The weather continues to get better in Estabrook Park, and I enjoyed plenty of sun and blue skies this morning, despite the occasional cloud. My visit got off to another great start when I spotted this osprey high over the river and just about at eye level with the paved path where it runs right beside the top of the bluff.

A big surprise for the day was finding an American kestrel flying over the baseball field and perching over the beer garden. It sure made the blue jays go crazy. I even saw one give chase for a bit. The last time I got a picture of a kestrel was last September, and it was with a blue jay on one of the radio towers across the river.

I only found one owl this morning, and it was having a close encounter with an eastern gray squirrel. It was not clear who was more afraid of whom.

There was a new flycatcher visiting this morning, and it was this alder flycatcher, on its way to South America for the winter. “Safe travels, sweetie!”

Under the bridge at the far north end, the pigeon chicks appear to be almost all grown up.

The eastern wood-pewees must have had a bumper crop this year, because I’ve been seeing them everywhere lately, and here’s one with a fly.

This chipmunk looks like it is giving its tail the “smell test” to see if it can go another day without washing it.

The trees are starting to fill up with warblers, also making their ways south, and here’s one that I believe is a female Cape May.

Closer to the ground, this gorgeous orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta) was working on its own breakfast.

In the thistles beside the southern soccer fields, I found a striking new bee for us, this broad-handed leafcutter bee (Megachile latimanus).

Finally, there were not many butterflies out and about to choose from, so our butterfly of the day will be this clouded sulpher.

Lastly, Anne and I are heading off on another adventure this afternoon, and I am bringing my camera, but it might take a day or two before I have anything to show you.

The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was quite a mixed bag. The clouds were thick and dark most of the time, and they even misted on me for a while, but there were also glimpses of blue sky, and the sun even shone through for a bit.

There were a couple of belted kingfishers at the pond, as has been pretty common these days, and this morning one of them caught a crayfish, which it thrashed thoroughly against that branch before swallowing hole.

As I approached the north end along the river, a cacophony of crow caws grew steadily, which helped me find these two beauties. The owls eventually moved on, and let the crows have a break.

A couple of the crows also tried to intimidate this osprey, who was simply trying to enjoy its breakfast over the far riverbank, but they pretty quickly gave up on that.

Back on our side of the river, I found a great crested flycatcher, for the first time in a while.

Below the flycatcher, this red-bellied woodpecker was keeping one eye on the skies, …

while this northern flicker kept one eye on me, …

and they eventually noticed each other.

The bushes and low trees around us were full of little birds, but the only one of them that I was able to capture on film was this female redstart.

Back at the pond, the wood ducks were taking their midmorning nap, as usual.

I still had a little time on the clock, so I stopped by the river one more time, near where the stream from the pond empties, and I was thrilled to spot a beaver again, but it ducked under the water before I could get off a shot. As I looked downstream for when it resurfaced, look who I saw lurking at the water’s edge. That’s a young green heron, and I haven’t seen much of them for a couple of weeks.

The beaver did eventually resurface, and it just kept swimming downstream.

Finally, I didn’t see a single butterfly today, not even a skipper, so this petrophila moth, of the two-banded variety (Petrophila bifascialis) will have to serve as our “butterfly” of the day.

The skies looked threatening from time to time this morning in Estabrook Park, but they never leaked, and the sun even shone through a couple of times. My visit got off to an exciting start when I spotted this beauty, a merlin, perched high and just east of the southern parking lot.

I had to give it a close look to confirm it wasn’t a mourning dove, and as I did, I found goldfinches, chickadees, and even a female ruby-throated hummingbird all trying to urge it on its way. You can just make out the tiny, light-colored hummingbird in the bottom right of this picture.

Here’s a slightly better look at just the hummingbird. When I first glimpsed her, I missed getting the picture and thought to myself, “oh well,” but she kept on coming back. Now, that’s what I’d call “feisty”, and I’d be hard pressed to believe it if I hadn’t seen it with mine own eyes!

Anyway, the pond was quiet, so I continued on to the river where this young, female belted kingfisher perched on a branch over the water and just on the other side of a screen of leaves from me. There was one little gap just big enough to let me peek through, yet small enough so I didn’t scare her off. Sweet! They don’t often let me get a portrait like this, so if you appreciate the pretty details, as I know I do, go ahead and click on the image, which should take you to my flickr page, so you can see and zoom in on the original.

Continuing north, I did not see any owls today, but I did see the osprey perched high above the far riverbank. No need to zoom in on that image.

Back on our side of the river, I heard a pretty song above, and soon found it coming from this striking singer, a female rose-breasted grosbeak.

After spotting her, it didn’t take me too long to find this guy, apparently even more transfixed by her siren song than I was.

Back at the pond, the wood ducks were doing their thing, …

a young great blue heron was trying hard to catch some breakfast, …

and this valiant northern flicker dad was doing his best to fill the bottomless pit that is his noisy son’s gullet.

As I neared the south end again, I found my third raptor of the day, this young-looking Cooper’s hawk, in a try overlooking the Oak Leaf Trail, which runs along the east side of the park.

On the thistles beside the soccer fields, this bicolored striped sweat bee really stood out, and I believe it is sharing that thistle blossom with a much-less-colorful eastern thistle longhorn bee.

Finally, there were not many butterflies out yet this morning, so this fiery skipper, sipping nectar from goldenrod blossoms, will have to be our butterfly of the day.

Donna and Katie, of the Milwaukee Birders, were leading a little field trip up to Horicon Marsh this morning, and since it was so rainy here, I figured it was at least a good day for a car ride. Plus, the company was great.

Our first stop was on route 49 that cuts across the north end of the marsh and so provides one of most easily accessible views of open water. There we saw a ton of American coots, mallards, geese, a couple of trumpeter swans, a few cormorants, at least one pied-billed grebe, and one gadwall. The best picture I got, however, is of these two cuties, who we all figured were young coots. It turns out, from the comfort of my dining room table, that these are more probably young common gallinules, which we first saw in the same place last summer.

We stopped next at the Marsh Haven Nature Center, where we saw a few cedar waxwings and these young purple martins.

I was also thrilled to spot this sweetie below the martins, another thirteen-lined ground squirrel.

From there, we ventured back into the marsh to visit the Horicon “TernPike” auto tour and hiking trails where we glimpsed our only shore birds of the trip but failed to get pictures or IDs. I had more luck with this young yellow-headed blackbird, which I know I’ve seen before, but have failed to photograph until now. Maybe next time, I’ll even get a clean shot.

There is a nice boardwalk over the water for a ways, and it appears that barn swallows nest under it, because they were thick as flies. Happily, they were also quite bold, and this might be the best barn swallow picture I’ve ever managed.

Better yet, there were a couple of these little darlings mixed in, and at first I thought they were northern rough-winged swallows, as we’ve seen in Estabrook. I even convinced the rest of the group that they were. Once again, hindsight is 20/20, and now I can see that that brown band across its chest marks it as our first bank swallow (Riparia riparia). I sure would love to spot one of these in Estabrook someday.

In the water below the swallows, this painted turtle probably did not care in the least what type of swallows they are.

There were also northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens) in the water, but this one up on the boardwalk made it easier for me to capture all its details. Man, that’s another critter I’d love to see in Estabrook.

Finally, just as we came to the end of “Egret trail”, there was a great egret perched in a tree, right on cue. I expect we’ll be seeing them again in Estabrook soon enough.

Lastly, the butterfly of the day is another eastern tiger swallowtail on joe-pye weed blossoms in Ziegler Park in West Bend, where we stopped on our way to Horicon.

Thanks to my hosts for letting my tag along, and to Lisa for doing all the driving!

The rain that was forecast last evening to commence at sunrise this morning was delayed, and it was coming from the west, so the skies to the east were clear, and it appeared that I would have a few minutes to see who I could see in Estabrook Park.

My first treat was finding this red-tailed hawk on the lawn across the parkway from the soccer fields. It was quite intent on catching whatever little critter it had seen, so it let me take as many pictures as I wanted, which is not the norm, and I especially enjoyed watching it stride across the lawn as it searched the underbrush. Too bad there wasn’t enough light for action shots.

It eventually gave up on that one and retired back to this perch atop a light pole to wait for another squirrel or chipmunk to venture out, so I let it be and continued north.

I stopped by the pond where there was a very agitated trio of kingfishers flitting about and shouting at each other, but nothing looked photogenic, so I pressed on.

At the north end, I couldn’t see anything more than a couple of herons, and dozens of mallards and geese out on the water. When I took a few steps inland, however, my second treat of the morning was this amazing sight in the few flowers that haven’t been mowed yet.

It’s a northern crescent, which we’ve seen before, but not in a couple of years, and it even showed off the gorgeous top sides of its wings.

Then the rain started, but it looked like the leading band would blow by pretty quickly, and then I’d have another gap, so I hustled up to the bridge at the far north end to wait it out. There, I was happy to see the pigeon chicks off their “nest” for the first time. Good for them.

On my way back south, I didn’t see anybody new, so I kept going. When I paused beside the southern island to see if the waterthrush we saw yesterday was still there, and it was, I heard a call from back upstream that sounded to me like that of a Cooper’s hawk. Thus, I hustled back north, and this is the first bird I found in the canopy above: one of our great horned owls.

They don’t sound like that, however, so I kept searching, and found a second owl. Awesome!

A few more steps, and I could finally see who was making all that noise, and it was indeed this Cooper’s hawk.

Before I could get a picture of the hawk and owl together, which would have been pretty cool, the hawk repositioned itself, but it didn’t go far from the owls, …

and the the second owl followed it very closely. But the rain was returning by then, so I wouldn’t be taking any more pictures skyward, and I left them to sort it out amongst themselves.

Back at the pond, these wood ducks had arranged themselves so nicely, and I could shoot downhill to keep my lens dry, so I figured it was worth taking the rain cover off my camera for a few seconds.

Finally, the kingfishers were still at it, and these two posed together for just a moment, so here they are. The one in the lower left, with a full, rusty, belly-band, appears to be a mature female, and the one in the upper right, with only a patch of rust, appears to be a juvenile, perhaps a recent fledgling hanging out with mom.

Lastly, the only butterfly I saw today was that tiny northern crescent, so here’s one last, low-light look at the butterfly of the day.

It was so foggy this morning, I waited an hour before I ventured into Estabrook Park. Even then, it was still foggy enough over the soccer fields to create this magnificent sight.

The fog also bejeweled all the spider webs.

It took another hour for the otherwise clear skies to allow the sun to “burn off” the rest of the fog. By then, however, I had missed the owl(s) and the osprey, if they were even out this morning, but I did catch this male belted kingfisher at the river.

This great blue heron was using the newly-arrived sun to make its feather mites uncomfortable.

The nice surprise of the morning was finally finding a northern waterthrush, yet another migrating warbler, despite the name, that was more hungry than it was shy.

I did also see a young chestnut-sided warbler making its maiden journey south, but the pictures are not fit for publication. Instead let’s take another look at this butterfly, which I incorrectly identified as a field skipper last Sunday. I have since learned that the field skipper range does not extend east of the Rockies, and so this must be a huron sachem (Atalopedes huron) instead.

Finally, since it posed so nicely on a thistle blossom, let’s let this tiny Peck’s skipper be the butterfly of the day.

Anne and I had a young houseguest overnight, and he expressed interest in coming with me to Estabrook to see the owls this morning. I warned him that we could go a little later than usual, but we would still need to have a pretty early start, and he seemed to be onboard with that when we went to bed last night. This morning, however, when it was time to get him up, Anne advised me that everyone would be happier if I let him sleep. Thus, I hustled into the park behind schedule and a bit discombobulated.

To make up for lost time, I was mostly making a beeline for the north end, but as I passed through the middle parking lot, I could hear somebody calling softly from that nice oak tree in the southwest corner. I thought it might be a gnatcatcher, but as I hunted through the leaves to make sure, look who I found instead. That’s a female ruby-throated hummingbird. Ha! I would have never seen her if I had taken my usual route at my usual time.

I also soon found who was making the soft call, and it was this hungry young, red-bellied woodpecker. “Why, hello there, sweetie.”

Since it was right on my way, I swung around the east side of the pond for the obligatory wood duck picture.

Then I headed down to the river, and the water has finally gotten low enough for me to sit on a favorite log and enjoy the view of the river between the islands. As soon as I plopped myself down, look who I saw not 50 yards upstream.

I’m not sure if that’s Shorty or his big sister, but whoever it was seemed pretty cool with me sitting there. I even had to wait a while to get a picture of it looking our way, and I was there so long, in fact, that look who else I saw on those rocks: a young spotted sandpiper. There were also a few mallards and wood ducks in the vicinity who all looked equally unperturbed. Interesting.

Then I looked around for a second, and when I looked back its way, the owl had vanished without a trace. Thus, with the owl gone, I continued north, and look who I also found lurking between where it had been and the riverbank: a young great blue heron who looks like it just ate something.

Back on shore, there were a few cedar waxwings in the tall trees around the little meadow there, and here’s an adult.

And this appears to be a youngster, which looks about halfway between the ones we saw at Kohler-Andrae and an adult.

I spent some time checking all the trees in the area for any new warblers, but I had no luck. Instead, look who flew in and perched right over the northern island: an osprey again. Given my initial expectations, this morning was turning out to be completely off the charts!

Around then I heard from Anne that our houseguest was finally up and hoping that I could provide some engineering assistance with a railroad project, so I started heading back south. As I passed by the trees atop the bluff, where I spotted the yellow warbler yesterday, I gave a quick scan, and look who was there today. My best guess, subject to confirmation by the experts at ebird.org, is that this somewhat drab little cutie with a beak full of bug is a young Tennessee warbler.

As I was chasing the possible Tennessee warbler, look who also showed up. That’s our first black-and-white warbler of the fall migration.

Then, I really had to get moving, so south I went, but I couldn’t help but check the flowers right on my route, as I went by. On the thistles beside the soccer fields is where I found our butterfly of the day, only the second tiger swallowtail we’ve seen so far this summer. What a beauty, eh?

Man, if this morning was any indication, I’ve gotta start shaking up my routine more often, right?

Our recent stretch of beautiful weather in Estabrook Park continued this morning, and without clouds to block the sun, I had enough light for a nice early start.

My first treat of the morning was catching this cute pair of young spotted sandpipers flitting back and forth across the river. Better yet, they paused for a moment to visit the sandbar reemerging from the river just downstream of the southern island.

At the north end, this red squirrel appeared to be foraging for apples as the sun started to reach down to the river, but I didn’t get to see which one it picked.

Out on the water, a great blue heron fished while a gaggle of geese preened.

The next big treat, however, came on my way back south when, by sheer luck, I opted to refollow the riverbank around the low ground next to the southern island, instead of taking the nice path inland along the bottom of the bluff. Look who I found perched high in a bare tree on the northern tip of the island. I think that’s the young female great horned owl that we’ve been seeing lately, and ain’t she absolutely gorgeous?

But wait! Who’s that peeking out from behind a branch behind her?

I bet that’s her little brother, Shorty, whom I believe I’ve only seen that one time they were down close to the water on the far riverbank. Boy, it sure is great to see them sticking around.

Back up on the bluff, I got a fleeting glimpse of another fall migrant, a yellow warbler this time, on his way south to the Yucatan peninsula or even farther.

The pond is still full of wood ducks, I counted 15 today, and here’s one making another nice reflection.

The pollinator garden was nice and busy, and here’s a red-spotted admiral on one of the tall cup flowers in the back row.

Better yet, it closed its wings for a second so we could see those namesake red spots.

The weeds beside the soccer fields were just as busy, and here’s another wandering glider showing off just a little more color than the first one.

Finally, the butterfly of the day is this beauty, back at the pollinator garden.

What type is it; you ask? Well, it was also kind enough to close its wings for a second to show off the small white crescent near the middle of its hind wing that makes it an eastern comma.

Donna and Katie brought their Sunday morning birding group to Estabrook Park today, but I wanted to see what I could find before they arrived at 8 am, so I slipped into the park right around sunrise. I didn’t see the blackburnian warbler by the beer garden again, but I did see this crow who was very excited about something.

When the group arrived, we visited the pond first, and an olive-sided flycatcher (or two) put on a nice little show for us over the north end.

As we rounded the east side of the pond, we caught this white-tailed deer by surprise, and she quickly exited stage right into the woods. That’s her right, our left.

At the river, we saw a great blue heron or two, a couple of belted kingfishers, and a few eastern wood-pewees, which kept together, so perhaps they were a parent with a fledgling or two.

Out on the water, as I counted the mallards and the Canada geese, look who I spotted sunning itself on the far riverbank. That is probably the big one of the three spiny softshell turtles I first spotted just one year and ten days ago. It may not have been what the birders were hoping for, but I was thrilled.

Fortunately, the air show began soon after that when the osprey, which I had already glimpsed three times this morning, decided that the crowd of people standing on the near riverbank with binoculars was no big deal and started hovering and circling over the river right in front of us.

That’s a five-and-a-half-foot wingspan.

We eventually wrapped up the visit, and most folks seemed happy with it as they went on their way. Phew. I headed to the pond to see if I could get any more pictures, and I almost startled this young great blue heron, but it must have been as intently focused on fishing as I was on finding dragonflies in the weeds at the edge of the water. Happily, I noticed it in time and backed away before anyone had to fly off.

In the northeast bay, a painted turtle was up for some sun, which we don’t get to see much of since I’m usually back home by this point in the day.

To round out our turtle trifecta, look who I spotted hiding in the algae right in front of me. You can just make out the little “saw-tooth ridged tail” of a small common snapping turtle.

At the other end, you can see its head and about a quarter of its four-inch-diameter shell.

AAt the south end of the pond, I found one of the several small orange dragonflies, which I had seen flitting incessantly over the water, finally taking a break. As good luck would have it, this appears to be our very first eastern amberwing (Perithemis tenera).

Finally, there was also a striking new butterfly on the burdock blossoms beside the soccer fields at the south end of the park, which appears to be a field skipper (Atalopedes campestris) huron sachem (Atalopedes huron), and that’s gonna be our butterfly of the day. I have since learned that field skippers, though similar in appearance, are limited to the west coast.

It was another beautiful and cool morning in Estabrook Park, I was walking north along the river path, and as I neared the boardwalk just below the falls, a couple of chickadees flitting into a bare tree at the top of the bluff caught my eye. I see chickadees all the time, of course, but I paused for a second just to make sure my first impression was correct, and there was a third bird with them who appeared, from that distance, to have an orange tint. I tried my binoculars, and I could not believe what I saw: our first blackburnian warbler of the fall migration. Woo hoo!

I immediately grabbed a couple of shots with my camera, but it was pretty far away, and then I thought maybe it would stay there for a second or two. So, I ran up the boardwalk, took the stairs up to the beer garden two at a time, and then did my best smooth-and-fast walk back to the tree it was in. Sure enough, the little darling had waited for me and even posed for a portrait. Ta da!

Well, that was an amazing way to start the morning, but there was more park to see, so I eventually continued north along the river. When I reached the bottom of stairway three, look who I spotted at the top of a bare tree over the southern island: our first olive-sided flycatcher of the fall migration. Holy Smokes!

When I finally got to the north end, there were dozens of Canada geese and mallards on the river, as has been the norm lately, but no raptors today. Oh well. Instead, I was very happy to see this quartet of recently fledged wood ducks fly in.

In the sky, there were a half dozen swifts, at least one barn swallow, and five pigeons made a fly over, so I was thinking of skipping the hike up to the Port Washington Road bridge. I thought I spotted a cliff swallow farther upstream, however, which we haven’t seen in a while, so I figured I better go up to check it out anyway. Well, the swallows turned out to be rough-winged, which I have seen lately, but the big surprise was spotting this cutie scurrying across the path. We haven’t seen a mink since May 10. How could this morning get any better?

I headed back south, and after checking the river again, thought I’d try the top of the bluff. The breeze was out of the west, and so the bugs would be pushed to the east side of the trees, where the warblers would follow them. When I got up there, look who I found instead, our first merlin of the fall. I don’t believe we’ve seen one in Estabrook since last December.

After that, things finally started to settle down. A blue jay posed for a nice picture as I hiked over to the pond.

Not all the wood ducks have fled the pond, yet, and here’s a couple enjoying the morning sun.

A great blue heron scratched another itch.

At the pollinator garden, there were a couple of dragonflies which did not look familiar. They seemed to be quite happy flying without stop, but one eventually did park for a minute to let me have this image. Say “hello” to the very first wandering glider (Pantala flavescens) I’ve ever seen. I read that other common names include “globe skimmer” and “globe wanderer” because “it is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly on the planet, with good population on every continent except Antarctica … Globe skimmers make an annual multigenerational journey of some 18,000 km (about 11,200 miles); to complete the migration, individual globe skimmers fly more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles)—one of the farthest known migrations of all insect species.” Yikes! No wonder they were in no hurry to perch.

After all that, we’re gonna need a good butterfly of the day, so I’d better go with a monarch.