Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

The Canadian wildfire smoke is still here, so I’m staying in this morning, and here are some pictures that I couldn’t squeeze into previous reports. Here’s the painted lady butterfly from Saturday again, but this time giving us a little glimpse of the dorsal side (top side, seen when wings are open) of its leftContinue reading “Waiting for the smoke to clear…”

Well, the Canadian wildfire smoke is back and thicker than ever, so it was not a great day for taking pictures outdoors. It was a little fun, however, to take a picture directly at the sun a full hour after sunrise, although it did take a couple of tries to convince my autofocus that IContinue reading “Low visibility…”

The heavy, wet clouds made it a great morning for sleeping in, but I went to bed nice and early last evening, so there wasn’t much hope for that, and so back to Estabrook Park I went. Just before I spotted this great blue heron on the river, a mink came hopping up the riverbankContinue reading “A couple of unexpected sights…”

It looked wet and windy outside this morning, so I took my time with breakfast and the newspaper. Then I remembered that Donna, who had shown us the great horned owlet a few weeks ago, had invited me to tag along with her Sunday morning birding group anytime, and today they were going to the MequonContinue reading “A whole new world…”

I did go to the park yesterday and even took a few pictures, but the rest of the day got away from me, and I never had time to send you a post. Then I went back again this morning, so now I have a lot of pictures to choose from, and there should beContinue reading “Something for everyone, I hope…”

We had an overnight guest and a train set that needed assembling, so I gave the park a rest this morning. Luckily, yesterday was so chock full that I’ve still got some pictures to show you. I didn’t see the young buck, and maybe I was just looking the other way when he snuck acrossContinue reading “Rehash Thursday…”

As if such fine weather on the longest day of the year wasn’t good news enough, I am happy to report that I have even better news, great news, outstanding news, and stupendous news, all from Estabrook Park! First, the better news, at least for photography, is that the haze was almost gone this morning,Continue reading “Happy Summer Solstice!”

It looks like the haze we’ve been enjoying for days is starting to fade, and some blue sky is returning to Estabrook Park. Things were quiet at the pond with no herons or kingfishers, that I could see, and the same four wood ducks as yesterday. On my hike back over to the river, IContinue reading “A nice slow day in June…”

Ebird, the website and phone app I use to log the birds I see, has recently changed the status of wood ducks to “infrequent”, but that must be for Milwaukee County or all of Wisconsin, ’cause they’re still plentiful in Estabrook Park, and I was greeted at the pond this morning by this trio. TheContinue reading “Yes, we still have wood ducks…”

Things were pretty quiet in Estabrook Park this morning. Perhaps everyone was laying low in anticipation of the Shorewood Farmers Market grand opening today, but who knows. At least this great blue heron was still willing to strike a pose over the river. I did manage to spot a female hairy woodpecker, whom I usedContinue reading “Ducklings stage a comeback…”