Signs of Life in Estabrook Park

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.

Twice the fun at Kohler-Andrae…

The clouds this morning in Kohler-Andrae State Park were thinner than I feared, but some early-morning fog made up for that, at least for a while. Thus, when I finally spotted this pair of sandhill cranes literally standing atop one of their namesake sand hills, I ended up with a bit of a moody picture. Ah well.

Another sight I was thrilled to get eyes on, at last, was this red-tailed hawk, who was even kind enough to announce its impending arrival with that iconic call. “Good morning, to you, too!”

The hawk couldn’t stay long, and after it left, I checked the other nearby trees. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise to find a second raptor, this darling American kestrel, sitting quietly in the next tree over. Talk about getting off to a good start!

One of the most popular features of the park is the nice beach it has along Lake Michigan, and there are a couple of spots where ring-billed gulls accumulate to rest on the sand. I was gratified that my habit of checking all the gulls for a misfit paid off this morning when I came across this handsome devil, a Caspian tern. Ha!

I was especially glad to find this little cutie, a young spotted sandpiper, because I had inadvertently spooked it off the beach the first time I encountered it, and instead of just flitting a few dozen yards up or down the shore, it made like it was flying to Michigan. I did better the second time, and this image was my reward.

I know I just showed you a white-tailed deer just yesterday, but who could possibly resist these two little sweeties?

Finally, I didn’t see any butterflies or dragonflies this morning, so here’s a common wood-nymph I saw late yesterday morning on the Ancient Shores trail.

The forecast for tomorrow morning looks similar to the one for today, so let’s hope the critters are similarly accommodating.

A cloudy day at Kohler-Andrae…

The rain overnight was nowhere near as bad as we feared, and it was all done by morning, so yay! The clouds, however, have been thick all day, so I didn’t have a lot of light to work with, but I did the best I could.

I did see a doe with her fawn, but they were halfway into the tall grass by the time I spotted them, and they kept moving. This young buck, on the other hand, stood his ground. In fact, he stamped it and snorted a couple of times, so I took the picture of him that he clearly wanted me to.

If you’ve ever wondered where the cedar waxwings go when they flee your sight, as I do, well I found a good candidate spot today. I counted at least 36 scattered in the branches of a tall dead tree and in the bushes full of berries below.

In addition to chipping, field, and swamp sparrows, there were a couple of clay-colored sparrows making their unusual call, and this one let me have what is probably my nicest clay-colored sparrow portrait so far.

You will probably recognize this bird as a wild turkey, but you might not notice that it’s still a youngster, even though it already has its signature blue bald head. It sure took me a while, but I eventually noticed that it and its two siblings were only about half the size of the two hens with them. You can just see a bit of one of the hens in the upper right corner of the picture.

Now that you’ve got turkeys on your mind, you’ll probably have no problem recognizing this as an even younger turkey poult, even if its head is still covered in short, tan feathers.

Finally, we see plenty of eastern chipmunks in Estabrook, but how could I resist this picture?

Lastly, it appears that the clouds are forecast to linger into tomorrow morning, but the wind is supposed to stay light, so at least the hearing should be good.

More pretty sights at Kohler-Andrae…

It was another beautiful day at Kohler Andrae State Park, and Anne chose this morning for our new family tradition of riding our bikes down the Ozaukee County Interurban Trail to get breakfast in Port Washington. The breeze was super light for our ride down, and then it picked up out of the south to help push us back to our camp site. Sweet!

Anyway, that means I wasn’t out taking picture this morning, but I did spot this gorgeous merlin yesterday afternoon that was flitting around with a second one. There was also a blue jay in the mix, but it was probably just trying to convince the two merlins to go play somewhere else.

This eastern wood-pewee by the pond let me have a nicer look than the ones in Estabrook have let me have in a while.

This picture is not nearly as nice as the previous two, but this is another hooded warbler, and ebird considers it rare for this location and date. This makes the third one I’ve captured on film, and each time they get closer to Estabrook, so I have a hope that one of these days I’ll be able to capture one there.

I haven’t been seeing a lot of dragonflies here, so when this one parked for a moment, I couldn’t resist. It is harder to see on this one, because I didn’t realize the importance of getting the wings into focus, but it’s only my second band-winged meadowhawk.

Finally, this amazing creature was perching on the paved path around the pond, perhaps in hope that it was a stream bed or some other location that might provide some nutrients. As good luck would have it, for us at least, this is another Compton tortoiseshell, and this time we get a look at the out/under/dorsal side of those wings. “Thanks!”

Lastly, it’s supposed to start raining this afternoon and continue into mid-morning, so here’s hoping that I’ll be able to get out after that. Wish us luck!

Off to a great start at Kohler-Andrae again…

As I mentioned yesterday, Anne and I are camping at Kohler-Andrae State Park for the week with her extended family, and we’re off to a great start, weather wise. It was cool this morning, but the sky was clear, and the wind was light, so I had a nice time checking in with old friends.

They have a little fishing pond here, and the big surprise this morning was finding a mallard hen with seven brand-new ducklings. This might be the latest brood I’ve seen so far. “Good for you, Sweetie, and best of luck!”

The Black River is thicker with duckweed this year than I recall seeing it before, but that didn’t appear to slow down this muskrat too much, though it did pause to wipe off its head.

There are green herons, of course, and here’s an adult hunting for its breakfast.

More fun, for me at least, was also seeing this youngster trying to do the same. Or maybe it was just keeping eyes on Mom so it would know as soon as breakfast was ready.

Best of all, this little sora put in an appearance, right on schedule! “Thanks, Honey!”

I got my very first viceroy butterfly picture here back in 2023, and I have found one in Estabrook since then, but it’s always nice to find one back at the original source.

Finally, the orange and dark brown on this butterfly, with a little bit of white, made me think this was either a painted lady or an American lady, but this is our very first Compton tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum), and it’s not even in the same genus. Instead, the mourning cloak is a closer cousin. I did not see that coming. Did you?

I can’t wait to see who I find tomorrow!

Skipping town again…

The rain held off in Estabrook Park this morning, and I did get in to look around, but the river is now high, and the clouds were thick and low, so I didn’t see any shots that I’d wanna show you. Instead, let me whet our appetites, both yours and mine, with some sights I hope to see during our annual family camping trip to Kohler-Andrae State Park.

There are usually pelicans to see, they’re always a treat, and here are a dozen or so performing their cooperative fishing operation.

I have seen a sora in Estabrook Park, but only one adult so far. On the other hand, I’ve seen them a couple of times on each of the last two visits to the state park, so I hope they don’t let me down this time.

Sandhill cranes look especially nice when they stand atop a sand hill.

Finally, it would be a shame to camp beside such a nice marsh and not see a marsh wren.

We’re driving up this afternoon, so I should be out and looking around first thing tomorrow morning, and I’ll be sure to show you what I find.

Another rain out…

It did pretty much rain all day, and I never made it into Estabrook. Oh well. We sure did need the rain, and at least there are no news reports of storm damage or flooding in the area. Phew!

Since I didn’t take any pictures today, I was forced to go back to the archives, and here’s a nice family portrait, including kids who can’t face the right way for anything, from July 8, when I was more impressed by all the shorebirds.

The current forecast for tomorrow morning doesn’t include more than a 23% chance of precipitation, so maybe we’ll get lucky, and it will be dry enough to see who’s up and at ’em after today’s soaking.

Stiffed again, but I’ll survive…

I couldn’t resist the siren call of those least bitterns at Sheridan Park, so I headed back there first thing this morning to try my luck again.

At least the grounds crew wasn’t mowing the lawn around the pond this time when I arrived, so I could hear the call of this female belted kingfisher who stopped by for a bite.

It would have been a little unusual at this point in the summer if there was not a great blue heron on the pond there, but I did not expect to see this youngster snag the largest and orangest goldfish I may have ever seen. The heron seemed about as surprised as I was, but choked it down, nevertheless.

Once again, the stars of the show were the green heron chicks, and you can just make out the beaks of all three of them in this image.

I never heard a peep out of them, but one did manage to signal to its parent that IT WAS HUNGRY!

At which point Mom or Dad did cough up some breakfast, literally.

The least bitterns stiffed me again, but at least I got to hang out with some friends on a nice morning in a nice park. Plus, now I have room to show you one more picture from my week at Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha. One of the many treats there was hearing field sparrows calling nearly as much as I might hear chickadees in Estabrook, and here’s one of the little cuties between verses.

Finally, here’s a least skipper from a few days back on a right-sized flower in Estabrook. It could sit comfortably on a dime, so the blossoms on this flower are spread out to about the size of a quarter.

We’re enjoying a nice, gentle rain right now, which is supposed to continue through much of the day tomorrow, so I don’t know if I’ll get outside at all, but here’s hoping I can scrape up something to show you.

A day of consolation prizes…

It was indeed another beautiful summer day in Estabrook Park, but I must have used up my luck yesterday because I didn’t have a whole lot today.

I did see these bucks crossing the river, and there was even a third one, but they were going the other way, so I mostly got their backsides.

I couldn’t find the young yellow-crowned night heron, although someone else did after I moved on, and there were no other new birds on the river today, but this solitary sandpiper did let me have a pretty nice picture.

The mallard hen with a brand-new batch of ducklings seemed more at ease this morning and let me get a real nice look.

I stopped by the pond a second time, in hopes that perhaps the heron had moved up there, but that was not the case. Instead, one of the belted kingfishers was there and we watched it catch a tasty-looking little fish.

Since I wasn’t having much luck in Estabrook, I decided to give Sheridan Park, where a least bittern was photographed recently, a try, but my mediocre luck followed me. I and a bunch of other hopefuls did manage to see a bittern take a short flight from one hiding spot in the reeds to another, but that was it. My consolation prize was this green heron, which we haven’t seen much of in Estabrook for a while.

The butter on my bread turned out to be the chicks that the green heron had safely hidden away on a pine branch over the water. Nice.

I saw my first red-spotted purple of the year yesterday on the cup plant blossoms at the back of the pollinator garden, but it was very shy and kept itself obscured by leaves. I saw one again today, and it wasn’t obscured, but if you look closely at what it is sipping from, you might wish it was. Perhaps it’s on a “fermented food” kick.

It looks like the showers forecast for tomorrow aren’t due to arrive until the afternoon, so here’s hoping that my luck improves.

Another rarity pays us a visit…

Oh, my goodness, the weather was absolutely fabulous this morning in Estabrook Park. The skies were crystal clear, and the air was cool and nearly still. If you live in the vicinity, I hope you’ve had a chance to get outside.

The fun started for me at the pond again, where the hooded merganser let me have a much nicer look than yesterday, although it did make me walk around to the east side of the pond to get it. How I suffer for my craft.

As I approached the river, I found this doe literally chewing up the scenery.

The star of the day, however, has got to be this juvenile yellow-crowned night heron who had just caught a crayfish out of the river. Now before you ask, “didn’t we just see a night heron on the pond?” let me point out that we did indeed see a black-crowned night heron on the pond just yesterday, but this is a yellow-crowned night heron, which we have seen before, but which the experts at eBird consider to be “rare” for this time and place. How sweet is that?

As I made my way back south, I stopped at the pollinator garden, and I did see another snowberry clearwing moth, but the picture didn’t come out as good as yesterday’s. Instead, the more interesting sight was this chipmunk parked higher in a tree than I’ve ever seen them. Plus, it wasn’t moving, so perhaps it was hiding out, or maybe it had just climbed so high that now it was afraid to move. Either way, I sure hope it can get itself out of whichever predicament it has gotten itself into.

I did see a belted kingfisher today, and even got a picture, but this one from Monday looks a lot nicer.

This picture came out as you might imagine some of the ones did that I mentioned above and that I opted not to show you. This is only the second time I’ve seen this creature (Dyspteris abortivaria), however, and this is the best I’ve been able to manage to date, so we’re just gonna hafta go with it. Not only is it one of the few green moths we get to see in Wisconsin, it is the only species in its genus, and its common name is “bad-wing moth” because “its forewing is much larger than its hindwing, making it often difficult to pull into position for spreading.” Weird detail to name it after, eh?

Finally, the monarchs are still enjoying the swamp milkweed beside the river, and if they can, so should we. Right?

The forecast for tomorrow looks like a repeat of today, so I can’t wait to see who I’ll find next.