Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

Checking back in on Lakeshore State Park…

As promised, I did ride the Oak Leaf Trail down to Lakeshore State Park this morning, and in short order, I found this handsome devil paddling slowly in the quiet water basin. He’s a greater scaup in eclipse plumage, and we last saw one in Estabrook back in February. “Great job complying with the ‘slow-no-wake rules’, Buddy!”

Then the rest of the Milwaukee Birders arrived, and we saw a handful of young brown-headed cowbirds, who have become scarce in Estabrook lately.

There were about a dozen young or female purple martins, perching on their house to preen and rest, and one male who wouldn’t look my way, the little stinker.

The funnest sight, for me at least, was the dozens of barn swallows hunting bugs high and low over the open fields. One youngster even posed on a rock for a minute so I could get a nice picture.

On my way back home, I stopped by Juneau Lagoon, and I found even more barn swallows. Here’s another youngster, hoping to be fed, but I believe it will be disappointed because the approaching bird does not have the long outer tail feathers of an adult.

Instead, here is an adult with the characteristic forked tail, but not too forked, so probably a female, and she’s got her face buried nearly to her eyeball in one lucky fledgling’s mouth to deliver a meal. The other two will just have to wait their turns.

Sorry about the resolution of the image above. I couldn’t tell which bird would be fed next, so I had the aperture pretty small to deepen the depth of field and have them all mostly in focus. Plus, I had the shutter pretty fast to reduce motion blur. Thus, not a whole lot of light was able to reach the sensor, the ISO went through the roof to compensate, and in a digital camera that introduces a lot of noise to the image.

Finally, back before I left the state park, I found this gorgeous black swallowtail sipping nectar from a hyssop blossom.

I see that we’re due for a slight change in the weather, temps are forecast to be only in the high 60s tomorrow morning with a dew point in the low 60s, and it should be quite comfortable for our weekly wildlife walk in Estabrook Park. Sunrise is forecast to be 6:00, on the dot, so that should still leave me plenty of time to reach the beer garden parking lot by 7am. If that’s too early for you, I’ll swing back by again at 8. Come on out and let’s see if the night heron is still there, the egret has returned, or some new shorebird has arrived.

It’s not all bad…

The guy who runs his German shepherd loose over the southern soccer fields at dawn was back today, after a couple day absence, so there was no sign of the twin fawns and their mom. Instead, here’s a video I took with my phone yesterday after I thought I had gotten the best picture of the twins that I was gonna get with my camera.

A nice treat at the pond, besides another row of wood ducks, was this belted kingfisher with a fresh fish for breakfast.

An even bigger treat was spotting a young yellow-crowned night heron on the river again. We had about 30 birders post checklists from Estabrook Park, who probably would not have otherwise paid us a visit, after I spotted one back in July, so it will be interesting to see if this one draws as much of a crowd.

As before, it caught a crayfish, but this one is a lot bigger and easier to see than the last one. “Good job, Kiddo!”

A big disappointment yesterday came as I headed for the weeds beside the soccer fields, where we’ve been seeing dragonflies, butterflies, and bumblebees all summer, only to find the parks department in the middle of mowing it to the ground. At least they only mowed the weeds on one side of the paved path and left the other side alone, for now, and here’s hoping that all the bugs managed to migrate over. I did see this male widow skimmer dragonfly there this morning. They’ve been become scarce lately, but they’re not all gone yet.

Among the butterflies was this sulphur butterfly on a sow thistle.

And finally, there were at least two monarchs sipping nectar from what is probably swamp thistle.

The Milwaukee Birders are going back to Lakeshore State Park tomorrow, and I plan to join them. Perhaps I’ll see you there.

Untitled…

I don’t have words today, so here are some pictures…

The twins, their mom, and maybe an aunt on the soccer fields at the south end.

Just the twins.

One of two bucks on the river between the islands.

A young green heron on the river around the islands.

A silver-spotted skipper on some nearly-gone-by bergamot in the pollinator garden.

A male indigo bunting beside the southern parking lot.

Twins!

There’s been no change in the weather, so I won’t belabor that point. Instead, the big new news is that we have two more fawns in Estabrook Park. Woo hoo! These were at the far south end this morning, and there were two together with their mom, so I’m sure they are twins and neither one is the fawn we saw on the islands in the river as recently as Monday. It would have been great if I had had a shorter lens with me, so I could show you both, but I still haven’t settle on a way to do that and keep the reach of my long lens, so we’re stuck with an image of just one of them for now.

I had only gotten as far north as the Benjamin Church House when I heard the familiar cry of a young raccoon, and it didn’t take me long to find the youngster, big enough to be out on its own, but acting like a cat that climbed a tree and now can’t get back down.

It’s been a while since we hauled a bunch of tires out of the river, and I don’t know if new ones are replacing them, or old ones are just finally surfacing, but this spotted sandpiper wanted to make sure that I knew about this one. “Thanks, Buddy! I’ll get right on it!”

The olive-sided flycatcher was still with us this morning, and this time it posed low enough that I could get it in front of a nice green background. My vision is “color-challenged,” so I can’t say for sure if that is bringing out any of the olive-green on its vest. Can you see it?

At the pollinator garden, a pair of American goldfinches were eagerly tearing the seeds out of spent blooms, and here’s the male, whose fancy breeding plumage is starting to look like it has seen some wear, but I can still see the yellow.

Finally, after a bit of a butterfly drought, I got to see a pretty fresh looking common buckeye, …

and this gorgeous painted lady at the weeds beside the southern soccer fields.

I see that the breeze is forecast to pick up a bit by tomorrow morning, so I wonder if that will blow anyone new our way. If it does, I’ll be sure to let you know.

A new arrival to welcome, despite the gloomy weather…

Just when I thought the weather in Estabrook Park couldn’t possibly get any darker and damper, today came along to show me I ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Sheesh! At least it wasn’t pouring down rain, and the winds continue to be very light, so that’s somethin’.

Anyway, most of the critters appeared to be sleeping in this morning, and the park was as quiet as I can ever remember. Birds gotta eat, however, so here’s a young green heron trying to fish from the bank of the downstream island in the river.

The one fun surprise today was spotting this little darling, colored perfectly to match the day, and perched high above the meadow at the north end. The wildlife walkers and I thought we saw one on Monday, but that turned out to be a false alarm. This time, I’m happy to report, it really is our first olive-sided flycatcher of the fall migration. “Welcome back, Sweetheart!”

Their range map suggests that this individual is on its way from breeding grounds, stretching from upstate almost to Hudson Bay, to wintering grounds in parts of Central America and most of northern South America. “Safe travels, and see you next spring!”

And that concludes the avian portion of today’s program. Thankfully, I’ve got a couple pictures from yesterday to pick up some of the slack, and here’s a quintet of wood ducks up on a log in the pond to preen and get that new fall plumage in top shape.

I didn’t see the bald eagle this morning, but it paid us a visit yesterday, so here it is.

Finally, I did see one butterfly today, a Peck’s skipper, of which we’ve seen plenty already this summer, so here’s another look at the Huron skipper from yesterday, but this time holding its wings in that signature fighter-jet pose that skippers use.

If you’re wondering if we might have seen the end of the gloomy weather, I have some bad news for you, because the forecast for tomorrow morning calls for fog and 95% humidity. Oh well. Maybe next week.

Plenty of necks, long and short…

The clouds were thicker, lower, and wetter than yesterday in Estabrook Park this morning, but the wind was even lighter, so at least “the hearing” was good.

Here’s what a great blue heron on the river looks like under these conditions.

After putting in an appearance for me early yesterday, and then evading the wildlife walkers soon after, look who decided to show its face again this morning. Yup, the great egret was back, and it appeared to be as interested in my whereabouts as I was in its.

If that neck seems long to you, as it sure does to me, you’ll be fascinated to learn that that’s because the great egret’s neck is about 1.5 times longer than the length of its body, whereas the great blue heron’s neck is actually longer but may not look as long because it’s only about 1.2 times longer than its body, although both have the same 20 or 21 neck vertebrae, depending on how you count them.

Since I didn’t see one all week at Kohler-Andrae, and we couldn’t find any yesterday in Estabrook, I thought that maybe all the killdeer had already flown south, but my thoughts were premature, as this little cutie demonstrated today.

I did see spotted sandpipers up north, some of you may recall, and we did see them in Estabrook yesterday, so I wasn’t surprised to see them again today. The picture from yesterday, however, came out a bit nicer, so here it is.

Similarly, I did see plenty of green herons last week and a couple on the pond yesterday, and I was still happy to see one again today, but I like yesterday’s picture better. Oh, and green herons also have 20 to 21 neck vertebrae, just like its big cousins, but they only amount to about the same length as its body, when fully extended.

I didn’t see any turtles today, but conditions must have been right yesterday for this mismatched pair to climb up on a log. The larger one towards the back is a red-eared or pond slider, and the smaller one towards the front is a painted turtle.

Finally, the only butterfly I saw today was a tiny least skipper, and it was so close I had to take its picture with my phone, so allow me to use one more picture from yesterday, when the butterflies were plentiful. Here’s a Huron skipper, aka Huron sachem, which I just happened to show you for the first time exactly two years ago today. Ha!

Once again, we find ourselves in some kind of weather holding pattern, and the forecast for tomorrow looks about the same as today’s, if maybe a little drier. We’ll find out for sure soon enough.

An egret back in Estabrook at long last…

The clouds were thick this morning in Estabrook Park, but the rain did hold off, temps were mild, and the winds were very light, so it was a fine time to resume looking for wildlife there.

There were plenty of sights to see, but the treat of the morning has got to be the first great egret I’ve been able to show you from the park since October 2023! “Hello, Stranger!”

Then it was time for me to collect the wildlife walkers at the beer garden parking lot, and the first place they all wanted to go was the river around the islands, in hopes of getting their own eyes on that egret. By the time we got there, however, all we could find were great blue herons and this one bald eagle. That’s a pretty good consolation bird, but too bad about the egret.

As we moved from spot to spot along the river in hopes of finding where the egret was hiding, Donna also found our first ruby-throated hummingbird since June. Yay!

After we finally gave up on the egret and started making our way back downstream, someone spotted the fawn and her mom on the downstream island, and here’s the fawn eating its leafy greens.

Since we had no luck with the egret anywhere on the river, we gave it a go at the pond next, where there were a slew of wood ducks, a pair of green herons, and this handsome, male belted kingfisher. But no egret. Oh well.

Then it was time to call it a morning and let everyone get on with their day, but on my way home, I checked in on the weeds beside the soccer fields, and that’s where I found this gorgeous painted lady butterfly sipping nectar from a burdock blossom.

Finally, lest you worry that the group went home sad for not finding that darn egret, just look at the smiles on their faces when they found a six-pack of unopened Budweisers! Ha!

I see that we’re due for more thunderstorms this evening, but the forecast for tomorrow morning looks similar to today’s, so I can’t wait to see who shows up next.

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.