But that’s it, I’m afraid, so to double the content of this post, here’s one more painted lady butterfly from the weeds beside the soccer fields in Estabrook Park on Saturday.
Oh well. That’s just how the cookie bounces sometimes, and we’ll try again tomorrow.
I did make it safely to my folks’ place in Connecticut this morning, and thanks for your safe travel wishes. I couldn’t very well walk in the door and say, “Hi, I’ll be back in a couple of hours!” So, I don’t have a lot of pictures for you yet, but this one beauty parked itself where I couldn’t miss it: right on the gutter outside my folks’ door. It’s a red-tailed hawk, and the pale yellow eyes suggest that it’s youngster.
I haven’t seen any butterflies out here yet, but here’s another silver-spotted skipper from the weeds at the south end yesterday.
We had fabulous weather this morning in Estabrook Park for our weekly wildlife walk and a good turnout, too. The first treat came early when a fawn, still in spots, came running diagonally across the parking lot right toward us all as we were catching up and planning our route. I just stood there and enjoyed the show along with everyone else, so I don’t have a picture for you, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was this youngster, just based on its exuberance.
After that, we took the usual route, by the pond, along the river, and then back up onto the bluff. That’s were our one warbler finally decided to show its face, albeit briefly, and here’s the best picture I could muster of our shy little visitor, anotherfemale or immature male blackburnian warbler.
It was only after we had returned to the parking lot and all went our separate ways, that this fierce looking red-tailed hawk glided over and perched high above the dog park. Ah well, you can’t win ’em all. Right?
Lastly, if some of you are thinking, “that’s weird. He’s been in town for two full weeks now. I wonder if everything’s alright.” Well, you don’t have to worry any longer, ’cause I leave for Connecticut first thing tomorrow morning to see my folks and siblings for a week. My folks will be celebrating their 66th anniversary on Thursday, so I figured “what the heck? I might as well go and wish them congratulations in person.” As usual, I’ll bring my gear with me, look around while I’m there, and show you what I find.
Our recent string of very nice mornings continued in Estabrook Park today, and I even needed a light jacket for the first hour or so. That’ll keep the mosquitos down, at least for a while.
The pond wasn’t quite as busy today, as it was yesterday, so my first treat didn’t come until the islands in the river, where I found this beauty grazing on the pale smartweed that has come up on a sandbar.
Once again, I failed to see any warblers, but I did get to lay eyes on this amazing creature, so we still have at least one ruby-throated hummingbird hanging around.
The great crested flycatchers have long gone silent, and nobody has reported seeing one in Estabrook all month, so I sure wasn’t expecting to see this guy, but maybe he’s just passing through on his way south from farther up north. “Safe travels, Buddy!”
The woodpeckers have quieted down, too, if not gone completely silent, so I gotta get back in the habit of finding them with my eyes, and here’s one of the red-bellied variety that made my job easier. “Thanks, Sweetie!”
The big surprise of the morning was spotting this stunning creature on the weeds that remain beside the southern soccer fields. The wings span about 4 inches, and they’re quite shiny, so when they first caught my eye near the top of a stand of joe-pye weed, I figured it was a sliver of clear plastic that I should collect. Thank goodness I approached carefully anyway, because this turns out to be the very first shadow darner dragonfly (Aeshna umbrosa) that I have ever seen. I read that it “flies at dusk and in shaded areas,” so it really is some kind of a miracle that I caught one out in the daylight. Yippee ki-yay!
Finally, the thistle there continues to attract and feed butterflies, and here’s a gorgeous black swallowtail soaking up some sun while it sips nectar.
Lastly, tomorrow morning is forecast to look like a repeat of today, so it should be a great time for our weekly wildlife walk. The sun won’t rise until 6:07 am, so let’s revert back to the single, 8 am start time, and give me a chance to reach the beer garden parking lot without breaking a sweat. Plus, that should give the sun time to warm up the bugs and the birds that hunt for them, so we have something to look at.
It was a beautiful morning in Estabrook Park, with temps in the mid-sixties, a light breeze, and clear skies, and the Badgerland Striders could not have chosen a better time for their half marathon. With sunrise at 6:06 am and a start time of 7:00 am, perhaps you can imagine how the park was already humming with anxious runners when I arrived. I wasn’t worried, though, ’cause I figured I’d have plenty of peace and quiet to commune with the wildlife along the river. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to find more to photograph at the pond than the river for a change.
First, there was this sextet of wood ducks jostling for preening spots on a log against the far shore.
Then, there were a pair of belted kingfishers chasing each other around for a moment, and this young male paused almost where I wanted him. I took this picture when I could, but before I could take a couple of steps to my right to get that stick out from in front of his face, he decided that was enough posing for today. Oh well.
There was also a green heron, but before I got the picture I wanted, I noticed this Cooper’s hawk high in a tree to the east. As with the kingfisher, it let me have one shot, but did not want to wait around for me to get that stick out of the way. Darn.
The green heron, on the other hand, seemed to be in a trance. It hadn’t moved while I went after the Cooper’s hawk, and when I got back, it let me kneel down on the little wooden bridge at the north end of the pond and take all the shots I wanted through the railing. “Thanks, Sweetie!”
I didn’t see any odd ducks, new shorebirds, egrets, or warblers at the river, but I did watch this young spotted sandpiper take a bath, and this is the same looked I’d have on my face if I was contemplating a dip in the river water at 7 am.
Lastly, there were a few butterflies on the remaining weeds beside the soccer fields, including a couple of monarchs and a painted lady, but I haven’t shown you many silver-spotted skippers so far this summer, so here’s one on a hyssop blossom in the pollinator garden.
I see, now that I’m home, that another birder reported spotting two Tennessee warblers and a yellow warbler in Estabrook this morning, which I somehow missed. Plus, the forecast for tomorrow morning looks even better than today’s, so here’s hoping that I’ll be able to get my act together and spot one or two new birds for you.
As I sit at my dining room table to write this now, we’re getting a nice rain, which we sorely need, but right after sunrise it was a nice morning to look for wildlife in Estabrook Park.
The main treat of the day came early as I made my way upstream beside the river. That’s were I heard the ping of our first northern waterthrush of the fall migration. There were even two of them, calling back and forth to each other, but only one little cutie paused in the open for a second so we could get a good look at it.
At least one wood-pewee is still with us, and I know I showed you a pair just yesterday, but just look at this darling pose? How could I say no?
I spent quite a while looking for other warblers, but I came up empty today. Instead, look who I found over the far riverbank as I checked the south end for hooded mergansers. I read that the paler yellow in its beak, compared to its own feet and the beak of the one we saw a little over a week ago, could be a sign of age or vitamin deficiency, but it sure looks healthy otherwise, doesn’t it?
Anyway, that’s it for the birds already, so here’s a damselfly, probably a female American rubyspot, with a metallic green patch on its side, which I don’t recall noticing before.
Finally, I didn’t see any butterflies today, so here’s one more painted lady from the remaining weed patch at the south end.
I did finally hear the official word from the Parks Department about the former weed patch on the other side of the paved path, and that word is “lawn”, I’m sorry to say. I’ve followed up to see if that really is the final word, but one potential bright spot is that I did also receive an invitation to submit a Community Project Request for a pollinator garden at that location, so we might just have to see how that goes. Meanwhile, thanks for all your suggestions. I’m glad that we at least got to the bottom of it, even if it isn’t the bottom we were hoping for.
For example, here’s a great blue heron who must have already caught its belly full of fish and is now content to park in the sun and let its belly get to work on them.
Here’s a pair of wood-pewees peacefully perched together, and the last time I saw two together like this, one was a hungry youngster frantically devouring what its parent had just brought.
One species that was a little more rambunctious than usual was the northern flickers. I saw at least six hopping around in a tree together and calling to each other, and here’s one pausing for a moment to assess the risk I represent. “Don’t worry about me, Kiddo.”
Finally, we continue to search the Milwaukee County Parks org chart for the person that can change the plan for the former weed patch between the paved path and the soccer fields, but in the meantime, here’s a monarch on the thistle still standing on the other side of the path.
Lastly, I see that temps are forecast to be back up into the mid-sixties at sunrise tomorrow, so maybe the show we were enjoying yesterday will resume. A guy can hope, right?
The change in the weather that I’ve been waiting for finally arrived overnight, after a line of thunderstorms rolled through, and it was cool, dry, still, and mostly sunny in Estabrook Park this morning. Sweet.
This next amazing creature is our very first sweetheart underwing moth (Catocala amatrix). The only reason I was able to find it on this hackberry tree bark is that it flew past me, and I was able to see where it landed. Since it was so big, gray, and landed on a hackberry tree, I first figured it was a hackberry emperor butterfly , which we just saw on Monday, and are always great to see, but you know how I love to find species that are new to us.
Back to the birds, I found this little darling hungrily hunting for bugs in an oak tree high above the bluff by the soccer fields, and if my sources are correct, it is either a young or female blackburnian warbler or a pine warbler. Either way, that makes it our first warbler of the fall migration. Yee Haw!
Finally, I stopped by what’s left of the weeds beside the soccer fields, and the work crew was taking the morning off, perhaps because of the rain we got last evening. We still haven’t found the person who made the decision to convert half of it back to turf grass, but I think we’re getting closer, and I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, here’s a black swallowtail from the other side of the paved path, where the weeds are still growing wild.
Tomorrow morning should be even nicer than today, with cooler temps and fewer clouds, so I can’t wait to see who shows up next.
It was a peaceful morning in Estabrook Park. The temperature, humidity, wind, and even cloud cover could all be described as mild. The usual four or five great blue herons were on the river, and they’re a little tricky to count when they are so spread out and moving around, but at least this one stood still for me.
We still have one or two green herons, as well, and here’s a youngster on the far riverbank blending in pretty well, despite its high-contrast markings. I read that these markings work by breaking up the bird’s outline and misdirecting the eye.
The biggest surprise on the river today was the reappearance of our on-again-off-again great egret, which does not appear to be trying to camouflage itself at all, but which sure does manage to make itself scarce when wildlife walkers come to visit. “Where were you yesterday?”
On my way back downstream, I found a handful of cedar waxwings preening in a tree over the far shore. They’ve been starting to fly around in flocks, and I watched a few dozen race across the soccer fields earlier in the morning, so it was nice to catch some nearly at rest.
The next surprise of the morning was spotting our first eastern phoebe of the month, also over the far riverbank, but a lot closer to eye level. “Welcome back, Sweetie!”
Lastly, I did stop by the weed patches beside the southern soccer fields this morning, but I ended up chatting with the work crew that was there again today and didn’t get many pictures. I learned, however, that the current plan is to plant the east side of the path, where I’ve been seeing so many butterflies and dragonflies this summer, with turf grass. This is a sad turn of events, in my opinion, and if you agree with me, I urge you to contact whomever you know at the parks department to ask them to reconsider. I have a couple contacts that I will try, and if I can’t make any progress, I’ll share them with you. I apologize for not yet having a better plan, but I’m scrambling to catch up with this new situation.
There has indeed been a break in the weather, and I saw real blue sky this morning for the first time in a week or so. Yay! As I was waiting for the 7am wildlife walkers to arrive, there was one crow on the parking lot and one on a pole beside it. Then two more flew in, but they weren’t alone. This Cooper’s hawk, who was noticeably smaller than the crows, appeared to be in a dispute with them, and here it is considering its next move. I read that crows don’t like Cooper’s any more than red-tails or great horned owls, but that Cooper’s are agile enough to turn the tables in flight, if they choose, and maybe that’s what was going on. In any case, the Cooper’s soon moved on, the crows foraged for a minute, but must not have found anything worth staying for, so they eventually moved on, too.
I had one customer for the 7am round, and we found wood ducks on the pond, great blue and green herons on the river, and this one male Baltimore oriole. They’ve been starting to make some noise again, after going quiet for nesting season, but I expect they will follow the red-wing blackbirds and head south soon.
We had a second customer come for the 8am round, but we failed to find anyone new. Oh well. Fall migrants from up north will be here soon enough.
Once we all parted ways, and I started to make my way home, I found this stunner on the playground beside the middle parking lot. It turns out to be a Hackberry emperor, of which we’ve seen plenty, but I don’t think they’ve let us have many looks at that stunning row of eyespots on the outer/under/ventral side of their wings.
Just a bit south of there, near the tunnel under the parkway, I found a red-spotted purple, who have been numerous in previous years, but who have been pretty scarce so far this year. This one looks a little roughed up, but I can’t tell if that’s a cause or effect of their current relative scarcity.
Finally, I did stop by the weeds beside the southern soccer fields, and I was relived to find that the heavy equipment there today was just finishing off the east side, which they cleared last week, and not starting on the west side. I did get a nice monarch picture on the west side, but I just showed you a monarch yesterday, so here’s a tiny summer azure on an ornamental flowering onion blossom beside the Benjamin Church House instead.
The forecast for tomorrow looks quite similar to today’s, but a little dryer and with a bit of a breeze out of the WSW. Perhaps some passers by will find that to be more headwind than they want to contend with right now and stop in for a break. One can hope, right?
