Monthly Archives: July 2023

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 believeContinue reading “July goes out on a high note!”

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 lookContinue reading “Some normalcy returns…”

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,Continue reading “The morning after…”

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, soContinue reading “Breakfast time…”

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 theContinue reading “Peak summer sights…”

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 soccerContinue reading “A quick visit before the rain…”

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 besideContinue reading “An old friend returns…”

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-headedContinue reading “Still more to see…”

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 theContinue reading “A late start, but a strong finish nevertheless…”

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 youContinue reading “Sometimes I’m stuck with equipment at hand…”