It was another beautiful morning in Estabrook Park, and signs of the recent storms are beginning to fade.

There are still about a dozen wood ducks on the pond along with the lone young hooded merganser, and it appears they have gotten quite comfortable with each other.

I just couldn’t get these two to look my way at the same time.

At the river, I found this great blue heron taking advantage of the sun to dry out its pits and/or burn off some parasites.

At the north end, some of the sandbars and rocks are emerging from the receding river water, but the exciting sight for me was this odd-looking bird soaring high over Glendale. Our best guess (mine and Dr Google’s) is that this is a parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus), a ” fast-flying relative of gulls with a piratical lifestyle.” At first, I thought it was a raptor, based on the way it was flying, but when I looked closer, it looked more like a gull. I’ve never even heard of them, let alone seen one, until today, but we’ll have to wait to see what the fine folks at ebird think of my identification to be sure.

Meanwhile, back on the river, the Canada geese are on the move a bit, but I can’t tell if it is simply in response to the high water, they’re finally done with their summer molt, or they’re heading north in preparation for their summer molt.

At the pollinator garden, there were a few of these bumble bees, which were much smaller and with more yellow on their backs than the common eastern we saw Friday, and which I believe makes them half-black bumble bees (Bombus vagans).

At the thistle patch beside the soccer fields, I spotted our first Peck’s skipper of the season on the newly opened burdock blossoms.

There were a few cedar waxwings in the birch tree in the middle of the patch, and here’s one against that beautiful blue sky.

The goldfinches continue to eat up the musk thistle seeds, and here’s a male, ….

and a female.

Finally, just as I was about to continue on home, I spotted our first eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) of the season., and the “conspicuous band of blue spots along the hindwing” indicates that this is a female of the yellow morph. Woo Hoo! Ain’t she a beauty?

Oof! The weather was nice enough this morning, but it must have poured last night! The river was up at least a foot, the water as fast and brown, and almost all the rocks and sandbars that have been exposed for most of the summer were back under water. The critters seemed a bit shellshocked, so I don’t have a lot to show you today.

One scene I was quite happy to see, however, was this family of wood ducks on the river, whom we haven’t seen in weeks. I wonder where they’ve been hiding.

There were still plenty of great blue herons about, and here’s one who found some quiet water in which to fish.

Most of the Canada geese who’ve been lounging on the now-submerged sandbars around the islands have scattered, and here’s a pair who found themselves in the weeds.

And that was pretty much it for this morning. I don’t believe I saw a single butterfly, so here’s a red admiral on a bee balm blossom from Thursday to add a splash of color.

Here’s hoping that things have returned to normal by tomorrow, eh?

It was a goofy morning. I don’t remember rain in the forecast when I checked last evening, but I could hear it on my windowsills before dawn today, so I had a nice relaxing breakfast over the newspaper with Anne. Then, by 7am, the rain had moved out, and things began to dry up, so I headed into Estabrook to see if anyone else was up.

At the pond, a great blue heron gave me a look, …

checked the sky for threats, …

and then went looking for a breakfast of its own.

I walked around to the west lawn for a good vantage point to count the wood ducks, and I was surprised when this young male paddle my way. Usually it has been the hen with four younger ducklings that come up onto the lawn for a visit, but this was different. This male had caught a tadpole, and I suspect he wanted to use the shoreline to help him gulp it down without losing it.

He sure seemed, however, like he was showing it off to me, by the way he swam around with it. The few times before that I’ve seen a wood duck with a catch from the animal kingdom, I’ve struggled to capture an image as quick as I can before the morsel is gobbled up, but not today.

And then he finally got it lined up just right, and down the hatch it went. Doesn’t that look like a self-satisfied expression on his face?

I didn’t see anything worth the film at the north end, and the butterflies must have all been drying out somewhere, so the only other picture I got was of this huge bumble bee. Sure, they’re all bigger than your average bee, but this thing was nearly twice the size of the other bumble bees around. It appears to be a common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), but maybe it was a queen out to get herself something to drink on her own this morning.

And that’s it, all I got. I told you it was a goofy morning.

Aaah. The smoke and haze have moved on, and the blue skies are back. Once again, I went for a bike ride first, got a flat tire, which was awesome, and finally hit Estabrook at about a quarter to 8. By then the sun was nice and high, and the air was warm, so the bugs were out and about. I checked the pollinator garden on my way to the pond, and the swamp milkweed blossoms are starting to open, so here’s a monarch sampling that sweet swamp milkweed nectar.

At the pond, a great blue heron was preening in a tree on the east side, and here it is against that amazing blue sky and wondering what I’m up to.

As I walked around the north end, I could spot the four younger wood duck ducklings up on various logs, and by the time I got to the west lawn, they decided to paddle over and join me.

There was at least a pair of kingfishers flitting around from island to shore and back at the north end, and here’s a female who paused for a picture.

As I was taking the kingfisher picture, I could here at least two, maybe more, blue-gray gnat catchers in the trees overhead, and this is probably a recent fledgling who hasn’t yet learned how to avoid getting caught in a picture. I’ve been hearing them since they arrived in April, but once the trees leafed out, they have kept out of sight.

On my way back south, I crossed the meadow and came across this silver-spotted skipper butterfly visiting the ribwort plantain, aka narrowleaf plantain or English plantain (Plantago lanceolata) blossoms.

Back along the river trail, I came across this chipmunk who paused a moment too long and then got stuck in an awkward standoff with me where all it could do was pretend that I didn’t see it. The moment it thought I wasn’t looking, it took off like a shot.

By the falls, a pair of herons appeared to be playing tag, and flew back and forth a couple of times. With so many opportunities, I was finally able to capture a decent flight portrait.

Finally, as I was approaching the southern exit from the park onto Wilson drive, I spotted a couple of fawns, but they tucked into the brush before I could get a good picture. Then, as I contemplated the error of my ways, Mom came back out to cross the pavement to the bigger thicket on the north side.

As seems to be often the case with white-tailed deer, once one gets safely across, then comes another.

And in this case, because this mom had twins this year, the first fawn was followed by a second.

So, on top of the four deer we saw yesterday, that makes at least seven total in the park these days. Sweet!

I hit the park early this morning, in hopes of beating the rain, and despite the dark skies, or perhaps because of them, I was surprised by how much there was to see.

As I was bent over to fish some pieces of broken glass out of the lawn across the parkway from the soccer fields, I heard a huffing sound and looked up to find this darling a bit put out by my presence. I was already close to the ground, so I just sat down, but she was having none of that, and here she is mid-foot-stomp.

The pond was pretty quiet with just a few wood ducks and the sole hooded merganser, so I left them be and headed to the river. Across from the southern island I interrupted, by accident!, a pair of king fishers fishing, and here’s the one who hadn’t taken off yet by the time I got my camera aimed.

I had hardly gotten a dozen paces farther north up the trail when a second deer came out of the brush on the island, gave me a glance, and then had a sip of water. Once she slaked her thirst, she continued to pay me no mind and nonchalantly proceeded to munch on the shrubbery. I’ve seen a lot of river and island deer over the years, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one take a sip until today. You know they’ve got to because they don’t have the thumbs necessary to open bottled water, but still, until you see it, you can never be quite sure.

When I reached the meadow at the north end, I checked the wildflowers for butterflies, as usual, and spotted this monarch seemingly just resting on a milkweed leaf. It was a good morning for sleeping in.

At the far north end, as I scanned the Canada geese and mallards on the river around the northern island for new or interesting birds, look who also came out for a look, yet two more deer. I believe we’ve seen this pair before because his asymmetrical antlers look familiar.

As I started to make my way back south, a mallard hen, who’s been keeping her ducklings in the shallow water on the east side of the northern island for the past couple of weeks, started quacking, so I started looking to see if I could find the cause for her concern. It took me a while, but I eventually stumbled upon this Cooper’s hawk perched high over the island. I wonder if it is the same one who visited the pond last week.

Finally, the skies were getting darker, so I hustled south, but not so fast that I didn’t have a moment to watch this great blue heron act like it had a lock on something to snatch out of the water, but then decided it was nothing after all. Psych!

Lastly, while I was following the clearwing moth yesterday, I took a moment to capture an image of this little skipper butterfly who was also feeding on the bee balm. It wasn’t until today, when I didn’t have a post already jam-packed with butterfly pictures, that I thought to check what kind of skipper it is, and it turns out to be a tawny-edged skipper (Polites themistocles), which I do not believe I’ve ever seen before. Huh.

Oh, and since someone mentioned snowberry clearwings, here’s another picture of the one from yesterday. What an amazing creature, eh?

Given the forecast for today and the activities I wanted to squeeze in, I opted to go for a bike ride first, when it was still nice and cool, and then visit Estabrook after it had warmed up a bit. Man, oh man, did that ever pay off.

I first stopped by the flowers beside the soccer fields at the south end, and a monarch was already on a musk thistle blossom. Until now, these have been the last picture I take on my way home, and this turned out to be a foreshadowing of the whole morning.

Next stop was the relatively-new pollinator garden that the Friends of Estabrook have been working on for about three years. The flowers have really started to come in strong, but I don’t believe I’ve yet to spot a picture-worthy pollinator visiting them, until today. At long last, I had a chance to work with this amazing creature, a snowberry clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis), as it sipped from the wild bergamot, aka bee balm (Monarda fistulosa), blossoms.

I don’t believe I’ve seen one since 2020, and here it is again. Woo Hoo! Oh, and one more fun little detail is that I had pretty good light, so I cranked the shutter speed up to 1/2000 second, and the wings are still a blur.

There was also another monarch there, and this one was visiting a cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) blossom.

I eventually tore myself away and continued on toward the pond. There I found the quartet of wood duck ducklings with their mom up on the west lawn. Here’s three of them, with Mom keeping an eye on me, while the fourth one is just out of frame to the right.

At the north end, there was the usual collection of geese, mallards, a couple more wood ducks, blue herons, green herons, killdeer, and both spotted and solitary sandpipers, but nobody wanted their picture taken today. Perhaps they were miffed that I had arrived so late.

Anyway, on my way back south, I came across one more butterfly, this diminutive summer azure (Celastrina neglecta) sipping from a white clover (Trifolium repens) blossom.

Finally, on my way back home, I couldn’t help myself and checked on the musk thistle again, but this time, a goldfinch was busily tearing into the blossoms that have already gone to seed.

I took a break from Estabrook yesterday and joined Donna’s Sunday morning birders at Doctor’s Park in Fox Point instead. It was a very nice day, the group is super friendly, and the park is nice enough, but I struggled to get any pictures. The most interesting sight, for me, was a group of red-headed woodpeckers, a bird that I have only ever seen once in Estabrook Park. Unfortunately, they stayed up high in a tree, and this picture is the best of the bunch.

I returned to Estabrook this morning, and the wood ducks on the pond were kind enough to welcome me back with this tender scene.

The young/female hooded merganser is still there, but is all by its lonesome, so this is the tenderest scene it could create.

On the river, at the north end, I found a green heron in a pose I don’t believe I’ve seen before. I’ve seen them squinched up like that but holding their body more vertical, or horizontal like that but more stretched out because they are hunting at the time.

As I counted the sandpipers, to see if there was anyone new, this one flew in to forage pretty close to me, and the face looks a little like the yellowlegs we’ve seen recently, but the legs are not yellow nor especially long. Instead, it’s a solitary sandpiper, the likes of which we haven’t seen since May. “Welcome back, Sweetie!”

As I looked north in search of barn swallows under the bridge, or just hunting over the water, this grackle was uncharacteristically undisturbed by me. They seldom offer me a chance to take such a nice portrait.

Better yet, once I turned my attention its way, it just continued foraging and eventually found this tasty-looking crayfish claw. I would have never guessed those little crustaceans were such an important link in the local food chain.

On my way back south, I was just in time to catch this ginormous snapping turtle portage over a shallow spot in the river just off the northern tip of the southern island.

Finally, as I approached the south end on the river trail, I had the good fortune to come across this beauty. It’s a polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus), one of the “giant silk moths“, and the first one I’ve ever seen in Estabrook. It had recently expired, I am sad to say, but it was stil in good shape, and I was able to lift it from the middle of the trail and set it gently on this log to take a final portrait.

The air was cool and still early this morning, but the skies were a bit cloudy, so I went for a bike ride first, and I didn’t get into Estabrook till about 10am. Happily, most of the critters were still out and about, and here’s a great blue heron mid-preen on a perch over the pond.

Here’s a young wood duck mid-nap and closer to the water.

On the river at the north end, I was thrilled to catch a mink again, and this time it was scampering toward shore with a huge crayfish in its jaws.

None of the many birds out on the water seemed to pay the mink any mind, and here’s another greater lesser yellowlegs just going about its business.

The patch of flowers, installed after the removal of Estabrook dam, is in full bloom now, and I finally caught a monarch visiting a purple cone flower.

Just a bit south of there, on the edge of the meadow, there appeared to be a family of indigo buntings foraging near the ground, and the bright blue one kept mostly out of sight, but here’s a young one who preferred to sit on the branch, flutter its wings, and call to be fed.

On my walk back south along the river, a chipmunk challenged me to a staring contest, and it won, of course, because I can’t take a picture without blinking.

Finally, I checked the musk thistle, which still has a few blossoms that have not yet gone to seed, beside the soccer fields at the south end, and there were no butterflies today, but here are two bumblebees sharing one blossom.

The pristine weather is back, so the sky was blue, the temps were mild, and the breeze was light this morning in Estabrook Park. The cherry on top, at least for me, was seeing this critter for only the second time in the park, and for the first time with my camera. In case you don’t recognize it from all the hoopla around February 2, that’s a groundhog, aka woodchuck (Marmota monax), and it appeared to be on the hunt for leafy greens this morning, until it spotted me.

I was surprised to read that “the name woodchuck is unrelated to wood or chucking.” Instead “it stems from an Algonquian (possibly Narragansett) name for the animal, wuchak.” Ha! Also, “groundhogs can climb trees to escape predators.” Fortunately, that was not necessary this morning.

The wood ducks continue to appear healthy on the pond, and I believe this is the remaining brother and sister pair from the first batch of ducklings.

A great blue heron was keeping watch from a perch high over the island.

On the river, a spotted sandpiper was taking a break from foraging for breakfast on this pile of water plants collected on driftwood just above the falls.

The mallard ducklings are also looking healthy and nearly all grownup. Can you even spot the mom? (I think she’s third in line, based on the glimpse of her blue speculum feathers.)

And it is difficult to distinguish the Canada goose goslings from the adults anymore.

On my way back south along the river, I came across a family of blue jays foraging in the bushes together, and I suspect this is a youngster, despite its adult plumage, based solely on the fact that it let me get this picture. Newbie!

At the south end, I checked the wildflowers beside the soccer field for butterflies, but I came up empty this time. Instead, here’s a house wren on one of the trees that also grow there, who was too busy preening to bolt out of sight.

Finally, after my visit to the park, I hustled up to the Shorewood fitness center to beat the lunchtime crowd, and as I approached the entrance, I spotted our first swallowtail of the season as she was visiting the flowers in the bioswales installed there to catch rain runoff from the parking lot. I only had my phone with me at the time, but I managed to get a couple pictures sufficient to identify her as a female (eastern) black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes).

She kept fluttering her forewings as she sipped, perhaps as a defensive mechanism, which didn’t help me one bit, but her hindwings, which have the prettier pattern, were still, at least in this image.

The weather is pretty nice today, but the blush was off the rose a bit this morning, and it was a bit breezy and cloudy in Estabrook Park.

The surprise recurring guest star today was this osprey appearing to be drying off after a dip.

By the river at the north end, this splendid and very fresh-looking question mark butterfly was soaking up some sun.

I didn’t get any little-bird pictures today, so here’s a goldfinch feasting on thistle blossoms gone to seed beside the soccer fields on Tuesday.

I did see plenty of bugs, and here are a pair of damselflies, probably stream bluets (Enallagma exsulans) given the blue tip of her abdomen, working hard to make more. When I arrived, he (the mostly blue one) had a good grip on her (the mostly green one), but it took her quite a few tries to close the loop. She kept getting hung up on the edge of the leaf, but she persevered and eventually prevailed. Yay!

I did see a couple of great blue herons today, but none were as photogenically posed as this one from Monday afternoon.

I saw wood ducks on the pond this morning, but there was also a mink about, whom I failed to capture on film, so the wood ducks were all perched out of the water and in the shade against the eastern shore. Instead, here are the ducklings nice and cozy in the warm morning sun yesterday.

I saw a few monarchs flitting about, but none parked for me, let alone on musk thistle, so here’s a red admiral, who was willing to show us both inside and outside, from Tuesday.

Here you can see it is missing a couple of chunks, but nowhere close to the tattered shape of the red-spotted purple from yesterday.