Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

A couple of little surprises

The weather in Estabrook Park just keeps getting nicer. Sure, it was appropriately chilly for October this morning, but the sky remains clear, and the breeze keeps getting lighter.

My first surprise today was finding this little blast from the past. I haven’t seen a house wren in weeks, so my bet is that this one is from a house up north. Their year-round range only extends as far north as the Gulf states, and this one still has a ways to go.

For comparison, here’s a winter wren, whom we might get to see all winter.

The biggest surprise of the day was catching sight of this elusive little cutie, an immature, orange-crowned warbler. Sure, there are still plenty of yellow-rumps and a few palms around, but I did not expect to be still finding new warblers this late in the season.

At the north end, I was standing way out in the river, on a big patch of exposed riverbed, when this osprey glided over, and I was afraid that it would take one look at me and just keep gliding. Today must be my lucky day, however, because it circled around and took a perch right over our riverbank where I could sneak this picture.

Finally, as I was sneaking around trying to get an osprey picture, yet another raptor glided in, this pretty little merlin, and it took a perch over the northern island, right across from the osprey.

And that’s the whole show for today, folks. I am sure there was plenty more to see, but I just ran out of time. Let’s hope the surprises I missed stick around for another day so I can find them tomorrow.

Plenty of fine sights to see…

The wind has finally subsided, and the sky is still clear, so it was a nearly perfect, if chilly, morning for a visit to Estabrook Park. I saw a hungry Cooper’s hawk try for little birds three separate times today, and this picture is at the pond after it came up empty on its second attempt. The third time was the most “fun” to watch, however, because dozens of juncos and sparrows leapt off the ground for their lives as it swooped over.

With the still air, the water on the pond was flat as a mirror.

The big surprise today at the river was this quartet of deer sneaking between the islands.

We have another new bird for the fall migration, and this time it’s this rusty blackbird.

This is my first blue-headed vireo of the season, but they’ve been spotted in Estabrook already this month.

Meanwhile, the wigeon is still with us and has teamed up with the gadwalls. In the image below, the wigeon is on the right, and one of the two gadwalls I saw today is on the left.

As I was trying to get a decent picture of the ducks out on the water, this ruby-crowned kinglet put on such a nice show while foraging through the willow shoots growing out of the riverbank that I just couldn’t resist taking its picture.

This next picture is pretty terrible, I admit. The bird looked like a black silhouette against a backdrop of leaves lit up by the sun, so I really had to over expose it with my camera and then try to clean it up on my laptop, but, if my identification is correct, this might be my best wood thrush picture yet. Sheesh, they are elusive little skulkers.

There were a few phoebes hunting bugs over the river, and I checked every one carefully in hopes that one might be a vermillion flycatcher, but I had no luck with that. Instead, I did get this pretty picture.

Back at the pond, the great blue heron had arrived, and the water was still pretty smooth, so here you go.

On my way back to the river for one more check, I spotted my only sapsucker of the morning, and this might be the last we see of them until they come through again in the spring.

Lastly, I was surprised to find the weeds by the soccer fields nearly empty, given the warm sun, but perhaps the butterflies were still too chilled from the cold overnight. Happily, the situation by the Church House must have been a smidge warmer, so here’s one more sulphur to act as our butterfly of the day.

The wind backs off a bit…

The skies were nice and clear again, and the wind was not blowing quite as hard as yesterday, but it was still a pretty breezy morning, so I wasn’t sure who I might be able to see. The critters put on a good show, nevertheless, and my first little greeter this morning was this darling Tennessee warbler foraging in the gone-by goldenrod beside the soccer fields.

At the river, this dapper-looking song sparrow seemed momentarily transfixed by the beautiful morning.

When I first arrived at the north end, all I could find were mallards and Canada geese, but then an osprey dropped in to do a little fishing.

And then I spotted a pair of gadwalls, perhaps the same birds we saw last week, dabbling north of the northern island.

The biggest surprise, however, was finding this American wigeon near the gadwalls. I haven’t seen one here since 2021.

At the pond, the red-eared slider was up enjoying the sun one more time, …

a young, white-crowned sparrow was foraging on the path, …

a gray catbird was lurking in the bushes, …

and the great blue heron was preening before a nice backdrop of autumn colors.

Finally, when I was back at the soccer fields and checking for butterflies, a young bald eagle, perhaps the same one we saw last week at the north end, soared over.

Lastly, with the wind out of the west, the weeds there are pretty sheltered, and there were skippers and sulphurs sipping from some of the few flowers left in bloom. Since the previous butterfly of the day was a skipper, let’s go with a sulphur this time.

Look who the wind blew in!

One of the big stories from yesterday is that Tom, the mink whisperer, spotted a vermillion flycatcher catching flies off the southern tip of the northern island and about 1000 miles northeast of its natural range. As soon as I found out, I hustled back out to see if I could also see it, along with at least 10 other birders, but none of us had any luck. You can see the amazing pictures Tom go on his imgur page, and my best guess for why it is here is that is somehow got blown here by hurricane Helene.

Anyway, while I was at the river again, I watched this kestrel swoop down and grab some hapless little songbird for lunch. The picture looks a bit goofy because the bird was almost completely backlit and its silhouette is about all you could see in the original image. I used software to lighten up the shadows, but it is not perfect.

Here’s a more-natural glimpse of the bird from a different angle.

This morning, it was super windy, so there was little chance of spotty a flycatcher of any kind, but the wind didn’t keep us from seeing these immature or female blue-winged teals. As with the green-winged teals from a few days ago, you can see that they are much smaller than looming mallard hen right behind them, just not as much smaller.

As I was trying to get a nice teal picture, look who swooped in to perch above the southern island for a moment: a Cooper’s hawk.

Meanwhile, this much-smaller merlin was perched above the northern island.

They both soon took to the air, and the merlin eventually drove the hawk away. It seems to always depend on the size of the fight in the bird, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I eventually made it to the pond, and I was just in time to catch the female rose-breasted grosbeak call out for others.

Lastly, I did see one sulphur butterfly struggling in the wind today, but I left it alone and took a picture of this wooly-bear caterpillar instead.

Sorry for all the typos, but I’m behind schedule and gotta run.

Little Bird Day!

Oof, what a morning! I’ve got a few new long stories to tell you at some point, but I don’t have time now, so let me just get to the pictures.

I didn’t see anything to photograph until my third trip to the river, after visiting the pond twice. There were a bunch of little birds there, and here’s a handsome song sparrow. Yay!

Here’s the first swamp sparrow for this season in Estabrook Park. Yee Haw!

And here’s the first fox sparrow reported for this season in all of Milwaukee County. Woo Hoo!

Just a bit downstream from all the sparrows, this was a couple of feet long and half-a-foot wide and is either a huge scaly tongue of a dragon or the tail of a beaver. I hope for the latter.

Then, just as I was about to leave the park, I checked the old fruit trees again, and this little cutie, a yellow-rumped warbler, paused just long enough for a nice portrait. We even managed to include some pretty fall foliage. “Thanks, Sweetie!”

Finally, in the same tree as the yellow-rumped, this palm warbler must have decided to show us what a real portrait looks like. They truly are the best little posers.

October keeps up the pace…

The beautiful weather continues, and it was another wonderful morning in Estabrook Park.

My first greeter today was this beaver on its way home after a night upriver chewing on bark.

From the river, I headed to the pond and was thrilled to get one more chance to photograph a red-breasted nuthatch. They are stunners, eh?

At the pond, the trees were full of kinglets and yellow-rumped warblers. Here’s one of the latter.

The flickers have been quite busy lately, flocking up before heading south for the winter, but this guy, atop the bluff north of the beer garden, seemed to be just watching the sun rise.

Down the bluff and beside the river again, I could hear a winter wren or two, and when I took this picture, I thought I had captured one. It turns out, however, that this is a female common yellowthroat, of similar size, shape, and foraging habits, and only related at the level of “order”, but this might be the nicest yellowthroat portrait I’ve managed to date.

Farther north, this hermit thrush put on a nice little show, posing one way and then another, and I believe this is its best side.

I did see two of the gadwalls again, but they were even farther away than yesterday, and I didn’t see anyone else interesting, no eagles, merlins, or kestrels, so I headed back south. On the way, I kept my eyes peeled for an owl or a winter wren, but look who I saw instead.

Sure enough, an osprey was flying upriver, so I hustled after it in hopes of finding where it parked, and here it is.

After the osprey, I gave another shot at getting back to the pond, but on my way, look who flew over. They might resemble Canada geese at this distance, but they are actually double-crested cormorants. I sure hope one will stop in the river to sample the fish before they’ve all gone south.

As I approached the baseball field, I noticed a large bird swoop by, and I spotted it perched in the hedge of tall tree between the field and the dog park. It looked big, and I thought it was the young, dark eagle from yesterday, again. Once I got closer, however, it turned out to be this gorgeous red-tailed hawk. It looks similar to the one we saw last month, but I can’t say for sure that it is the same.

When I finally made it to the pond, I found the great blue heron perched on the same branch as yesterday, but today it had one heck of an itch to scratch.

The wood ducks did not appear to be excited about anything today, and they were just quietly going about their business. I found this pair up on the lawn foraging for fallen cherries or crab apples.

Finally, I didn’t see any damselflies today, but I did see a few dragonflies, and I didn’t see any monarchs, but I did see this fiery skipper on a dandelion, so this is gonna have to be our butterfly of the day. Best to enjoy it while we still have it, right?

All kinds of fun sights…

After the breezy start yesterday, the still air this morning was a very welcome change. That, plus the crystal blue sky, more than made up for temps in the 40s, and it was a perfect morning for visiting Estabrook Park.

I found my first fun sight, beside the river at the north end, with the help of three crows who were trying to convince this young bald eagle, hiding in plain sight, to move along. The eagle didn’t budge, however, and the crows eventually gave up and moved along themselves. I wonder if this youngster is related to the adult we saw just yesterday.

Below the eagle, the river was full of geese, mallards, a great blue heron, and three of these little cuties. They wouldn’t get close to a mallard for a clear comparison, but I don’t believe they were anywhere near as small as the green-winged teal yesterday. Instead, the little white patch on the wing makes me think they are female or molting male gadwalls. Sweet!

As I was working on eagle and gadwall pictures, another beauty dropped in for a quick visit, our first male American kestrel in a while.

Almost right below the kestrel, this belted kingfisher also paused for a moment.

I had searched for an owl on my way north and again on my way back south, but I had no luck. Then as I traipsed farther south on the river path, the little birds in the canopy high above were making more of a racket than usual, and when I looked up, I found out why. This owl is about as sound asleep as I have ever found one, and I never saw it look towards or react to me in any way, although it did turn its head once when a crow called nearby. “Sleep tight, sweetie!”

At the pond, the wood ducks were all excited about something, but I never managed to find what it might be. Meanwhile, this great blue heron, standing on the branch that the wood ducks often use, looked as if it could not possibly care less. Maybe the wood ducks were just annoyed that the heron was using their branch.

On my last swing by the river, I was happily surprised to find that they are still making damselflies, and this one, with its regular black and blue dot-dash pattern, appears to be a familiar bluet.

Once I turned around from taking the bluet picture, I spotted this sparrow, which looks a bit like one of the dozens of white-throated I’ve been seeing lately, but not exactly. That’s because it’s a Lincoln’s sparrow, which we only get to see once in a while.

Finally, as I crossed the soccer fields at the south end, I found our first yellow-rumped warbler that was willing to show off its yellow rump. “Thanks, Cutie!”

Lastly, for the first time I’ve seen in Estabrook Park, here’s a monarch butterfly sampling the nectar of one of the sunflowers planted out in front of the pollinator garden. I know the goldfinch love them, but it is good to know that the monarchs will tank up there, too. So, yet again, we manage to eke out one more “butterfly of the day.” Woo Hoo!

As always, the images are embedded from flickr, so you can click on them to see the full resolution version.

A blustery start to October

In addition to the wind, it was quite cloudy at sunrise, and it even sprinkled on me for a bit. But then the breeze blew the clouds away, the sun came out, and the day warmed up quickly.

The first big surprise of the morning came in this little package beside the northern island. It looks a lot like the mallard hen behind it but is easily only half the size. That, along with the dark bill and creamy feathers below the tail suggest that it is a female or immature male green-winged teal. I believe I’ve only seen them in Estabrook once before, so what a way to start the new month, eh?

Back on shore and a bit farther upstream, I managed to capture this ruby-crowned kinglet just before it leapt after the bug it has its sights on.

On my way back south, the squirrels were all crying, so I looked up and saw a large dark shape right over the riverbank and nearly in line with the sun. I thought it might be the osprey again, so I did my best to sneak forward to get away from the sun and covered my face with my camera as I came out from behind some leaves, but this is all it would let me take before launching back into the air. It turned out not to be the osprey, and if you can’t quite make it out, check the next picture.

Sure enough, it’s our first bald eagle in a while, and here it is now comfortably perched over the far riverbank. Wow, October is really getting off to a great start!

With all the wind this morning, I didn’t imagine that I’d find many butterflies at the pollinator garden or the weeds beside the soccer fields, so I was anticipating that I’d be explaining right now that we’re probably done with “the butterfly of the day”, at least until they return next year, and then I spotted this beauty in the lawn between the pond and the parkway.

In case you don’t recognize the out/bottom side of those wings, here are the in/top sides, which mark it as an American lady.

Back at the far south end, just as I was about to exit the park, I noticed a commotion in the old fruit trees between the radio tower fence and the parkway, and this was one the little birds contributing to the hubbub. The image is quite over exposed, and that big white patch is an artifact of that, but when I clean that image up with my recollection, I make it to be of a young Tennessee warbler. We saw a slightly more colorful one just last month.

Another little bird in those trees was this young-looking, white-crowned sparrow.

Finally, to round out the trio, this young yellow-rumped warbler joined the fray.

Back to the basics…

It was another beautiful morning, with much less of a breeze than recently, and a great way to end September. I struggled to get much to show you, however, so thank goodness for the regulars on the pond.

This first scene took me by surprise. I’ve seen wood ducks in trees before, and I’ve seen wood ducks eating just about everything, but I have not yet seen a wood duck standing in a bush and eating berries. They are just full of surprises.

The great blue heron that fishes on the pond every morning was there again, and it has really gotten used to people.

The asters are still in bloom, and this beauty is feeding what appears to be a spurred ceratina (Ceratina calcarata), a “small carpenter bee in the family Apidae.”

Finally, all the monarchs have not yet flown south, and here’s one more intermittently sticking its tongue into that sow thistle blossom.

September winds down…

It was just as warm, just as breezy, but a lot less cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, compared to yesterday, so a wonderful early autumn day for a visit. Even better, the parkway was closed for the Shorewood Farmers Market, so it felt like I had the place and its critters to myself at times.

I didn’t see anyone to take a picture of, however, until I came across this red squirrel beside the river above the falls. It was quite upset with me, so I took a few, while it made its case, and then I continued north.

Farther upstream, I came across the doe with her fawn again, but they were on land this time, and after they trotted a few yards off the trail, I could only get eyes on her in the thick underbrush.

The owl(s) and the Cooper’s hawk(s) were absent today, but the osprey was back to fishing from its new favorite tree, right next to the Holiday Inn. Boy, some lucky visitor sure got an eyeful if they looked out the window just then.

Back on our side of the river, this brown creeper made things easy for me by giving me notice and then creeping up that trunk right into a ray of sunshine out in the open.

At the islands, this merlin swooped in and took a perch high above the northern one.

At the pond, the wood ducks and great blue heron continue to draw a crowd, but I was more interested in what might be our last turtle of the year, a red-eared slider in this case. Soon enough they’ll be burrowing into the mud for a long winter’s nap.

I didn’t get another presentable picture until the weeds to the east of the southern parking lot, when I found this male goldfinch feasting on thistle seeds and halfway between its summer finery and its winter coat.

I glimpsed the palm warblers again, but I couldn’t quite get them on film today. In fact, they were about the only warblers I saw, and I suspect all the rest caught a favorable wind last night. Luckily, I had much better luck yesterday, so here’s another look at the palm warbler, …

and here’s another look at the Nashville.

Finally, the butterfly selection was the same as yesterday, so here’s another bicolored striped sweat bee but this time on about as big an aster blossom as I’ve seen.