Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

It’s finally starting to feel like fall…

Since it was raining pretty good when the sun came up this morning, and the big green blob on the radar was forecast to take its sweet time drifting out of the area, I took the morning off to run some errands. At around 10:30, I noticed that it was starting to look dry-ish outside, so I grabbed my gear and finally headed for Estabrook. The question then was who might be out and about at that late hour.

I was relieved to find that quite a few critters were busily going about their morning, and I spotted this sparrow in the weeds beside the southern soccer fields. I hoped it might be a Lincoln’s or someone even more exotic, but it’s just a good-ol’ song sparrow, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There were no photographers at the pond when I arrived, for a change, but the pied-billed grebe was still there. I’m sure gonna miss it when it finally continues its journey south.

Same for the wood ducks.

The river was up about a foot from yesterday, and most of the exposed river bottom, from which I had collected tires on Friday, was back under water. Perhaps the lowering of the falls will lower the water around the islands less than I feared. Anyway, there was hardly a bird on the water today, so here’s another look at the killdeer from yesterday.

Back up on the bluff, I finally caught one of the several yellow-rumped warblers I’d been seeing all morning. It appears that I was a bit premature in supposing that all the warblers had already flown south, although the ones I saw today could be fresh arrivals from up north.

On my way back south and back at the river, this youngish-looking female belted kingfisher uncharacteristically let me sneak this picture before dramatically bolting to the far shore.

Up on the bluff once more, I stopped by the pollinator garden, but there was barely a blossom left to pollinate, let alone any pollinators around. Instead, the interesting sight today was a small group of dark-eyed juncos foraging for seeds in the grass.

Yesterday was a different story, on the other hand, and here’s probably our last look for the season at a monarch butterfly on a Mexican sunflower blossom.

The current forecast calls for beautiful, if cool, weather for our weekly wildlife walk tomorrow morning. Sunrise isn’t scheduled to occur until 7:12 am, however, so I won’t be arriving at the beer garden parking lot until just before 8 am, when the sun should be already warming up the day. If you want to start earlier, feel free, and I’ll see you at 8.

October continues to surprise..

I could hear it raining this morning as I waited for the sun to rise, but the clouds dried up by the time it was light enough for me to venture out. Plus, the winds were light, and the air was probably warmer than seasonal, so it was a great morning for all the planned events.

My first treat of the day came early, before I had even reached the pond, when I noticed a bird swoop in to land on one of the guy wires for the towers across the river. I’ve only ever seen a few species perch there, so I held my breath as I brought my binoculars to bear, and sure enough, it’s our first kestrel in a while and the first one of October in Estabrook. Woo hoo!

The catbirds have gone silent over the past week or so, and I thought maybe they had all flown south already. Perhaps most of them have, but I heard and then spotted this straggler by the dog park.

The usual suspects were at the pond, so I continued to the river where this killdeer put on a nice show.

The big surprise at the river, however, was this coot relaxing below a clump of leaves, which I believe belong to a yellow iris. We just saw one at Lakeshore State Park, but it has been a while since one graced the waters of Estabrook. “Welcome back, sweetie!”

Back on shore, I don’t believe I saw a single warbler today, but the trees were hopping with kinglets, both golden- and ruby-crowned, and this is one of the latter.

On my second swing by the pond, most of the photographers had called it a day, or at least moved on to another venue, and the pied-billed grebe and I could just relax. Here it is making another big yawn.

Finally, yesterday’s mourning cloak may have been just a foreshadowing, because I spotted two monarchs today. There was one on the Mexican sunflowers, of course, but this one really surprised me on the grass by the river.

Finally, I did stop by the southern parking lot at 9am, and everyone was either helping to plant trees or picking up trash along the river, but that was just as well. I’m glad folks were giving those two projects the support they deserve. Plus, yesterday afternoon was so nice, and my new waders had just arrived in the mail, so I couldn’t wait and went out to tackle the tires on my own.

Here’s the pile of 19 (two have had the beads cut off, so I stuffed them down into the stacks) that I pulled out of the river around the upstream island. I got six more at the downstream island as well, and stacked those atop the bluff near there. Best of all, there’s still more to do, if that’s what you have your heart set on. I spotted three more tires this morning, if you can believe it, and I could barely budge the broken canoe, so that’s still out there. If you want to join me on my next outing, just give me a shout and we’ll set up a time, ideally before the river rises again.

Another first of the season, and perhaps a last…

It was cloudy and windy this morning in Estabrook, but at least temps were mild for the season, and it wasn’t raining. These conditions made it a little tricky to find photogenic subjects, but the park still delivered anyway.

I found this little cutie, our first eastern bluebird of the month, just as I was wrapping up my loop around the pond. There were a few robins around, going a little crazy over the berries in the bushes beside the pond, but this one seemed smaller. Once I got my binoculars on it, I could see that it was no robin, and I grabbed my camera as quickly as I could. Even though I was shooting through some branches, it noticed me anyway, and it only let me have four images before it disappeared. Thank heavens one of them turned out to be presentable.

Similarly, at the north end, the path was covered with juncos and white-throats, most of whom fled as I approached, but this sweetie acted slightly differently, so I took a picture just in case. It turns out to be a field sparrow, which we have seen already this month, but not from this angle or in this light. “Your compatriot was at the south end, Honey.”

Back at the pond, the wood ducks and the pied billed grebe are still there, along with the photographers the wood ducks are attracting lately, but I really like the look of satisfaction the grebe seemed to be wearing this morning. I wonder if it already has a belly full of fish.

Finally, as I was walking back south on the path along the river, this sight stopped me in my tracks. Just when I thought all the big and fancy butterflies were done for the season, and all we were going to see for the next few weeks were sulphurs and whites, here’s one last mourning cloak who hasn’t yet found a crevice in which to hibernate. As I was taking pictures, I could see it was shivering, but I didn’t dare try to help warm it up, as I did with the snake last week. Happily, the shivering must have worked because as I was lifting the leaf on which it was perched to get it out of the middle of the path, it took off and completed the mission on its own. “Good luck, and see you next spring, I hope!”

Lastly, the crew has finished fishing all the sandbags out of the river, so now we can see what the finished product looks like. It sure is different, and I hope the fish like it. As for the new “Mount Estabrook” on the far shore, it remains to be seen if they are going to leave that with us or take it with them when they go.

A fine showing for the middle of autumn

The rain was taking a break this morning, the temps were mild for October, the breeze was light, the sun was duking it out with the clouds, and it wasn’t clear who was going to win, at least for a while, so it was a very nice time to go looking for wildlife in Estabrook.

I got into the park nice and early, so there wasn’t really enough light for pictures until I reached the downstream island, where this female belted kingfisher granted me a semi-rare audience.

Nearly right above the kingfisher, this young-looking great blue heron was trying to catch some zzzzs, but it couldn’t have been sleeping too hard because its head immediately popped up, same as mine, when we both heard the osprey call.

The osprey glided around a bit, but I never saw it land, so then next fun sight was this tiny winter wren foraging in the weeds right at the water’s edge.

There were no odd ducks on the water today, I’m afraid, so I didn’t see a picture to take until I was back by the beer garden, and this chickadee was picking its breakfast out of this big old blossom that has gone to seed. It took a break while I selected a seat at one of the beer tables that would produce a nice background, and then it came back out for this portrait. The sun was winning at that point, so I could set the shutter nice and fast, and thus this picture has resolution to spare, in case you ever wanted to know exactly how the feathers are arranged on a chickadee’s face. Just give it a click to find out.

Back at the pond, the sun was still holding its own and was now high enough in the sky to shine down onto the water, and maybe that helped the little pied-billed grebe catch another fish. This one wasn’t nearly so big as last time, so it went down lickety-split.

By then, a couple of guys were sitting on the lawn getting their best wood duck pictures, but this drake must have noticed me in the background taking grebe pictures and wanted to share the wealth. “Thanks, Buddy!”

I walked along the paved path back south, and as I passed the guardrail, I was thrilled to find one more late-season dragonfly, which just so happens to be an aptly-named autumn meadowhawk, warming up in the morning sun.

Finally, there were still a couple of clouded sulphers making their rounds, and here’s one tanking up on some hairy white oldfield aster beside the southern soccer fields.

Lastly, the Village of Shorewood is hosting an Adopt-A-River Clean Up on Saturday, October 18 from 9:00 to 11:00 am. The target area is “Estabrook to Hubbard Park”, and the meet-up location is the south parking lot in Estabrook Park. Registration is required, and you can click on the link above to scan a QR code or “call/text Kae at (414) 588-0617.”

I’ll be there, but my focus is going to be on the north end, between the two islands, where the flood left a bunch of used tires on the now-exposed river bottom. I don’t require registration, but you will probably want/need hip boots or waders.

If you’re not interested in either of those projects, Friends of Estabrook Park are also holding a tree planting at the same time on the same day. Even better, the meet-up is also at 9am in the south parking lot, and I’m sure Harold will have a waiver for you to sign.

Perhaps I’ll see you there.

A fine morning, despite the radar picture…

It was another rainy morning in Estabrook Park, but not as rainy as the big green blob on the radar suggested, so I gave it a try after about an hour delay. By then the precipitation had stopped, the air was nearly still, and I just about had the park to myself, people-wise, that is.

Things were quiet at the pond when I arrived. The gaggle of photographers that have been camping on the west lawn lately had not yet arrived, the wood ducks were down for their naps, and so was the little pied-billed grebe.

At the river, on the other hand, the cry of an osprey grabbed my attention, and I found the source high above the downstream island, where it was just getting started on its breakfast.

Just a bit upstream, and high over the next island, another bird was calling for attention. This time it was another migrating rusty blackbird.

A pair of kingfishers were flitting about, and while I was down near the water trying to get a decent killdeer picture, some leaves hid me enough for this female to perch nearby.

Back on shore, the hermit thrushes have just about replaced all the Swainson’s thrushes, who have continued their journey south, and here’s our first good look at the former and its cinnamony tail.

As I made my way back downstream, I spotted a bird perched right at the top of a bare tree, but all I could see was its back, and my first thought was “kestrel!” Before I could move to the side enough for a better look, however, it took off, but I’m thrilled to report that it didn’t go far, and I was able to get in front of it this time. So, here’s a look at our first merlin of the season.

On my second swing by the pond, the wood ducks were still parked, but at least these two were awake.

Back at the south end, I finally managed to get a first picture of the season of one of the swamp sparrows I’ve been seeing around the park for a week or two.

Lastly, as I crossed the parkway to make my exit, I spotted this pair on the lawn opposite the building attached to the TV tower. I can’t quite tell if the smaller one has the start of antlers on the top of its head, so I’m not sure if this is the same pair we’ve been seeing lately or a second pair. The building in the background is “Ciel of Shorewood”, formerly “HarborChase”, on the south side of Capitol Drive.

It was nice while it lasted…

It started out cloudy, and the clouds are back again, but there was a moment in Estabrook Park this morning when the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly. Plus, the temps were pretty mild, especially in the sun, and the winds were lighter than I feared, so it was a very nice time for a walk.

My first treat came as I hiked up from the river toward the pond. I believe there were a pair of deer, though I never managed to see them both at once, and the little nubs of antlers on this guy make me wonder if they weren’t the pair we saw Saturday morning.

The wood ducks and grebe were on the pond, but our hooded merganser appears to have moved on. Perhaps it had had just about enough out of the wood ducks. So, I kept moving north, and my next treat came near the boat ramp when this gorgeous red-tailed hawk kept coming to hunt from the bare tree over my head. Every time I tried to take its picture, it took off again, but then it would come back. I’m not sure exactly what or who it was after, but I did manage to get an okay picture eventually. Too bad about those branches in the background, but I think you can still make out that blue sky I was gushing about above.

In between hawk visits, this song sparrow burst into song a little closer to the ground.

Finally, not all the warblers are gone yet, and I saw a few yellow-rumped at the pond, but this orange-crowned foraging in the bushes right beside the paved path let me sneak a better picture.

Lastly, since I’m so low on pictures from this morning, let me show you one more of the pied-billed grebe valiantly trying to swallow whole that fish it caught yesterday.

Ooh! I almost forgot. It appears that the crew has finally finished lowering the far side of the falls, and they started removing the sandbags from their coffer dam today.

Some afternoon delights…

I’m sorry this is coming out so late, but I was tied up in the morning, didn’t get into Estabrook until noon, then had a meeting on campus, and here we are. The good news is that I was pleasantly surprised by how much wildlife there was to see in the park that late in the day.

The wood ducks on the pond were mostly down for their siestas, but they do so in such a photogenic way that I can’t really fault them. Can you?

The little pied-billed grebe, however, was still quite hungry and caught a fish that I thought must be just too big for it to choke down, but it gulped and gulped and swallowed that fish whole.

The bigger surprise, for me at least, was finding our first hooded merganser of the fall. The clouds were pretty thick all afternoon, so there wasn’t much light, but it was still finding shadows anyway. Thus, I wasn’t getting much for pictures until it hopped up onto a log with a wood duck hen and created this scene. The hen objected first, but the merganser wasn’t having it and pushed back quite spectacularly.

Things were much more peaceful at the other end of the pond, but I could still barely believe my eyes when I spotted this giant bull frog just chillin’ up on a log in mid-October.

On shore, even the rabbits were out. It was almost as if the morning rain had kept everyone on hold until I was able to get there to see them.

Finally, I didn’t see any odd ducks on the river today, but I did finally get our first image, such as it is, of a tiny winter wren for the season.

The forecast for tomorrow morning is cool, cloudy, and breezy, but at least it shouldn’t rain, so I can’t wait to see who I find next.

Are they green, or are they blue?

As I suggested yesterday, I did ride down to Lakeshore State Park this morning to join the Milwaukee Birders again. There was a stiff breeze coming off the lake, so thank goodness temps were milder than they’ve been recently.

When I spotted this little cutie, I got all excited because the white-ish bib and collar looked a bit exotic. My excitement was premature, however, because this is just a young white-crowned sparrow, of which we’ve been seeing plenty lately.

Another familiar face, which will soon be gone for the winter, is this northern flicker foraging for bugs in the nooks and crannies of the rocks at the water’s edge.

Someone who we don’t get to see much of in Estabrook, and who was at Lakeshore the last time I visited, is this savannah sparrow.

Similarly, there was one American coot foraging with the mallards, and we last saw one in Estabrook back in April.

The big treat of the day was this small group of female and/or immature male green-winged teals. They do visit Estabrook from time to time, but not as frequently as coots, and our last visitor was back in March.

One interesting new detail, at least for me, is that their green speculum feathers can appear blue if the light hits them right. This caused me a little confusion this morning, and I even wondered if they might be blue-winged teals instead, until I found this duck who was kind enough to demonstrate the effect by simply turning toward me just a bit. “Thanks!” You can even see the feather on the duck behind it and to the left still looks green. Wild!

For comparison, here are two of the diminutive teals, “the smallest dabbling duck in North America,” with four mallards, a drake and three hens, that are nearly twice the size. Also, note how the mallards’ blue wing stripe is always bounded by white, while the teals is not.

We did hear a few pipits as they flew over, and we did look up in time to see them go, but we never did see them land, so I wasn’t able to get a picture for you this time.

On my way home, I was just in time to watch this Cooper’s hawk try for a squirrel and come up empty. It hopped around for a bit trying to convince the squirrel to come out of that tree “just for a second”, but the squirrel was having none of that, and the hawk soon flew off to try again elsewhere.

Finally, I am sorry to report that I will have to miss the wildlife walk in Estabrook Park tomorrow morning, but I understand that it continued just fine without me while I was away before, so come on out if you’re able. Sunrise is now after 7am, which will probably put a damper on the 7am start, so I recommend giving the sun time to rise and reverting to the original 8am start time. Obviously, if some diehards want to start at 7am anyway, I won’t be there to stop them.

Quite the mixed bag…

“Second Weekends are State Park Weekends” for the Milwaukee Birders, and since things had been quiet at Estabrook for the past couple of days, I thought I’d join them at Havenwoods State Forest this morning. They didn’t start until 8:30, however, so I stopped by Estabrook on my way, just to see what I’d be missing.

I met a young deer and his mom atop the bluff at the north end, and I could tell he was a he because he’s sporting the first inkling of antlers.

The bigger surprise for me, and perhaps for her, was when he tried to nurse. I don’t know if she’s just done with that, or she didn’t need some old dude taking pictures, but she didn’t let that last long.

Down on the water, the pair of killdeer are still with us, and this one struck the nicer pose.

I was more excited to see an odd duck back out on the water with the mallards, and this time it was a wigeon again.

The biggest surprise of the morning had to be this healthy-looking raccoon ambling around on the exposed river bottom and appearing to be looking for something to eat.

Then I had to hustle off to Havenwoods to make the 8:30 start, and by then the sun was up, the sky was clear, and it was a beautiful day for a stroll around the grounds. The kestrels, orchard orioles, marsh wrens, and meadowlarks appear to have all flown south for the winter already, but there were a few hardy souls stuck or preparing to stick it out, and this young red squirrel is definitely in the former and hopefully in the latter as well.

I don’t believe this young cedar waxwing is stuck, but I guess if you don’t instinctively migrate, you might as well be stuck, so we should get to see them all winter long, from time to time. I read that they don’t stash fruit for the winter, as we just saw a red-bellied woodpecker do, so I guess they don’t do much if anything to prepare for the winter and are just good at foraging instead.

Finally, we did glimpse a couple of larger butterflies, but they refused to sit still for a second, so here’s one more clouded sulpher and our first butterfly an New England aster of the fall.

Since it is so nice to meet up with the Milwaukee Birders, I plan to join them again at Lakefront State Park tomorrow morning. I see that pipits and longspurs have been spotted there this month, so here’s hoping I find something interesting.

A surprise late season appearance…

Well, we finally won the trifecta of poor October weather for a walk in Estabrook Park this morning. It was cool, which isn’t necessarily a negative by itself, but it was also breezy and rainy. The bright side is that I pretty much had the place to myself, which is a nice treat once in a while.

Despite the suboptimal weather, things got off to an exciting start when I heard and then saw a pair of red-tailed hawks in the WITI TV tower as soon as I crossed the Oak Leaf Trail. This is the best shot they let me have of the two of them together, and if I had to guess, based on their behavior, one was a youngster crying to be fed, and the other was a parent trying to coax its youngster into getting its own darn breakfast for a change.

I did not anticipate getting a lot of bird pictures today, so when I saw the grebe still on the pond, I thought that one more look at this little cutie couldn’t hurt.

The biggest treat of the day came at the river between the islands. The flood we had a while back left quite a mess there, and the small trail along the water that I often used to take has been blocked, so there is still a lot of trash to collect. Today I had brought a large, heavy-duty bag, so I was really going to town, and when I picked up one large piece of plastic that the rushing water had plastered against a clump of logs and branches, I could not believe my eyes. Look who I found using the plastic for cover: our first snake of the year, a DeKays brown snake, and only my third ever live snake sighting in Estabrook. Holy Macanoli!

As I may have already mentioned, it was cool out, so the poor thing could barely move, and I didn’t want to leave it just exposed like that, so I warmed it up in my hands until I could feel it really starting to wriggle, and then I let it go find a better place to hid in that clump of logs and branches. “See you in the spring, Sweetie, I hope!”

After savoring the moment for a while, I pressed on to the meadow. Cooper’s hawks have become pretty regular at the north end lately, even if I don’t always get a picture, and this morning I was greeted briefly by this mature one sporting a bit of jewelry.

With only four serviceable pictures today, I finally have space to blow on showing you this striking moth I saw by the beer garden back on October 3: our ever first maple spanworm moth (Ennomos magnaria).

Finally, I may not have seen a single insect today, so here’s one more look at a monarch on a Mexican sunflower blossom by the pollinator garden from October 5.

I see that clear skies are due to return overnight, so maybe we’ll get to see the sun tomorrow morning. Keep your fingers crossed!