Today was not the same as yesterday. It was sunny again, but it was colder, especially in the breeze, and there was a lot of activity going on between the Brew City Marathon and the Milwaukee River Cleanup. I don’t know which factor, if any, was the cause, but the critters were laying low today.

Nevertheless, the goslings on the pond gotta eat, so here they are bobbing around on the water pecking at anything and everything they see.

The green heron was still there, but hiding in the shade instead of the sun when I went by, and this female or immature male hooded merganser was not so shy.

As I searched the lawn for juncos, which I suspect have mostly flown north by now, I was happy to find a trio of field sparrows, with their characteristic little pink beaks.

The brown creepers have not yet all flown north, and here’s a smarty rustling up its breakfast while soaking up some sun and staying out of the breeze.

And the white-breasted nuthatches are settling down. Here’s a pair exchanging a morsel. I apologize for the blur, but I was not prepared for an action shot when I spotted this ceremony in progress.

Shortly afterward, this little cutie held nice and still for me.

Finally, as I made my way south along the river to keep off the marathon route, this chipmunk was surprisingly friendly and soon resumed its foraging not ten feet away from me.

Wow, oh wow! What an epic morning! The skies were crystal clear, so I was able to get into Estabrook before 6am, for the first time this year. The air was cool, and forecast to be breezy, but the breeze took its time getting here, so I had a couple glorious hours with the critters, and they did not disappoint.

I reached the pond about on schedule, and the eight goslings were up and grazing, but the big surprise for me was spotting our first green heron of the year across the water.

It even let me sneak a closeup. “Welcome back, Beauty! And hot diggity dog!”

I then hiked over to the river, and as I headed north, I spotted a quartet of blue-winged teals steaming my way. I was all excited to get one more chance at a decent teal portrait for this year, when I spotted an osprey, another first of the season, over the northern island. All bets were off, and the teals would just have to wait for another day.

Before I could get any closer, its hunger got the best of it, and it went right back to fishing. I didn’t see it catch anything today, sadly, but maybe next time. Nice!

This herring gull, on the other hand, wasn’t as picky, and this huge fish, which appears to be no longer swimming under its own power, would do just fine. The gull had to keep diving for it after each bite because it kept sinking, but that barely slowed down the gull.

I eventually resumed my search for new sights, and I soon heard an unfamiliar tune. After a brief search, I found the source, which I then had to follow for a while as it flitted from branch to branch. Happily, it soon hit the mother lode, in the form of a huge dragonfly, and parked on a branch for a bit to wolf it down. Give a warm Estabrook Park welcome to our first blue-headed vireo of the season, freshly arrived from the Gulf Coast. Yee Haw!

But wait! There’s more! I finally tore myself away from the vireo just in time to catch this bald eagle soaring south over the river.

The eagle didn’t dawdle, so I turned my attention back to the trees, and look who showed up next: our first blue-grey gnatcatcher of the season, and also just in from the Gulf Coast. Woo Hoo! I absolutely love those Groucho Marx eyebrows on the males.

Next, I found this stunning yellow-bellied sapsucker. We best soak that view in because they breed up north, and so they won’t be sticking around here much longer.

Finally, I was back at the river, after another swing by the pond, and I heard a bird-of-prey-like call, so I immediately started searching the trees again. This time, however, the source was a bit farther away: high above and between the two antennae across the river. It appears that a big red-tailed hawk had glided too close to a smaller but more nimble peregrine falcon, and the falcon was letting it know in no uncertain terms. The hawk quickly took off, but the falcon lingered for a moment, and I managed to capture an image. Holy Smokes!

So that’s four different raptors and three first sightings for the season, so not a bad morning. Not bad at all.

The skies were clear as dawn broke this morning, but they soon clouded up again and even started to leak on me before I got back out of Estabrook Park. Oh well. At least there was no graupel, and this should make for some amazing May flowers, if the old saying carries any weight any more, right?

In any case, Mom and her goslings were snoozing on the west lawn again when I arrived at the pond.

Although some have taken off already, there were still a few blue-winged teals on the river at the north end.

On my way back south, I found a pair of eastern phoebes hunting from the bushes along the river path.

Back at the pond, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this female or immature male hooded merganser had flown in while I was away.

Finally, I’ve been hearing killdeer calling from across the river for weeks, but today is the first day I’ve ever been able to capture an image. With any luck, the river water will eventually subside enough to expose the sandbars that they like to forage on, and we can have some better looks.

Those are the sights for today, I’m afraid, but since I’ve got a little room left, let’s take another look at the peregrine falcon yesterday.

While we’re at it, here’s another look at the red-tailed hawk hunting squirrels or chipmunks on Tuesday.

Lastly, I’ve got one more good image of the belted kingfisher posing over the pond last Friday. This is before the last of the clouds blew away and the sky turned blue, so the lighting is quite a bit different.

What a morning! It rained, it poured, the wind blew, we even got a tiny, but oh so necessary, dose of graupel, and then the sun came out. PS: that title rhymes if you don’t know how to pronounce graupel.

Anyway, when I arrived at the pond, the skies looked threatening, the air was foggy, and it was a great morning for sleeping in.

Even this poor yellow-bellied sap sucker over the island appeared to be nodding off.

As I approached the beer garden, it started to rain, and that’s when we got a little graupel. It soon let up, however, and I started to continue north, but then the skies really opened up, and I hustled back under the roof at the beer garden to wait it out. It didn’t last long, thankfully, and by the time I finally made it to the north end, the sun came out, the sky turned blue, and it was perfect timing for capturing this young-looking peregrine falcon over the northern island. I suspect it was just trying to dry out its feathers, not put on a show for us, but I enjoyed it anyway.

All around the northern island, there was a slew of blue-winged teals, and here’s a drake.

I counted twenty teals in all, and here’s my best attempt at a group shot, necessarily through the sticks.

As I swung back by the pond, I found this little red squirrel enjoying some salad in its diet for a change.

This time, the goslings were up and back to stuffing their bellies with grass. Here’s my best attempt at getting all eight in tight formation.

Here’s a closeup of one, in case you’re into that kind of thing.

The wet weather meant that I had the pond pretty much to myself, so here’s a wood duck, who are on the pond pretty continuously now, but who usually draw a crowd.

Finally, the white trout lilies are starting to open, and …

the bumblebees are already hard at work.

The high-pressure system we’ve been enjoying is starting to lose its grip, and we’re due for rain later, but it was still pretty nice in Estabrook Park this morning. All eight goslings are still at the pond, but I left them alone today, and here’s another picture from Sunday.

There were a couple surprises on the river at the north end: a female hooded merganser, who avoided my camera, and a pair of gadwalls, whom we have not seen since last fall. Here’s the drake.

Northern flickers have been back for a while, but I haven’t had one pose for a picture until this morning. Here’s a female, in the foreground and blurry, and a male, in the background and looking sharp.

Robins have started building nests, and here’s one with a beak full of material.

Winter wrens and fox sparrows appear to have continued north already, but hermit thrushes are still around, and I counted three this morning.

The biggest surprise of the morning was finding a male common merganser on the river near the south end. I haven’t seen the likes of them since February. I thought they had all flown north already. “Buddy, you’d better hurry up!”

Finally, just as I was about the walk out of the park, by the southern parking lot, I spotted this striking red-tailed hawk working hard to grab one of the squirrels or chipmunks scampering around, but it wasn’t having a lot of luck.

As happens from time to time, our streak of beautiful weather continued this morning, with even less of a breeze, and I got out nice and early to enjoy it. Oddly enough, however, the critters in Estabrook Park were much quieter than yesterday. I suspect some have already moved north.

I was thrilled to see that all eight goslings on the pond made it through their first night, and here they are filling up on lawn grass under the careful guard of Mom and Dad.

Here’s a closer look at the little pipsqueaks.

The warm sun had this quartet of painted turtles up on a log in the pond.

And that’s it for the sights today, if you can believe it. Luckily, sights were so plentiful yesterday, that I’ve got some left over to take up the slack. Here’s yet another of my attempts at a decent ruby-crowned kinglet portrait. It least he’s showing us his ruby crown.

Here’s a bright yellow American goldfinch munching on box elder blossoms and contrasting nicely with the blue sky

Here’s a female red-bellied woodpecker digging away on the big birch tree in front of the dog park. Long-time readers may recall that “the female … accepts the nesting site by completing the excavation and entering the nest hole,” so he and we can have a hope that this is what is going on here. “Oh Honey! I was definitely going to get around to finishing that.”

Here’s one more look at the yellow-rumped warbler from Friday.

And finally, here’s our first clouded sulphur of the season.

Yes, we have goslings! I counted eight.

Here’s proud Papa right after chasing away some poor little dog whose owner obliviously walked it waaaay too close.

In other news, check out this hefty kitty…

Here’s an uncommon sight for Estabrook, a rusty blackbird just passing through.

This majestic beauty, a turkey vulture, must have smelled something tasty on the river bank below because I couldn’t believe how close it let me get without budging.

Here’s a herring gull, later in the morning, gobbling down what the vulture didn’t want. It smelled like fish from where I was standing.

Another infrequent visitor this morning was this eastern towhee. It did not stick around for a second shot.

I had been a little bummed that we didn’t get to see any buffleheads this year, and look who finally decided to grace us with their presence just this morning.

Lastly, the American painted ladies are still plentiful, and here’s one sipping nectar from some creeping Charlie blossoms.

For a change of pace today, I joined the Pike Lake/ Hartford Area Field Trip organized by the Noel J. Cutright Bird Club and lead by Carl Schwartz. It was a picture-perfect day, and we stopped at several watering holes along the way. The one on Oil Spring Rd. was a jackpot of ducks and other water birds. Here are a couple pairs of northern shovelers, which we get to see in Estabrook every once in a while.

Here’s a nice row of blue-winged teal drakes, which we see a little more often in Estabrook.

Finally, here’s a terrible picture of a pintail drake, which we do see in Estabrook, about as often as shovelers, but I’ve only seen ones in breeding plumage, when I was in South Holland.

When we finally reached Pike Lake, we found a huge raft of American coots, …

And one “singing” sandhill crane.

We saw a lot of other birds, over 50 species in total, but the trip wasn’t really intended for photography, so that’s it for the pictures I’m afraid. Instead, let me show you a few more pictures from our recent trip to Malawi.

On our last night there, back in Lilongwe, we stayed in a very nice AirBnB, and when I stepped outside at sunrise the next morning, I was thrilled to find a farmer’s field right out front surrounded by trees. That seemed like a perfect place to spot all kinds of critters, and it did not disappoint.

First up is this darling red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio) on the hunt.

The farm field attracted this amazing black-headed heron (Ardea melanocephala).

My one and only hoopoe for the trip flew over a little fence and hopped around on the driveway for a few moments.

My second ever roller, a lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus), perched calmly on this branch all morning, as I walked back and forth, and I could barely make out the color because of the sun almost right behind it, and it kept its feathers all ruffled.

But then a second roller came by for a quick visit, …

and suddenly, it looked all pulled together, although the lighting still wasn’t so great.

Finally, when it was almost time to load up the van and head to the airport, my very first African woodpecker, a cardinal woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens), stopped in for a fine sendoff.

That wraps up Malawi, at last, but I still have a few more from Comoros to show you, but they will have to wait for another day.

I didn’t have high hopes for my visit to Estabrook Park this morning. It was cloudy and breezy at sunrise, and neither condition usually makes for great pictures. The critters in the park, however, had other plans.

It all started with this white-tailed deer that I only spotted because I was tiptoeing off trail to pick up a bit of litter that I could see poking through the dead leaves on the ground. She didn’t even budge as I inched toward her, and once I bent down to pick up the piece of plastic, she even resumed munching on the shrubbery. Long-time readers might recall that I spotted my very first deer, almost four years ago, while I was doing the same thing, traipsing off-trail to pick up litter. Ha!

At the pond, the bushes were full of kinglets, and then the sun came out, which really lit things up and finally enabled me to get a decent golden-crowned portrait for the year.

There were even a couple of warblers flitting from branch to branch, and in case any of you are wondering which type this one is, …

it kindly turned around to flash us its namesake “yellow rump.” Ta da! How nice was that?!?

Finally, as I was standing still and holding my camera to my face, a scenario that I’ve hoped for years would occur finally happened. This belted kingfisher landed right in a tree not twenty feet from me, and I didn’t have to startle it by moving or even looking in its direction. Instead, I just slowly rotated my camera toward it and started taking my best kingfisher pictures yet. Yee haw! Oh, and if you are asking yourself, as one does, well is this a male or a female, hold onto your hats, because…

it even turned right around to show us the clean white breast of a male. Unbelievable!

I must have snapped thirty pictures before I figured at least one of them had to be presentable, and then I slowly backed away with my camera still in front of my face, which left the kingfisher undisturbed. Phew! I then slunk off toward the river to see if there was anything else to see.

It turns out, there were plenty of birds to see, and I counted 43 species in total today, but there were no more pictures to be had. Let’s just say that today was a day for quality over quantity.

The warm sun and blue skies were gone, but the temps were still mild, the clouds had no leaks, and the air was nearly still, so it was a fine morning for visiting Estabrook Park. My first treat for the day was getting this yellow-rumped warbler, our first warbler of the season, to hold still for the 125th of a second that my shutter was open.

I was happy to see that we still have some winter wrens around, and I counted three today, but this one seemed surprisingly oblivious to me taking pictures of it from the bridge over the ravine north of the beer garden.

Another recent returner are the hermit thrushes, and I counted three of them as well, all along the path through the woods from the pond down to the river. This one was checking to see if I was going to try taking its picture, and the answer was, “yes, yes I am.”

The female red-winged blackbirds are finally starting to arrive and checking to see which males have staked out suitable territories over the past few weeks.

And the wood ducks continue to sort out who’s gonna be with whom for egg-laying season.

This last image should probably come with a warning for folks who are squeamish about critters whose name rhymes with “Jake”. If you think that might apply to you, maybe don’t scroll down.

All right, now for the biggest news of the day. I’ve been searching for this sight since the first summer of taking these pictures, back in 2020, and I can’t believe that today was finally the day for my dreams to come true. This darling little specimen, about the size of a pencil, appears to be a pale DeKay’s brown snake (Storeria dekayi). I read that they are named after James Ellsworth De Kay, an American zoologist in the early 1800s, and that they primarily feed on slugs, snails, and earthworms.

This is yet another brand-new species for me. How many more can there even be? I found it under a nice flat rock, which I had picked up to put into a muddy patch of the river trail. Once I saw what I had done, however, I knew I had to cover it back up, but I was afraid I might harm it if I just put the rock back down because it was quite heavy, and I would probably never get it into exactly the same place.

Instead, I took a couple of pictures, of course, and then I put the snake in the palm of my hand to warm it up a bit. I put the rock back into place, and once the snake was warm enough to start moving, I let it loose right by the edge of the rock in hopes that it will soon get back home safely. Initial indications were that my plan was working, so I moved on and left it alone.