I received a comment about yesterday’s post from long-time reader, fellow crack-of-dawn trail walker, and sometimes blogger, Carrie, who mentioned that she had seen both a doe with her fawn and a wood duck hen with her ducklings on the pond yesterday. Sheesh! Where the heck had I been?

Anyway, as I was stepping out of the shower last evening, Anne shouted from the dining room, “there goes the doe and fawn!” So, I dropped my towel, grabbed my camera, and bolted out the door. Just kidding. I stopped to put on pants and a shirt, for better camouflage of course, before I bolted out of the door.

Our neighbor, Sheila saw me on the sidewalk with my camera, thought I might be looking for the fox, but then saw the deer in her neighbor’s back yard, and waved me over. Here they are, at long last, those two adorable shrubbery eaters.

But wait, there’s more! As I skirted the southern soccer fields in Estabrook Park this morning, I came across two more deer. First, this handsome-looking young buck just starting to grow his rack for this year, …

and then this doe, seemingly in hot pursuit.

Then, I headed straight to the pond, of course, but before I could get there, this male flicker, who have all gone silent recently, was amazingly intent on getting every last bit of what it was finding there in the ground.

Aflter skirting around the flicker, I reached the pond at last and found a wood duck hen with her three ducklings, just as advertised. It won’t be long until those voracious little rapscalions will be eating tadpoles, frogs, crayfish, or anything else they can catch.

My next stop was the river, where I found the great blue heron fishing from the top of the falls for a change. There were also three more perched in the tree over the northern island.

The big surprise at the island for me, however, it that I finally managed to capture an image of a mink on land, and only my second mink picture ever. Woo Hoo! Of course, there are a couple of tiny leaves covering its face, and it didn’t reappear in the interminable fifteen minutes I sat on the riverbank waiting for it, but baby steps…

While I was waiting in vain for the mink to come back out to play, I did catch this spotted sandpiper foraging over a bit of water reflecting the trees over the far shore awash in golden sunlight.

Once I moved on, I found the mallard hen with her three ducklings again, but I like this picture, of the three being photobombed by a killdeer, the best. It sure can get busy out there!

On my way back south along the river, I spotted my first damselfly of the season, probably a female dancer of some kind. No, seriously. I suspect female because she’s not sporting flashy colors, and “dancer” is the common name for damselflies in the genus Argia.

Finally, the Virginia waterleaf or eastern waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum) are in full bloom throughout the park, and here’s one of the blue persuasion.

It was 60°F at 5:30 this morning when I arrived at Estabrook Park. Woo hoo! Summer really is here, at least for now, and it appears that all this warm weather has made the carp in the river feel quite frisky. They were really stirring up the water today.

While I was trying to get a good carp picture for you, a beaver steamed by, and by the time I turned my attention its way, I found that there were two of them in the water. You can just make out the tops of their head and their little round ears in this image.

One stuck around for a snack while the other moved on.

As I continued north, I found a great crested flycatcher willing to give us a glimpse of his creamy yellow belly.

At the north end, there was no eagle today, I am sorry to report, but I did find the mallard hen and her trio of ducklings. Notice how she’s got her steely gaze fixed on me, and the ducklings seem so oblivious that one appears to be scratching its nose with its toes. Kids these days…

On my way back south, I could find no trace of the wood duck ducklings, which I can only hope is good news, but I did find a family of Canada geese with goslings looking almost all grown up.

Back at the south end, I found a rose-breasted grosbeak not busily stuffing its beak, for a change.

To be perched on such bare twigs and singing his heart out, he must have other pressing matters on his mind.

Finally, the indigo bunting was in his usual spot, so I took my usual near-portrait.

Lastly, it appears that this year’s spring migration is finally over. I heard just three warblers yesterday and only one today, a common yellowthroat. To mark the occasion, here’s one last look at a yellow warbler from Saturday. “See, ya in the fall!”

It seems that summer has arrived, at least psychologically and meterologically, if not yet astronomically, and I was happy to see that Estabrook Park looked hardly worse for the wear generated by the throngs of revelers enjoying a Memorial Day weekend with probably the nicest weather on record.

Anyway, the lonely wood duck drake on the pond yesterday had acquired a companion for this morning. Here they are, just two dudes chillin’ on a log.

At the river, the bald eagle was back on the same branch for the third day in a row. Yay!

There were also two Canada goose families on the near shore a bit downriver, and I tried to reassure them, but they opted to paddle over to the island just to play it safe. Here’s the one with five tweeners, …

and here’s the one with four teens starting to show their iconic two-tone faces.

Once I got further upriver and the eagle had moved to the island, I was able to get a nicer portrait. Some morning sun didn’t hurt either.

Here’s a killdeer foraging on one of the many sandbars now exposed around the islands.

On my way back south, a group of at least four cedar waxwings was foraging in the trees over the beer garden, and here’s one of them.

Also by the beer garden was another baby bunny.

Below the falls, I finally found a spotted sandpiper close enough for a picture.

But the huge surprise was finding this trio of wood duck ducklings on the far shore without their mom. I waited around a bit, and here’s hoping that she was just waiting for me to continue on my way before she emerged to collect them.

Finally, a red squirrel was quite curious and came out to get a better look at me after scurrying up a tree when I first approached.

Lastly, the Canadian or Canada columbine, aka eastern red columbine or wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) are starting to blossom along the river trail.

The wood ducks, who had been thick on the pond a month ago, have really cut back on that, and I only found this one sleepy fellow there this morning as the sun started to shine through the trees from the east.

There were only a couple of blue herons on the river, but none were fishing this morning when I arrived.

I was thrilled to find the eagle back again right where I had spotted it yesterday, and this time I did a better job of sneaking close enough for a decent picture, or the eagle has simply decided that there is no way a creature so clumsy as me could possibly pose a threat.

At the north end, the killdeer, sandpipers, swallows, swifts, and even a kingbird were all filling up on the veritable eruption of flying insects from the water, but the best picture I got is of this darling eastern wood pewee.

On my way back south, I found that the eagle had moved to a sunnier perch, above the southern tip of the southern island, where it had nine mallard drakes to choose from.

I’m not sure if the eagle was after mallards, but sure they reacted as if it was and were doing their somewhat counter-intuitive “circle the wagons in plain sight” maneuver, which I’ve seen them employ before. First with the great horned owl just around the corner, and then with a Cooper’s hawk on the pond.

Finally, a few ring-billed gulls were fishing over the falls, and here’s one keeping one eye on the sky as well. The eagle was just upriver, and a murder of crows was mobbing something up in a tree on the far shore, so there were plenty of threats around to keep an eye on.

Lastly, when Jordan and I were walking around his great grandparents’ farm in Waterford on Saturday, where I also saw the sandhill crane, we came across a painted turtle laying her eggs right in the lawn. How exciting is that? We left her alone, and when she was done, we marked the spot with some stakes to keep it safe from lawnmowers and such. I read that they take 72 to 80 days to hatch, so we’ll have to plan some visits in early to mid-August. Wish us luck!

One of the great blue herons, and only one this time, as far as I saw, was back again this morning, and it caught another fish in exactly the same spot as yesterday. You might even think I’m pulling your leg, and that this is just another image from yesterday’s scene, but if you compare the two, I think you’ll notice that I had much better light yesterday. In any case, that is still another tasty-looking fish, and I bet the chicks were just as thrilled as before when that got coughed up back at the rookery.

Meanwhile, right across the river and at the top of the falls, another goose family with some gangly, teenager-looking goslings was busy foraging.

As I continued north along the river, I caught a glimpse of this bald eagle (just as you requested, Jordan. I can see why they are your favorite.) Sadly, this is the last image I managed to capture, despite crawling up the trail on my hands and knees, before it had had just about enough of me and lazily drifted across the river to a perch above the far riverbank.

I am happy to report, however, that once it got to the other side and felt that nice warm morning sun, it decided to stretch out a bit. I’ve seen plenty of cormorants posing this way, and I’m pretty sure herons, although I can’t find a picture right now, but this is the first time I’ve seen a bald eagle do this. I read that birds use this pose to warm up, dry off, or combat parisites. Which do you think it is this time?

While the eagle was otherwise occupied, this green heron below also appeared to be soaking up some sun, …

and this killdeer was busy foraging.

Then I headed back up to the main parking lot to meet Donna, who had shown us the great horned owlet a few weeks ago, and her Sunday morning birding group, which included ace spotter Lisa, crack photographer Jeff, and recent graduate Lou, among many others. All those extra eyes paid off in short order when someone (sorry I didn’t catch who) spotted a black-billed cuckoo. Woo Hoo! I haven’t seen one since 2021.

Once we got back to the beer garden, I continued south, and the group headed east towards the pond. At the south end, an indigo bunting dared me to capture a portrait. It was perched pretty high, so still not the best, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.

I didn’t get any warbler pictures today, even though we did hear and spot a couple. Instead, here’s a Blackbernian from yesterday.

Lastly, this chipmunk must have been enjoying its breakfast so much that it was unwilling to drop it even when it could clearly see me aiming my camera right at it. Ha!

The first batch of robins are coming out of the oven, and here’s a fledgling looking as puffed up as it knows how and waiting for the sun to warm it up after a night out on its own. Luckily for it, this Memorial Day weekend is shaping up to be a beauty.

Great blue herons have been a little few and far between in Estabrook Park this spring, and I was pleasantly surprised to find one fishing in the water below the falls and even near our shore for a change.

Better still, it caught a very tasty-looking fish while I had my camera aimed at it.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, there were five (5!) great blue herons farther upriver in the trees over the northern island. Here are the three perched closest together.

There’s a new singer in the park this morning, an eastern wood pewee, and you can take a listen to their distinctive song here.

At the far south end, I found my only gaggle of goslings, this octet settling down for their morning nap under mom’s watchful eye.

Back up on the bluff, I managed to sneak my first Canada warbler image of the season.

Finally, a red-eyed vireo in the same tree wanted in on some of that action, by which I mean first picture of the season.

Lastly, Anne and I headed out to Waterford for a family function, and look who stopped by to join us, my first sandhill crane this year.

Here are some pictures from my visit to Estabrook Park this morning.

Green heron in tree over the pond.

Mallard hen with ducklings on the river.

Female belted kingfisher fishing over the river.

Osprey fishing above the far riverbank.

Great blue heron on a sandbar in the river.

Killdeer foraging over exposed river bottom.

Male nuthatch with morsel

Pair of nuthatches

Baltimore oriole.

Wild geraniums.

It appears that all the wildfire smoke from Alberta has drifted east of here because the skies over Estabrook Park were a beautiful blue this morning. The air was pretty nice, too, at least until the winds shifted to bring us a cold Lake Michigan breeze.

Anyway, I got a bit closer to making an indigo bunting portrait today with this little fella in the warm morning sun.

Down the bluff, before the sun was high enough to reach over the edge, this darling female redstart was hunting up her breakfast in the cool shadows.

Farther upriver, I made a little progress on getting a common yellowthroat portrait as well.

At the pond, I found yet another warbler, this amazing Blackburnian, foraging nice a low in a tree just off the path. Isn’t it amazing when the sun, bird, tree, and sky all just happen to line up like that.

The Milwaukee River is getting quite low, and this great blue heron struck a pose on one of the sandbars that are now poking through the water.

A couple of red-faced turkey vultures soared overhead to provide nice contrast to the black vulture I spotted out in The Constitution State. See the bright red face?

Finally, a least flycatcher provides similar contrast to the willow flycatcher from Tuesday.

It was another gorgeous morning here in The Nutmeg State, so I couldn’t help but take one last look around.

As has been the norm out here, I heard this bird long before I saw it. The pictures are nothing to write home about, to be sure, because it had found itself a nice high perch, and the clear sky is still pretty white with smoke from that wild fire in Alberta, but you can just make out the namesake blue wings of a blue-winged warbler.

This indigo bunting was even higher and farther away, but I could still hear its call all the way across the field.

I’ve been hearing this chipping sparrow all week, but it was oddly quiet when I spotted it this morning.

Finally, here’s a house wren doing what house wren’s do.

It’s been a great visit, but the next stop should be Estabrook Park, so keep your fingers crossed.

I’m still out east, and I returned to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail this morning, where I had hiked last Friday. My sister came with me again, and the weather was just about perfect, so I was glad to have a second set of eyes along. Plus, she’s the one who rescued a Carolina wren from a glue trap a couple of years ago, in case we need to do that again.

We were counting a lot of birds by their calls, mostly little ones, but not seeing many, until we heard this one. At first, I wasn’t even sure a bird was making such a squawk. Click here to hear it for yourself. Thankfully, the handy-dandy Merlin app on my phone was able to identify it right away as the call of a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus). Even better, it only took a moment to find it perched in the warm morning sun in a dead tree over someone’s back yard just off the path. Check out that “rich reddish-brown” chest! I’ve spotted them before, but haven’t been able to get a picture until now.

After all that excitement, we went back to not seeing much until my sister spotted a pair of wood ducks deep in the sticks on the far shore of a little pond. See what I mean about the second set of eyes? Here’s the drake in some very nutricious-looking water.

Finally, as we were crossing West Main Street in Cheshire, I caught sight of this masterpiece stoicly perched on a chimney over a building right along the road. That’s a black vulture, close cousin to the red-faced turkey vultures we’ve seen several times in Estabrook Park. Black vultures don’t venture into Wisconsin, but long-time readers may recall that I’ve seen them out here before when I was hiking in Sleeping Giant State Park, about 10 miles south of here. I only had my phone on me then, and am sure glad I had my camera with me this morning.

After that, we went to breakfast because my sister had to go to work today, poor kid, but I still had some time, so I visited the over-grown field where I saw the yellow warbler last Thursday. There are still plenty there, and here’s one.

This time, however, I was able to spot a brand-new species for me: a willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii). There were a few perched strategically and making their distinctive little call.

And that’s the report for today. I’ve got one more day out here, and then I should be back in Estabrook on Thursday.