There was no fog, the sky was clear, and the air was nearly still, so it was a perfect morning for taking pictures in Estabrook Park. With nothing to block the sun, the light came nice and early, and I crossed Wilson Drive at 5:35am in hopes of beating the crowds.

First off, I was thrilled to find that the wild turkey from yesterday is still in the park and has moved down the bluff and a bit north.

The toads have begun singing along the river, but the crèche of seventeen goslings was at the spot on the river where I usually stop before heading up to the pond, so I skirted around them and went straight up the bluff instead. Things were quiet at the pond with just the regulars up and about; the family of Canada geese, a few wood ducks, and a couple of mallards; so I went back to the river.

At the north end, I didn’t see anybody new or especially photogenic on the water, but I heard an unusual song in the trees along the shore, and I could barely believe my eyes when I found the singer. It was a white-eyed vireo (Vireo griseus), and we are just beyond the north end of their usual range, so they are considered rare here. How’s that for a treat!

On my way back south along the top of the bluff, I spotted my first great crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) of the season, …

our first rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) for this year, …

and only the second or third chestnut-sided warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) I believe I’ve ever seen.

Back at the pond, there was another unusual call, and this one was being made by the very first orchard oriole (Icterus spurius) I’ve ever seen.

Also at the north end of the pond was this female Baltimore oriole, with a dark but not black head, working on a nest. I usually only see the nests in the fall, when the leaves are off the trees again, but this one is in a dead tree, so maybe we’ll get to see it all summer. One can hope, right?

Nearby was a male Baltimore oriole, with a jet-black head, striking the best pose we’ve seen from one so far this year.

Back down at the river, I finally caught a common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) out in the open, if pretty far away.

Lastly, this chipmunk was in no hurry to give up the nice little spot in the sun it had found for itself.

Wow! It sure was foggy in Estabrook Park this morning. When I arrived, just a little after “sunrise”, I could barely see across the soccer fields. Happily, I could see well enough to spot our first wild turkey of the year, if not capture a very clear image. I’ve only ever seen one in the park twice before, and I sure hope she sticks around.

Meanwhile, on the river, a pair of Canada geese must have heard about the “crèche of thirteen goslings and said, “hold my beer!” Here they are with seventeen (17!) and even conveniently stretched out into a row to facilitate counting.

As I approached the pond, I heard a new call that sounded for all the world to me like an old guy snoring. I kid you not. Go ahead and click on the link to take a listen. I’ll wait.

I wasn’t kidding, was I? Anyway, the generator of the amazing sound was none other than this tiny blue-winged warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera), and it’s the very first one I’ve ever seen.

There wasn’t much new at the pond, and the lighting was bad anyway, so I continued on to the north end, where conditions were pretty much the same. On my way back south, however, the fog finally drifted away, the sun came out, and the sky turned bright blue. That’s when I spotted our first American redstart of the season. I haven’t seen one since last May.

That lone catbird, who had arrived just a month ago, has finally been joined by many others, and you can now hear them singing or meowing throughout the park. This one was meowing when I walked by.

As luck would have it, I soon spotted a second bird for my very first time, and this little darling is a black-throated blue warbler (Setophaga caerulescens). It was quite a hopper, but it stayed mostly in the same tree, and I ended up tooking 90 pictures in an effort to get this one portrait.

After all that excitement, this palm warbler must have thought, “Fine, just take your pictures and then move along.”

The warm sun soon brought out the butterflies, and here’s another red admiral soaking up some rays.

The heavy fog also coated the spider webs, and here’s one by the pond glistening in the sun.

Finally, I met long-time reader Jeff Bentoff in the park yesterday morning, and he agreed to send me a copy of the amazing screech owl picture he took in the Shorewood Nature Preserve last Sunday. Smart Alecs may recall that last Sunday is also when I visited the Shorewood Nature Preserve, but I didn’t come away with such a prize, and that’s why nobody likes smart Alecs.

There was barely enough light to read by, let alone take pictures, but the rain wasn’t due to start for a couple of hours, and I needed the exercise anyway, so I headed over to Estabrook Park to see what I could see.

I was happy to find three green herons nearly in a row along the eastern shore of the pond, so I snuck around to the east side and arrived just in time to watch the middle one use that amazing neck and catch a nice little fish for its breakfast.

In the little channel beside the river near the north end, the trio of mallard ducklings were looking as healthy as ever, and after mom realized I was harmless…

they went right back to the breakfast buffet.

At the north end I finally caught a goldfinch sporting his fresh breeding plumage.

and I finally caught a glimpse of one of the killdeer I’ve been hearing for a while, even if it was hiding behind the weeds.

On my way back south, a pair of mourning doves were uncharacteristically unperturbed by me, so I took this portrait of one of them.

Finally, here’s a black-and-white warbler from yesterday morning. They are usually foraging along tree trunks and limbs so energetically when I see them, that I almost didn’t recognize this one just sitting there.

Lastly, check out this amazing image of a mink on the riverbank captured by Thomas Reich. I’ve been dreaming of a picture like this for years, but all I’ve managed so far is this soggy swimmer in the pond. You can find more of Thomas’s work on the instagram at @1classydude.

You know what happens when you let a spigot run for a couple of days? You get a boatload of whatever was coming out, and that’s what we’ve got in Estabrook Park right now, a boatload of new birds. I tried to count them all this morning, but I’m sure I missed some, and here are the ones I didn’t miss or at least made a nice picture.

There are Baltimore orioles singing in seemingly very corner of the park, and the blue sky this morning helped make a nicer portrait than the one I had for you yesterday. That one was more of a placeholder to commemorate the first sighting of the season.

The pair of green herons were on the pond again this morning, and this time one showed how long their necks really are.

Yikes! Right? I’d hate to be a frog in range of that. Wouldn’t you?

Meanwhile, down on the river, we’ve got our very first batch of ducklings, a trio of mallards.

While the hens are all busy hiding in the bushes to incubate their eggs, the drakes are left to their own devices, and this pair were really getting into it.

The solitary sandpipers are still around, and I counted two for sure and maybe four.

The house wrens have been around for a week or so, but they are elusive little stinkers, and I haven’t managed a decent picture until this morning. Here’s one excavating a nesting cavity.

And here it is announcing a vacancy.

The Canada geese keep hatching goslings, and here’s a gaggle of thirteen (13!), perhaps in direct answer to my musings yesterday. Since females lay “two to nine eggs with an average of five“, this is probably a blended family, which I read is called a “crèche“.

Can you find all 13?

The exciting new bird for today (on top of all the warblers, of which you’ve seen a lot lately), is this darling sora (Porzana carolina), looking a little bewildered after its long flight in from the Gulf coast, Central America, or even South America. This is only the second one I’ve ever seen and the first adult, so I immediately dropped the garbage bag in my hand, grabbed my camera, and started snapping away. Thank goodness some came out. Phew!

Finally, a brand-new bird for me today is this sedge wren (Cistothorus stellaris) checking out the wet field/shallow marsh beside the river. I sure hope it finds Estabrook Park to its liking and sticks around for the summer. Don’t you?

Sure, its a wet and dreary morning in May, but at least it’s not April. Am I right? Anyway, temps were in the 50s and there was a nice gap in the rain from about 8 till 11, so I popped over to Estabrook Park to see who might be out and about.

It was perfect weather for waterfowl, perhaps that’s how they got that name, and the geese on the pond were enjoying a little swim when I arrived

Both green herons were there again today, but they were hiding a little better.

The big new arrival was this male Baltimore oriole checking out an old nest in this blossoming poplar tree. I’ve been hearing them along the river for a couple of days, so I’m glad to finally capture an image of one.

At the river I saw two more geese families, both of whom looked a bit newer, and here’s one mom with her three goslings. I don’t believe I have yet seen more than four goslings in a family this year, which seems a little out of character. In previous years, there have been sixes, sevens, eights, and even a nine. Let’s hope it’s not a bad sign.

In any case, here’s a spotted sandpiper who was foraging along the riverbank, and whom we’ve seen already this month.

And here’s a solitary sandpiper, whom we have seen before, but not yet this year. It was fun to see both sandpipers in quick succession, and wasn’t it kind of them to strike similar poses to facilitate comparing their appearances.

I did see a few warblers today, but not nearly as many as yesterday, and here’s the best picture I managed this morning. Yup, you guessed it. That’s an aptly-named black-and-white warbler.

The blue-gray gnatcatchers were thicker than usual, and here’s a male with some of the most amazing eyebrows in the entire aves class.

Finally, mushrooms have started sprouting, and here are a pair of dryad’s saddles, aka pheasant’s back (Cerioporus squamosus)

Lastly, I’ve been seeing the female cowbirds searching for and checking out nests into which they can sneak their eggs, and here’s one from yesterday looking high and low.

Holy moly! The spigot has opened, and Estabrook Park is awash in new arrivals. Happily for them, the air was also full of flying insects this morning, and it felt like I was trailing a column of smoke as I walked across the soccer fields.

Let’s start at the pond, where there were two green herons for the first time this year, and they were hungry for some fish. “Welcome back, you grumpy-looking little gnomes!”

There were white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) by the dozen along with, but not to be confused with, nearly as many white-throated sparrows. In spots, it was as though they were poured out of a hose.

Higher up, there were palm warblers, whom we have glimpsed already, but who have evaded a portrait, until now.

Here’s our first Nashville warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) of the season.

Here’s another black-throated green warbler, posing for us in better light and against a nice blue sky this time.

Here’s our first Blackburnian warbler (Setophaga fusca) of the season doing the same.

The black-and-white warbler (Mniotilta varia) was not quite so accommodating, but we’ll take what we can get, right?

There was even a vireo already, this darling blue-headed vireo (Vireo solitarius) busily hunting for bugs.

Finally, while not new arrivals, the blue jays, who are normally very shy, have been very noisy lately, and this one must have been distracted enough by other activity that I was at long last able to sneak a portrait.

Lastly, as if all that wasn’t enough, here’s a new butterfly for the season: a question mark (Polygonia interrogationis). Seriously, that’s the name, and it is close cousin to the eastern comma butterfly we just saw during the heatwave last month.

Thanks to a high-pressure system parked nearby, the weather in Estabrook Park just keeps getting better. More importantly, the trickle of warblers we’ve seen over the past few weeks is turning into enough of a torrent that even I can find some of them.

As I was walking along the top of the bluff on my way to the pond, I heard an unfamiliar call overhead, and it didn’t take me long to spot this little cutie, a black-throated green (Setophaga virens), in the treetops, and freshly arrived from Mexico, an island in the Caribbean, or maybe even South America. “Welcome back, sweetie!”

All the usual suspects were at the pond, including a pair of blue-winged teals, but the most interesting picture, I thought, was of this trio of wood duck drakes sharing their breakfast with a grey squirrel. Huh.

On my way to the river, I heard another call overhead, and this time the singer was one of the eastern bluebirds we’ve been seeing there lately.

Oddly enough, another bird soon flew over, and I thought it was another bluebird, but it turned out to be a house finch instead. Huh.

When I finally reached the river, I was soon greeted by the second beaver of the morning. The first was in the slow water below the falls, and the picture ain’t so great, but this second one, above the falls and near the southern island, was a lot closer and swam right into some water with pretty lighting.

Farther out on the water, but with similar pretty lighting, was a second pair of blue-winged teals.

Back up on the top of the bluff, I found that the warm sun had already brought the butterflies back out again, and here’s a sharp looking red admiral.

Heading back south along the river path, I saw a couple of waterthrushes, three or four palm warblers, and several yellow-rumped warblers, but I didn’t get pictures as nice as those I’ve already shown you. Instead, the star of the morning is this aptly-named yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia), who was also singing away. It might even have flown in on the same flight as the black-throated-green above.

Finally, as I walked past the Benjamin Church House, I caught sight of something tiny zipping past out of the corner of my eye, and I couldn’t believe my luck when I found it perched nearby on this dead leaf in the lawn. It’s a hover fly, and although “about 6,000 species in 200 genera have been described”, my best guess is that this handsome devil is a Helophilus hybridus.

The bugs are back big time, baby!

At long last, May has arrived, and it was a picture-perfect morning in Estabrook Park. Better yet, the birds seemed to be as happy about it as I was.

As I was walking north along the river towards the pond, I spotted this darling female northern flicker peeking out of her nesting cavity, and …

I didn’t have to wait long before she …

came the rest of the way out. “Thanks, sweetie!”

At the pond, this gosling was already taking a break from breakfast and didn’t need mom’s wing to keep warm today. Yay!

Soon a flock of about a dozen cedar waxwings arrived looking for berries in the bushes, and this one couldn’t have done a better job of adding extra black stripes to its face if it had tried.

On my way toward the river, I watched this male downy woodpecker forage for a bit, as I tried to get a good picture, and then it just parked itself on the bottom side of this branch and stayed there. Only when I got home did I notice that his eyes were closed, and now I wonder if that’s how they nap?

Farther along, at the north edge of the parking lot, I saw our first chipping sparrow (Spizella passerina) of the season. So many sparrows, eh?

When I finally reached the river, I soon spotted a little bird foraging right at the water’s edge, and I hoped it would be a waterthrush. Once I got my camera focused, I saw that it was another savannah sparrow, only my second ever.

As I was trying to get a good picture of the savannah sparrow, this spotted sandpiper just flew in and started posing right in front of me. This is only the second time I’ve seen one this year.

Amazingly enough, when the sandpiper finally realized I was standing right there and took off again, I did find the waterthrush that I thought I had seen in the first place. What an amazing confluence of birds. I barely had to take a step to get pictures of all three of them.

At the north end, I was happy to see the cold and lonely tree swallow from yesterday joined by three others and busily hunting for bugs. Hurrah!

Then, on my way back south, I finally got my first great blue heron picture of the season. I’ve seen them a few times already, but they’ve always been on the wing, and I’ve been too slow to capture them.

Lastly, on my second swing by the pond, I just happened to notice these two mallards doing their best to make more. “Thanks you two. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor in 3 to 4 weeks.”

It’s the 32nd day of April, at least according to the weather, and I can only hope that once April makes up for that warm spell we enjoyed about 3 weeks ago, it will let May assume office, and we can commence with spring. 

Anyway, we had a nice surprise visitor in Estabrook this morning. It perched above the far shore of the river at the north end, about 500 feet away from where I stood, so you might not be able to make it out, but I’ll give you a hint. That’s an adult American bald eagle.

And here it goes…

Meanwhile, over the near shore, and nearly over my head, this little tree swallow was probably waiting for the day to warm up enough for the bugs to start flying so it can go catch some breakfast.

Just below the swallow, one of the last remaining white-throated sparrows was hopping around in the brush looking for a breakfast of its own. A week or two ago, they seemed to be everywhere, but most have flown on towards Canada da da da, and this morning I only counted two others besides this one. 

Speaking of singing sparrows, the song sparrows are now announcing their presence regularly throughout the park.

Finally, I spotted my third warbler (after the yellow-rumped and the waterthrush) of the season, this stand-offish little palm warbler. Yay! The spring migration is still on.

The weather today is a nice summary of the weather we’ve had all month. Except for that glorious second week from the 10th through the 14th, it has been consistently, if not relentlessly, cool and rainy. Since we haven’t seen anybody new at Estabrook Park in a while, and even Charles Hagner has begun to wonder what’s going on with the spring migration, I thought I’d try the Shorewood Nature Preserve, just across town on the shore of Lake Michigan, for a change of pace and maybe to see some of the birds who somehow miss stopping in at Estabrook.

I am happy to say that it did not disapoint! Right off the bat, the water was full of dozens and dozens of red-breasted mergansers, whom we have seen in Estabrook already this spring, but never more than a few at a time. Today on Lake Michigan, there were too many for me to count, and here’s a drake doing his very best to impress a hen, but I’m not sure that it’s working.

There were also dozens and dozens of buffleheads, and here’s a drake cruising along with two hens whom it appears he does not feel the need to impress. I don’t believe I’ve seen buffleheads since last April.

I didn’t see any cormorants on the water, but a couple of large formations flew by just offshore, and here’s the tightest clump I could capture.

A bird that I did not expect to see today was this belted kingfisher, who made a noisy pass over the beach, perched on this railing, and caught quite the fish in very short order.

A bird I was thrilled to see was my very first Bonaparte’s gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia). They look quite similar to the black-headed gulls we saw in South Holland, but the black on their heads seems to extend a bit farther.

And finally, there was this single mystery duck. It looks sort of like a bufflehead, but was swimming alone, the top of its head looks reddish, the white patch on the side of its face is too big and continues down into the neck, and its bill is too long. I compared it against other likely suspects, ruddy ducks, scooters, and pochards, but nothing fits better. Please don’t hesitate to chime in if you can shed any light on this matter.

Lastly, I did visit Estabrook yesterday morning, but I only came away with two pictures worth the ink. The first is of a beaver floating still in the water, which I have not seen one do before.

And the second is of the goslings on the pond snuggling up under mom’s wing to keep warm during their nap.