I came back to Milwaukee for some work stuff, and it was a nice morning to be back in Estabrook. Sure, it was a little cloudy, but the air was cool, the breeze was light, and it wasn’t raining. Anyway, I saw only wood ducks on the pond and so continued on to the river.

There I came across this curious sight. It’s a green heron, of course, which we have seen many, many times, but it was oddly tolerant of my approach. It was perched on a rock within a yard of shore, and there was no good cover, so I had to creep up on it over open ground, and I got within about a dozen feet, but it never flinched. Heck, it didn’t even keep its eyes on me. In the very next picture I took, its left eye is clearly rotated to look forward.

Now that I’m home and have access to the interwebs, I can see that the extra bit of marking on its feathers indicates that it is a juvenile, and perhaps it has not yet learned to keep me at a distance. For all I know, it’s newly fledged, has not yet learned how to fish, and is waiting there patiently for a parent to bring breakfast.

Meanwhile, a little farther out on the water, a group of seven killdeer flew in, and here’s one.

Even farther out on the water, one of three female/juvenile hooded mergansers drifted by.

In the same spot, but behind me and high above the river, a little flycatcher was flying sorties from this perch, and I recently learned that the yellow on the bottom side of the beak and prominent wingbars mark this as an eastern wood pewee, whose smooth jazz stylings I’ve been enjoying most of the summer.

While just a bit downstream, a similar-looking flycatcher but with a “dark head and bill along with weak wing bars” is an eastern phoebe.

On my way back south, I swung by the pollinator garden and found a monarch on the cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) blossoms, but no viceroys today.

I didn’t expect to see and almost missed this snowberry clearwing working what’s left of the bee balm blossoms.

Lastly, at the burdock beside the soccer fields, a trio of fiery skippers were chasing each other around, and here’s one that parked for a moment.

I’m heading back up to Kohler-Andrae this afternoon and hope to get out for a walk again tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

As promised, I drove up to Kohler-Andrae State Park yesterday afternoon to camp with Anne and her extended family, and after we got the tents and clotheslines all set up, the grandson and I went to go see what we could see.

We had hardly gotten a hundred yards from our campsite when we came across the very first eyed brown butterfly (Satyrodes eurydice eurydice) I have ever seen. Now that’s what I call a good start.

In the cattail marsh along the Black River, we saw a few marsh wrens and heard a few soras, but then it was time to return to camp for supper, and I didn’t wait too long after that to call it a night. The good news is that an early bedtime and sleeping on the ground make it easy to get up early, so I went for a walk and got to see the sun rise over Lake Michigan.

After trying to take pictures of a pair of deer while it was still way too dark and watching a quartet of four nervous deer prancing over a ridge, I came across this very curious solo deer who let me take 20 pictures, as it circled around me into the nice morning light.

Then it tried its best to get a good whiff of my cologne, which happened to be eau de bug-spray this morning.

I finally wished the deer well and continued on my way, but I didn’t get very far before I could not believe my luck to come upon this sight: my first Kohler-Andrae coyote!

The coyote was on a mission and wasn’t visible for more than 30 seconds, but either it or I had earned the attention of this buck in the distance.

The sun was warming up a beautiful morning, and here’s one of many monarch butterflies taking advantage of it.

As I hiked down the road from the north end of the park back toward the campground, a doe with her fawn came out to take a look.

Then the fawn must have thought, “well, since I’m here, I might as well check on breakfast.”

I eventually waved goodbye to those two, as well, and continued back toward the campsite. Along the way, I finally caught a glimpse of one of my other favorite masked bandits, the common yellowthroat.

Meanwhile, a big flock of white pelicans circled above the Black River to the west.

Here’s a closer look.

Finally, here’s another monarch butterfly glowing in the morning sun …. or is it?

Nope. The keen entomologists will recognize it as my very first viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus), which I read “was long thought to be a Batesian mimic of the monarch butterfly, but since the viceroy is also distasteful to predators, it is now considered a Müllerian mimic instead.” Cool, right?!?! Oh, and for the anthophiles out there, it’s sipping nectar from purple Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum).

Not a bad start to a week of camping, eh? Not a bad start at all.

The air was cool, and the clouds were pretty thick this morning, especially compared to the weather we’ve been enjoying most of this summer, so I waited a bit before visiting Estabrook Park in hopes that a little more warmth and light might arrive. Results were mixed.

It did warm up enough for this monarch butterfly to be tanking up on a swamp milkweed, which is always a delight to see.

I missed the breakfast rush at the pond, however, so the wood ducks were camped out for their naps by the time I arrived. At least they were stationary so I could slow the shutter way down.

I checked the river, but the critters were quiet there, too, and farther from shore. In fact, the only other interesting sight I saw was this sharp-looking young ring-billed gull searching for scraps in the parking lot. Oh well.

This afternoon I’m heading up to Kohler-Andrae State Park for camping with Anne’s family, so I hope to have something pretty to show you from there soon.

Donna had arranged for her Sunday birding group to get a guided tour today of Horicon Marsh, the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United States, by Carl Schwartz, a “past president … of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology,” so I jumped at the chance. Horicon Marsh is the first “Wisconsin Birding Hotspot” listed on the Audubon Society website, so you might expect it to be good, and it did not disappoint.

The morning got off to a great start when we came across my very first black-necked stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), close cousin to the black-winged stilt I saw in South Holland last summer.

Before we knew it, two more had appeared, …

and they even attracted the attention of a nearby great egret, who flew over to see what they might be catching.

Another close cousin we saw was this one-of-many young common gallinule (Gallinula galeata), which are closely related to the moorhens we also saw in South Holland.

There were plenty of raptors about, and we spotted two red-tailed hawks, a young bald eagle, an osprey, and this northern harrier (Circus hudsonius). I’ve seen a harrier in Estabrook Park only one time, and I was able to recognize it by the distinctive white patch above its tail, which you can just make out in the image below.

A far more frequent sight in Estabrook are the pied-billed grebes, of which we saw several today. I guess Horicon is where they go after passing through Estabrook in the spring.

A huge treat, literally “the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 304.8 cm (6 ft 2 in to 10 ft 2 in),” were this family of trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator). We may have seen one in Estabrook when Lisa sent in pictures of a swan she spotted from afar near the islands on the Milwaukee River, or when I saw a flight high overhead in 2022, but they’ve always been too far away to tell trumpeter from tundra. Well, not today.

Here’s one of the cygnets looking pretty full-sized but still sporting a pink bill.

One of my favorite sights of this morning is this young ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis). I know they’ve been seen in Estabrook, in fact the last reported sighting was by Donna just back in May, but they have eluded me so far. Maybe this fall, on their way south, eh? In any case, it was great to finally see one with my own eyes.

As the morning wore on, the pelicans started soaring, and here’s a little group in tight-ish formation.

Back to the water, we saw a couple of painted turtles, and here’s the more-photogenic one.

Finally, we stopped by the Marsh Haven Nature Center to check on their purple martins, which I don’t believe I’ve seen before, and here’s a youngster perched atop one of the martin houses.

And here’s an adult

What an adventure, right!

Here are the rest of the pictures from yesterday that I ran out of time to show you. As I already mentioned, I saw the two fawns on the east side of the pond, and one was prancing around a bit when they first spotted me. That’s the one who then came over to check me out. The little rascal got so close so quickly I struggled to get any pictures at all.

Then Mom appeared at the edge of the woods, …

And this is the picture I already showed you yesterday of the youngster looking for all the world as if it really wanted to stay and play.

After all that excitement, I could hardly believe my luck to find the young black-crowned night-heron perched over the pond again.

At the river, my run of luck continued with the appearance of these five (5!) lesser yellowlegs.

Here’s three of them neatly in a row.

And here’s the best portrait of a pair I could muster at that distance.

I was there too early in the day for the softshelled turtles to be up, so I headed back south along the river and soon came upon this inquisitive little red squirrel.

At the pollinator garden I got to watch a snowberry clearwing work its magic again.

Finally, at the small patch of burdock between the Oak Leaf Trail and Wilson Drive at the southern exit, a monarch posed just too nicely for me to ignore.

Today got away from me after I visited the park this morning, so I don’t have time for a complete post, but I can leave you with this one picture instead. I saw the two fawns, but I didn’t see their mom at first. One fawn was especially fascinated by me, which I always find magical, but then Mom appeared, and it was time to go bed down for the day. It looks like we both wished we could have played longer.

Like a broken record that just keeps repeating your favorite riff, the weather was beautiful again this morning, but my bike won’t ride itself, yet, so I opted to ride while it was cool, and walk once it warmed up. Thus, I didn’t hit Estabrook until just before 8, and this is who was out and about at that late hour.

I thought there might be some butterflies on the thistles beside the soccer fields already, but I didn’t see any, and instead, found this tiny bunny, small enough to almost hide in the mowed lawn.

I didn’t see any night-herons, juvenile or mature, at the pond, so I headed to the river, where I spotted this green heron hunting from a nice shady spot.

Between the islands, a couple of kingfishers were doing their thing, and here’s one that parked close to me for a moment.

I could see the softshell turtles on the far riverbank again, and I wanted better pictures, so I continued north to the bridge. Along the way, I spotted a young/female hooded merganser, …

and a great blue heron.

Coming back south on the other side, I came across a gaggle of young red-winged black birds, and here’s the one that posed the best.

This time, I tried a little bushwacking in hopes of getting closer to the turtles, and as I was making my way through the tall grass, I noticed everyone’s favorite thing to find while walking through tall grass, a large spider. I can’t say for sure from this image, and I didn’t want to try for a better one, but it is likely a black and yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia)

Finally, I could see the turtles through blades of grass, and used the adjustable screen to aim my camera as I held it over my head to get these shots. Here’s the smaller one, …

and here’s the larger one. Now you can start to see the pretty yellow, green, and black pattern they sport.

This time, I opted to return the way I came, and on my way back north to the bridge, I encountered this pair of swallowtail butterflies dining on the thistle blossoms, maybe spear thistle aka bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare). Here’s a male black swallowtail, …

and here’s a female eastern tiger swallowtail.

I didn’t see anything else new or interesting until I got back to the soccer fields, where this monarch was dining on burdock blossoms.

Finally, as I was crossing the motorway just before exiting the park, this moth began to flutter its wings on the pavement. You would think that those distinctive antennae would enable me to identify it, but I’ve had no luck so far. If you have any clues, please do let me know. Update: I now believe that it is a spongy moth (Lymantria dispar).

It was another morning in paradise, and I got out to enjoy it nice and early. Things were pretty busy at the pond when I arrived. Sure, there was still no sign of the juvenile night-heron from a couple of days ago, and the juvenile hooded merganser seems to have finally moved on, but we had a new surprise guest instead: this stunning adult black-crowned night-heron. I love those bright red eyes.

There was also a great blue heron, who soon took off, but this fierce-looking green heron stuck around.

Plus, there were a pair of kingfishers dashing about, and this one perched over the near-side of the island for a moment.

As I was on the west lawn taking pictures of the green heron and the kingfisher, the young wood ducks all came up out of the water and brought their mom and maybe and auntie along, too.

I sat down to appear less threatening, and this one brave duckling came crazy close to make sure I didn’t have any treats in my pocket. “Sorry, Honey. We’re really not supposed to interfere with your natural diet, no matter how cute you are or how much we want to.”

Well, in that case, it became nap time, and you can see one sibling nuzzling the head feathers of another as they settled down. I guess they pick up that habbit early.

I was tempted to sit there all morning, but my FOMO on who might be on the river eventually won out, so I excused myself to hike across the softball field, and on my way, I spotted this, probably young, eastern wood pewee looking and acting a bit like a tiny bird in a giant world.

There was nobody new at the river today, that I could see, but I did spot these two green herons who seemed quite excited to see each other.

On my way back south, I stopped at the pollinator garden, and a monarch was enjoying the swamp milkweed as it opens, …

While another snowberry clearwing was enjoying the bee balm while it lasts.

Speaking of bees, the burdock patch beside the soccer fields was loaded with honey bees, and here’s one, a western honey bee or European honey bee (Apis mellifera), who posed perfectly for me.

I also spotted this skipper on the burdock, and this one is an aptly-name fiery skipper.

Finally, the goldfinch just can’t seem to get enough of the musk thistle seeds, and I haven’t grown tired of taking their portraits either.

Since the air was still and cool early this morning, I opted to get in my bike ride first and then visit Estabrook later, after the day had warmed up a bit. Once I finally arrived, I didn’t want to trek across the soccer fields in the hot sun, so I took the nice-and-shady Oak Leaf Trail north toward the pond. There are a couple of nice patches of bee balm growing beside the trail, so I had a hope of spotting more snowberry clearwings, and they did not disappoint.

At the pond, I searched in vain for our young visitor, the black-crowned night heron, but couldn’t find it. Instead, here’s a great blue heron preening over the eastern shore.

Then I headed to the river, and hiked up to the north end where I was stunned to spot this trio glistening in the sun on the far shore. Holy Softshell Turtles, Batman! Those look like softshell turtles! The river is a couple hundred yards wide at that point, and the far shore is well beyond the reach of my camera, so I did what had to be done: hike up to the bridge at Port Washington Road, cross over the river, and come down the other side for a closer look.

On my way, I came across this butterfly, which I momentarily thought might be something new and exotic, such as a longwing butterfly, but it turns out to be “just” a roughed up female eastern black swallowtail, similar to the one I saw at the Shorewood Fitness Center a week and a half ago.

I eventually approached the turtles, and since I was now on the same, steep riverbank as they were, I didn’t have a very good shot, but it is good enough to see “a row of spines along the front edge of the carapace” on the big one in the middle. That makes them spiny softshell turtles (Apalone spinifera) and the first ones I believe I’ve ever seen in the wild. Yee Haw! That’s only the fifth reptile I’ve managed to photograph in Estabrook Park.

At that point, I figured it would be a shorter walk home if I continued south and crossed back east at Capital Drive, so that’s what I did. Barely 20 yards from the turtles, I saw this pretty red admiral on a purple cone flower.

About half way to the south end, there were a few of these pretty pink blossoms beside the trail in the shade, and they appear to be either musk-mallow (Malva moschata) or pink mallow (Malva alcea), but there is a lot of variety in the shape of the petals and the leaves in the images I can find online. I saw something similar back in 2021, but had no better luck pinning down and ID.

And that’s it for today. I wonder what we’ll see tomorrow?!?!

The weather this morning in Estabrook Park was about as perfect as I hope to experience. The air was cool, not too damp, and still., and the skies were crystal blue. Then, as if that alone wasn’t enough, we have a surprise visitor at the pond! Check out this young black-crowned night heron. I believe we’ve only ever seen a youngster like this back in 2020. “Welcome to Estabrook, Sweetie! We hope you enjoy the fishing.”

I also enjoyed watching a wood duck hang around, like a puppy at the dinner table, the hooded merganser as it worked to gulp down something it had just caught. The merganser didn’t drop anything that I could see, so the wood duck is just gonna have to catch its own breakfast.

Then I hiked over to the river, and as I checked the re-emerging sandbar below the southern island, I could hear a nearby munching sound, which I figured was a squirrel in a tree with a nut. It turned out, however, to be a beaver in the water with a stick. We haven’t seen the likes of them since June. “Welcome back, cutie! How ya been?”

After I figured I had gotten the best picture of a beaver I was going to get today, I continue north and just before the trail came to a little clearing at the river bank, I flushed a bald eagle by accident, who must have been in a tree overhead working on a fish that it had just caught. The foliage is thick there, and I don’t know how it saw me; it must have ….. Oh, wait, it literally does have eagle eyes. Never mind.

Anyway, since the eagle took its fish with it, and probably wanted to continue enjoying it, it only flew to a tree on the far shore, and here it is.

As if that wasn’t amazing enough, as I scanned the trees with my binoculars to find where the eagle had landed, I also found the osprey! It kept looking over its shoulder, perhaps in hopes that the eagle might leave it some of that fish, but I suspect the chances of that are pretty slim. No one is scoring a free breakfast this morning!

Then, as I started my way back south after counting the geese, mallards, herons, kingfishers, and sandpipers on the river above the northern island, I came across this little house finch who was acting all hesitant to fly, like a recent fledgling, but could fly just fine when I got close enough.

Along my way south, I stopped at the pollinator garden, but found no butterflies today. Instead, there was this striking gold-marked thread-waisted wasp (Eremnophila aureonotata) sipping nectar for itself.

Finally, I didn’t see anyone on the thistles beside the soccer fields, either, but just as I was about to exit the park, I spotted this monarch sampling a burdock blossom in the clump that grows between the Oak Leaf Trail and Wilson Drive.

P.S. ebird got back to me already about the odd bird I saw yesterday and said, “no dice.” They assert, instead, that it was merely “a dark young herring gull.” Oh well. Ya can’t win ’em all, eh?