Anne and I are in Chicago this morning to visit some relatives passing through, so here are the rest of the pictures from yesterday that I couldn’t cram into yesterday’s post.

Right after seeing the grossbeak, I was thrilled to also get one more chance at an eastern towhee portrait. This guy was more elusive, but I followed him for a bit, and eventually captured this image. I wish I had more light, but what can you do with birds that like to lurk in the underbrush.

Happily, this northern parula was not so shy.

In fact, it appears that he was hoping to be seen.

Down at the river, this common yellow throat behaved more like the towhee.

Just a few yards up river from the nesting great blue heron, I also spotted a couple of green herons. Now that I know what their nests can look like, I will have to keep my eyes peeled.

After I was done with the oriole, I turned around to see this crazy scene unfolding on the pond. The mallard hen was talking, too, which might have made an even better picture, but she always turned her head a bit when she spoke so that her face was in shadow. Anyway, the turtles seemed transfixed.

There were also a few wood ducks on the pond, and here’s a hen coming to check the lawn in front of the bench to see if I left her anything. I keep telling them, though, “I’m not that guy.”

Here’s one of the drakes in tow, just in case she needs help with anything.

Finally, this American lady butterfly seemed more interested in sipping some moisture out of the damp soil while basking in the sun and left the fruit tree blossoms to the red admirals.

This morning started out wet and grey, though not as wet as forecast, thankfully, and I was able to hit Estabrook soon after 6 am. Man-oh-man, was the place ever hoppin’ with birds! I counted 66 species.

Here’s my first rose-breasted grossbeak of the season. I also saw a female with him, but she soon bugged out while he continued to chow down on catkins. Classic, right?

Here he is pausing for just a moment so we can have a good look at him.

As I finished up with the grossbeak, I could hear the highest little chirps overhead, and they were being made by a flock of cedar waxwings. Most of the flock soon took off, except for these two lovebirds.

Down on the river, I haven’t seen any exotic ducks in a while, but the sandpipers are starting to arrive. I saw two spotted, which we can hope will stick around for the summer, and this one solitary, which is just passing through. Perhaps that’s why it looks a bit glum.

Meanwhile, back on shore, chickadees are preparing to make more chickadees.

This immature great blue heron, without the stringy head plume feathers of a breeding adult, appeared to be play nesting on the far side of the river. It stepped out onto a mat of sticks, squatted down on its “ankles“, and proceeded to rearrange the sticks as though it were finalizing a nest.

I’ve never seen anything like it, and I found it mesmerizing. I read that they “usually start breeding during their third spring,” so maybe this one will get the chance to prepare a nest for realsies next year.

I eventually tore myself away from the heron and hiked back over to the pond. By then the clouds had all moved on, and I finally found a Baltimore oriole willing to ignore me as I took advantage of the beautiful blue sky to snap some pictures. I suspect it helped that he was hungry for those blossoms, and that I kept a tree between us. You can just make out the branches it “contributed” to the picture below in the upper left and lower right.

Just as with the grosbeak, he eventually came up for air and let us get a better look at him, too.

Finally, the fruit trees are in full bloom, and even the butterflies, in this case a red admiral, are joining in on the feast they provide.

I made it back to Wisconsin safely last evening, after a great week in Connecticut, and ventured back into Estabrook Park this morning, despite the cloudy skies, to see who might have arrived while I was away. Holy Moly! What a difference a week can make at this time of year. I counted 19 species for the first time this year, including 9 warblers, 3 thrushes, 2 orioles, and 1 bunting. Yikes! Best of all, I even have pictures of some.

I was greeted right away by this palm warbler at the south end, and I eventually counted a dozen of them throughout the park.

At the north end, I also grabbed this image of a black-and-white warbler.

The rest, however eluded me today, so let’s move on to the thrushes, and the only one sitting still for a second this morning was this darling veery.

Baltimore orioles are here, and I counted at least 7 males singing from various treetops, but they were too high and against an ugly sky for any pictures. Instead, this one orchard oriole was a bit more accommodating.

Finally, I also spotted my first indigo bunting of the year. Woo hoo!

In other news, a great blue heron is back to fishing at the falls below the beer garden.

A grey catbird seemed more interested in catching some rays while the sun shone for a moment than he was in singing his song or evading my gaze.

I spotted my first baby bunny of the season.

Crane flies have arrived or emerged, as the case may be, and this giant one appears to be a Tipula furca

Here’s my first question mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis) of the year.

Lastly, while the sun shone for a bit, and parts of the sky even turned blue, and that made this palm warbler …

sing with joy!

I’ve got a plane to catch today, so I’ve gotta be quick with this. The skies were dark again this morning, but the air was very still and not too cool, so the bugs were up, and the birds were happy. My sister, Deb, had to go to work early, so I was on my own, and I opted for one last look at the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

The first big surprise was spotting my first green heron of this trip, and even better, it appears to be sitting on a nest! Long-time readers should recall that we’ve seen plenty of green herons in Estabrook Park over the years, but I’ve never seen one nesting before. Woo Hoo!

The recent weather has warbler migration in full swing, and I also spotted my first northern waterthrush of the trip.

In a nice bit of symmetry, I found two nesters today to balance the two from yesterday. This next one is a red-shouldered hawk, and perhaps even the same one we saw last week.

As I already mentioned, the warblers were thick in the trees, but the trees are pretty tall here, and the lighting was terrible today, so this is my best attempt at capturing a black-throated green.

Finally, the white-throated sparrows are still around and singing as loudly as ever.

The clouds were thick and dark in Connecticut this morning, but they weren’t leaking, and my sister was game anyway for going to see who might be up, so we headed back to the Broad Brook Reservoir. The herons and cormorants were still congregating in the trees on the island, and here’s a heron bringing in more nesting material.

The huge raft of ruddy ducks was no longer on the water, but there were still a few around, and here’s a non-breeding male just up from foraging on the bottom for a moment to catch his breath.

Baltimore orioles have arrived and are singing from the treetops, and here’s one that came down to my level, if only for a moment. I already mentioned that the skies were dark, right?

We eventually checked on the goose nesting on the causeway beside the road, and look who joined us! We eventually saw three goslings, and I bet there are more eggs still to hatch because Mom was sticking to her nest and keeping everyone under her wings.

The swans were still flying back and forth over the causeway, and here’s one just about to pass low over head, …

while here’s another on the water that got all poofed up in response to the flyby.

Finally, there were plenty of raptors overhead, and we saw a red-tailed hawk soaring, an osprey with a fish in its talons, and three bald eagles flying together. Two of the eagles were mature, and one did not yet have its white head and tail. Later, we watched one or both of the mature birds making a few sorties to haul nesting material.

Best of all, we followed the sound with our binoculars of one calling nearby, and were thrilled to get a glimpse of this sight without even leaving the side of the road.

Despite raining over the last two nights, the daytime weather continues to be beautiful out here. Yesterday afternoon, my sister, my niece, and I revisited the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, and I was surprised to find this blue jay uncharacteristically perching out in the open and staying put as I took pictures.

Farther south, my niece spotted the melanistic squirrel again, and I was happy to have the chance to get a picture that better shows off its nice, black fur.

Then, as I was trying to line up a good shot through the sticks, it stretched out, reclined on the branch in front of it, and I swear mouthed to me, “Take a picture, why don’t you? It’ll last longer.” Cheeky little devil.

Near the south end, at the water feature in which my sister was hoping to spot wood ducks, instead we spotted dozens of painted turtles basking in the warm afternoon sun.

Then finally, Deb got her wish, although the poor wood duck could barely find an open bit of log to preen on.

This morning, we tried again, and this time at the Quinnipiac River Gorge Trail. There were a lot of birds singing in the trees there, including Baltimore orioles, warbling vireos, and black-and-white warblers, but the canopy is very high in the gorge, and the air was nice and warm, so the bugs were up high, too, and most of the birds followed them up there and were beyond the reach of my gear.

This little chipping sparrow, however, was hungrily munching on something it was finding on the ground, and so made a nice exception.

Finally, this house wren was more concerned with staking out his territory, a wren house, of course, and so stayed down at eye level, too.

It was grey and rainy this morning in Connecticut, so I wasn’t able to get any pictures to show you, even though my sister and I did go out and look. Instead, let me show you a couple more pictures from that fabulous photo shoot I had with the titmouse on Friday.

And now with the sound on.

The sun is finally out now, so here’s hoping I can get something new to show you by tomorrow.

My sister, Deb, who rescued a wren from a glue trap a few years ago, suggested we visit the Broad Brook Reservoir on the east side of town this morning. It was another nice, clear day, so we got out nice and early, but failed to anticipate the fog coming off the water. Even with the fog, however, we could see that the trees on an island were full of cormorants and a few huge nests.

Closer to shore, we could see a couple ruddy ducks diving for their breakfasts. I’ve seen them in Port Washington, the Horicon Marsh, and on Lake Michigan, but not yet in Estabrook. The strip across the cheek marks that one as a female or an immature male.

There is a cause way that splits the reservoir in about half, and we parked at one end and hiked to the middle. In the few feet between the guardrail and the water, this Canada goose managed to squeeze in her nest. Deb wondered how the goslings would fair so close to the road, but I bet she’ll have them swim to a nicer location just as soon as they’re all hatched.

Eventually the sun came over the hills and started burning off the fog, at which point this chickadee took a moment in the sun to fluff up its feathers.

Then my first eastern kingbird of the season stopped in. It does not appear that anyone has spotted one in Estabrook yet this year.

Deb says that she usually sees some swans on the water in the summer, but neither of us expected to see them fly back and forth over the cause way like cats that can’t decide if they want to be in or out.

I would not guess that such big birds take to the air on a whim.

Once the fog was finally gone, we could see a whole raft of ruddy ducks out on the water.

Luckily for me, a couple were foraging on the bottom close to the cause way so I could get portraits when they came up for air. Here’s a non-breeding male in brown, …

and here’s a breeding male in chestnut.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my first spotted sandpiper as well. Still none at Estabrook yet, but soon enough.

Finally, those nests on the island we could barely make out through the fog earlier, turn out to belong to great blue herons, and here’s a pair getting reacquainted after one returned from a fishing expedition. Sweet!

The streak of beautiful, if cold, weather in Connecticut continued this morning, so I was able to get out before sunrise, and this time I headed straight to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail to see who else might be an early riser.

My first surprise was finding this killdeer in the parking lot of the Bozzuto’s distribution center that the train tracks, which have now become the Heritage Trail, used to service. One of these days, I’ll catch a killdeer not on pavement.

Next, as I checked the pond that lies along the trail, I found a quintet of ring-necked ducks. Outstanding!

Continuing south, in the spot I checked well yesterday in hopes of finding the mockingbird that is often there, look which mimetic I found instead. A pair of catbirds, one singing away and the other keeping quiet, looked to be setting up residence. “Welcome back, Cuties!”

Next, the sight I’ve been waiting for, a tufted titmouse ready and willing to pose for a portrait. Most of them seem to stick to the high canopy, at least when calling, but this little character was singing a different song and doing it in the sun at eye level. I couldn’t ask for a better setup.

Ta da!

Finally, as I neared the south end of my trip, there was even a pair of wood duck drakes.

Lastly, I’ve been seeing these guys on-and-off for years, but today was my day to get a picture of a melanistic form eastern gray squirrel. In the morning sun like that, the black isn’t as pronounced, but on a cloudy day, it would look jet black.

I arrived safely in Connecticut yesterday just before noon after a nicely uneventful couple of flights. I did have a little fun on the way, however, because my flights connected at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington DC. I could see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Capitol Rotunda right out the window as I waited to board my connecting flight. I also walked past Senator Sanders between gates, and Senator Blumenthal was on my flight to CT. Best of all, I could see an osprey hunting over the Potomac River. Sweet!

It was a pretty, if cold, morning here in CT, and my sister joined me for a short walk right after sunrise. The only picture I got from that excursion is of this chipping sparrow, belting out his signature song. As soon as I moved for a better shot, he was having none of that and took off. Darn.

After my sister went to work and I had some breakfast, I tried again, and this time I got a nice portrait of a red-shouldered hawk, who was on the hunt beside the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

A bit farther north, this white-throated sparrow let me have a good look while he sang his song.

Even farther up the path, I got about my best picture yet of a Carolina wren. He was singing, too, but none of the action shots were as clear as this one.

As I approached the north end, this female brown-headed cowbird let me get surprisingly close. The ones in Estabrook tend to keep near the top of the trees.

Finally, what’s a trip out east without a glimpse of an eastern cottontail? Well, that’s not really saying much, of course, because we have plenty of these in Estabrook, too.