty full of them, but it won’t be long till they’ve all gone south for the winter, as well.

It was the double-crested cormorants that I caught in the actual act of flying south, or at least trying to, but their v-formation appears to be having a little trouble up front. Perhaps the lead bird was getting tired, but no one else wanted to take a turn.

That’s about enough of gray-sky backgrounds and/or poorly lit scenes for one post, so here’s another look, from the first encounter, of the pileated woodpecker.

I didn’t see any dragonflies this morning, so here’s a Halloween pennant from Wednesday.

Finally, I didn’t see any butterflies, either, so here’s a black swallowtail, also from Wednesday, when the photogenic bugs were clearly more plentiful.

The forecast looks pretty good for tomorrow morning, with light winds and chance of precipitation hovering around 20%. Plus, sunrise is still before 6am, so I can still meet folks who want to start our weekly wildlife walk at 7am. If that’s too early for you, I’ll swing back by at 8am. Come on out and let’s see what’s changed, if anything, during the week I’ve been gone.

Kohler-Andrae hits a high note…

There was a nice breeze blowing out of the west this morning, so the clouds and fog didn’t stand a chance, and we had nice clear skies, for a change, at Kohler-Andrae State Park, and this allowed me to venture out looking for wildlife earlier than usual.

The first treat this may have precipitated was finally finding a great blue heron that wasn’t just flying by, and I hope the green herons, which have been plentiful this week, haven’t already caught all the fish.

I’ve been seeing wood ducks on the Black River all week, and some have probably been ducklings, but they’ve been keeping their distance, so it was hard to tell for sure. Thus, this pair of sweethearts was the next treat of the morning.

Then I headed to the dunes cordwalk, and I arrived just in time to catch this thirteen-lined ground squirrel still out foraging on the sand.

There are several spots along the cordwalk where northern house wrens have been singing regularly, and I’ve glimpsed a couple, but this youngster, still sporting some of its fluffy hatchling feathers, gave me enough time to fire up my camera.

We’re supposed to be in the migration range of pine warblers, so that could mean that this one is already on its way south. “Safe travels, darling!”

The main attraction of the morning, however, has to be this stunning pileated woodpecker. I’ve been hearing them for much of the week, but it would always be just one call and then silence. Then I was playing Scrabble with Anne and some of her extended family yesterday afternoon, and I was doing well, for a change, but a pileated started calling nearby, and it didn’t stop.

For the first few calls, I tried to ignore it, but after the fifth or sixth, I had to ask my brother-in-law to take my place so I could run to get my camera. It took me a while, and I had to chase it to a few different trees, but I finally got my first picture of a Wisconsin pileated woodpecker, at long last. Woo hoo! Then the seal was broken, I guess, so I saw one again already this morning, and the pictures came out even better, so here it is. Next stop, Milwaukee County, right?

Lastly, since I was already up with my camera yesterday afternoon, I strolled around the grounds, and that’s when I found this gorgeous black morph tiger swallowtail.

The clear skies are forecast to last only into this evening, and the clouds are due back again tomorrow morning, but who knows. Maybe I’ll get lucking on my last morning before we break camp and head home.

A foggy morning at Kohler-Andrae…

The sun came up this morning on a very foggy Kohler-Andrae State Park. In fact, the fog was so thick that I could take a picture directly at the sun.

Getting pictures of wildlife was a little tougher, but I did find this odd trio a couple of sand hills over. In case you can’t quite make them out, that’s a white-tailed doe to the lower left, and a pair of sandhill cranes to the upper right.

The fog did eventually burn off, or blow inland, I don’t know which, and that let me capture an image of this grumpy-looking male eastern bluebird. Perhaps he was as thrilled with how the morning was going as I was.

When I first saw these two characters flitting around, it took me a second to figure out what was going on. My best guess is that the large bird on the left is a brown-headed cowbird chick, and the little sparrow, field or chipping, on the right is the “parent” stuck trying to feed “its” parasitic chick.

Finally, I did see a couple of butterflies this morning, but this ruby meadowhawk made a much nicer picture.

Twice the fun at Kohler-Andrae…

The clouds this morning in Kohler-Andrae State Park were thinner than I feared, but some early-morning fog made up for that, at least for a while. Thus, when I finally spotted this pair of sandhill cranes literally standing atop one of their namesake sand hills, I ended up with a bit of a moody picture. Ah well.

Another sight I was thrilled to get eyes on, at last, was this red-tailed hawk, who was even kind enough to announce its impending arrival with that iconic call. “Good morning, to you, too!”

The hawk couldn’t stay long, and after it left, I checked the other nearby trees. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise to find a second raptor, this darling American kestrel, sitting quietly in the next tree over. Talk about getting off to a good start!

One of the most popular features of the park is the nice beach it has along Lake Michigan, and there are a couple of spots where ring-billed gulls accumulate to rest on the sand. I was gratified that my habit of checking all the gulls for a misfit paid off this morning when I came across this handsome devil, a Caspian tern. Ha!

I was especially glad to find this little cutie, a young spotted sandpiper, because I had inadvertently spooked it off the beach the first time I encountered it, and instead of just flitting a few dozen yards up or down the shore, it made like it was flying to Michigan. I did better the second time, and this image was my reward.

I know I just showed you a white-tailed deer just yesterday, but who could possibly resist these two little sweeties?

Finally, I didn’t see any butterflies or dragonflies this morning, so here’s a common wood-nymph I saw late yesterday morning on the Ancient Shores trail.

The forecast for tomorrow morning looks similar to the one for today, so let’s hope the critters are similarly accommodating.

A cloudy day at Kohler-Andrae…

The rain overnight was nowhere near as bad as we feared, and it was all done by morning, so yay! The clouds, however, have been thick all day, so I didn’t have a lot of light to work with, but I did the best I could.

I did see a doe with her fawn, but they were halfway into the tall grass by the time I spotted them, and they kept moving. This young buck, on the other hand, stood his ground. In fact, he stamped it and snorted a couple of times, so I took the picture of him that he clearly wanted me to.

If you’ve ever wondered where the cedar waxwings go when they flee your sight, as I do, well I found a good candidate spot today. I counted at least 36 scattered in the branches of a tall dead tree and in the bushes full of berries below.

In addition to chipping, field, and swamp sparrows, there were a couple of clay-colored sparrows making their unusual call, and this one let me have what is probably my nicest clay-colored sparrow portrait so far.

You will probably recognize this bird as a wild turkey, but you might not notice that it’s still a youngster, even though it already has its signature blue bald head. It sure took me a while, but I eventually noticed that it and its two siblings were only about half the size of the two hens with them. You can just see a bit of one of the hens in the upper right corner of the picture.

Now that you’ve got turkeys on your mind, you’ll probably have no problem recognizing this as an even younger turkey poult, even if its head is still covered in short, tan feathers.

Finally, we see plenty of eastern chipmunks in Estabrook, but how could I resist this picture?

Lastly, it appears that the clouds are forecast to linger into tomorrow morning, but the wind is supposed to stay light, so at least the hearing should be good.

More pretty sights at Kohler-Andrae…

It was another beautiful day at Kohler Andrae State Park, and Anne chose this morning for our new family tradition of riding our bikes down the Ozaukee County Interurban Trail to get breakfast in Port Washington. The breeze was super light for our ride down, and then it picked up out of the south to help push us back to our camp site. Sweet!

Anyway, that means I wasn’t out taking picture this morning, but I did spot this gorgeous merlin yesterday afternoon that was flitting around with a second one. There was also a blue jay in the mix, but it was probably just trying to convince the two merlins to go play somewhere else.

This eastern wood-pewee by the pond let me have a nicer look than the ones in Estabrook have let me have in a while.

This picture is not nearly as nice as the previous two, but this is another hooded warbler, and ebird considers it rare for this location and date. This makes the third one I’ve captured on film, and each time they get closer to Estabrook, so I have a hope that one of these days I’ll be able to capture one there.

I haven’t been seeing a lot of dragonflies here, so when this one parked for a moment, I couldn’t resist. It is harder to see on this one, because I didn’t realize the importance of getting the wings into focus, but it’s only my second band-winged meadowhawk.

Finally, this amazing creature was perching on the paved path around the pond, perhaps in hope that it was a stream bed or some other location that might provide some nutrients. As good luck would have it, for us at least, this is another Compton tortoiseshell, and this time we get a look at the out/under/dorsal side of those wings. “Thanks!”

Lastly, it’s supposed to start raining this afternoon and continue into mid-morning, so here’s hoping that I’ll be able to get out after that. Wish us luck!

Off to a great start at Kohler-Andrae again…

As I mentioned yesterday, Anne and I are camping at Kohler-Andrae State Park for the week with her extended family, and we’re off to a great start, weather wise. It was cool this morning, but the sky was clear, and the wind was light, so I had a nice time checking in with old friends.

They have a little fishing pond here, and the big surprise this morning was finding a mallard hen with seven brand-new ducklings. This might be the latest brood I’ve seen so far. “Good for you, Sweetie, and best of luck!”

The Black River is thicker with duckweed this year than I recall seeing it before, but that didn’t appear to slow down this muskrat too much, though it did pause to wipe off its head.

There are green herons, of course, and here’s an adult hunting for its breakfast.

More fun, for me at least, was also seeing this youngster trying to do the same. Or maybe it was just keeping eyes on Mom so it would know as soon as breakfast was ready.

Best of all, this little sora put in an appearance, right on schedule! “Thanks, Honey!”

I got my very first viceroy butterfly picture here back in 2023, and I have found one in Estabrook since then, but it’s always nice to find one back at the original source.

Finally, the orange and dark brown on this butterfly, with a little bit of white, made me think this was either a painted lady or an American lady, but this is our very first Compton tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum), and it’s not even in the same genus. Instead, the mourning cloak is a closer cousin. I did not see that coming. Did you?

I can’t wait to see who I find tomorrow!

Skipping town again…

The rain held off in Estabrook Park this morning, and I did get in to look around, but the river is now high, and the clouds were thick and low, so I didn’t see any shots that I’d wanna show you. Instead, let me whet our appetites, both yours and mine, with some sights I hope to see during our annual family camping trip to Kohler-Andrae State Park.

There are usually pelicans to see, they’re always a treat, and here are a dozen or so performing their cooperative fishing operation.

I have seen a sora in Estabrook Park, but only one adult so far. On the other hand, I’ve seen them a couple of times on each of the last two visits to the state park, so I hope they don’t let me down this time.

Sandhill cranes look especially nice when they stand atop a sand hill.

Finally, it would be a shame to camp beside such a nice marsh and not see a marsh wren.

We’re driving up this afternoon, so I should be out and looking around first thing tomorrow morning, and I’ll be sure to show you what I find.

Another rain out…

It did pretty much rain all day, and I never made it into Estabrook. Oh well. We sure did need the rain, and at least there are no news reports of storm damage or flooding in the area. Phew!

Since I didn’t take any pictures today, I was forced to go back to the archives, and here’s a nice family portrait, including kids who can’t face the right way for anything, from July 8, when I was more impressed by all the shorebirds.

The current forecast for tomorrow morning doesn’t include more than a 23% chance of precipitation, so maybe we’ll get lucky, and it will be dry enough to see who’s up and at ’em after today’s soaking.

Stiffed again, but I’ll survive…

I couldn’t resist the siren call of those least bitterns at Sheridan Park, so I headed back there first thing this morning to try my luck again.

At least the grounds crew wasn’t mowing the lawn around the pond this time when I arrived, so I could hear the call of this female belted kingfisher who stopped by for a bite.

It would have been a little unusual at this point in the summer if there was not a great blue heron on the pond there, but I did not expect to see this youngster snag the largest and orangest goldfish I may have ever seen. The heron seemed about as surprised as I was, but choked it down, nevertheless.

Once again, the stars of the show were the green heron chicks, and you can just make out the beaks of all three of them in this image.

I never heard a peep out of them, but one did manage to signal to its parent that IT WAS HUNGRY!

At which point Mom or Dad did cough up some breakfast, literally.

The least bitterns stiffed me again, but at least I got to hang out with some friends on a nice morning in a nice park. Plus, now I have room to show you one more picture from my week at Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha. One of the many treats there was hearing field sparrows calling nearly as much as I might hear chickadees in Estabrook, and here’s one of the little cuties between verses.

Finally, here’s a least skipper from a few days back on a right-sized flower in Estabrook. It could sit comfortably on a dime, so the blossoms on this flower are spread out to about the size of a quarter.

We’re enjoying a nice, gentle rain right now, which is supposed to continue through much of the day tomorrow, so I don’t know if I’ll get outside at all, but here’s hoping I can scrape up something to show you.