Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

As dawn broke this morning, the sky looked like it was going to be clear, so I hustled out the door soon after I noticed, and it didn’t take long for that to pay off. I had just crossed Wilson Drive, stepped into the park, and hadn’t even crossed the Oak Leaf Trail yet whenContinue reading “Happy Foxing Day!”

Look who I spotted hustling home this morning with the beaver equivalent of a vegan holiday feast. Fresh willow bark, and just in time, baby, just in time! Meanwhile, our favorite blue heron was back to fishing again and even farther south than yesterday. Finally, one of the little red squirrels was wondering what theContinue reading “More last-minute deliveries…”

The grey skies and mild temperatures continued this morning, and we even had some fog for icing on the cake, but I had my rounds to make, so off to the park I went. I didn’t see much more than mallards along the river until I reached the falls, where the slow and wide waterContinue reading “A just-in-time arrival!”

The cloud cover was back, and warmer air came with it. I saw the trio of deer again, but it was still too dark for my camera to work this morning. Instead, here’s another picture from yesterday morning when there was a little bit more light. Along the river, I heard the kingfisher again, butContinue reading “Oh, sure. Now the sun peeks through…”

As many of you probably already knew, yesterday was the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, and we were supposed to have exactly 9 hours (plus 0 minutes and 0 seconds) between sunrise and sunset here in Shorewood. Today, I read that we get 3 whole additional seconds of sunshine, and that’s aContinue reading “Let there be more light…”

You know the old saying, “life is what happens while you were busy making other plans,” right? Well, my plan to enjoy a nice walk in the park this morning is taking a back seat to far more important things, unfortunately, but I had such a bounty of pictures yesterday that I’ve still got someContinue reading “Not the Tuesday we expected..”

The sun came out at dawn, for a change, and so did the denizens of Estabrook Park! Hallelujah! Plus, most of the working stiffs probably had to go back to work, and thank goodness someone is making the economy go, right? So, I finally had a little bit of one-on-one time with some of ourContinue reading “Let there be light!”

Well, it did clear up this morning, but not as early as promised. Worse, most of our favorite critters were nowhere to be found. At least nowhere I could find them. Sure, mallards were still on the river with a few gulls and even some geese, but nobody had a cute pose for us today.Continue reading “On the 7th day they rested…”

Oh sure, the sun is trying to peak through now, but it was still pretty dark at 8 am, when I figured I had as much light as I was going to get, and so off to the park I went. Despite the darkness, or perhaps because of it, depending on who you ask, plusContinue reading “A dark day in December”

The crazy weather has finally subsided, at least in the park for the moment, and it was a gorgeous morning with blue skies, light winds, and seasonably cool temperatures, for a change. In fact, it was cold enough overnight to freeze up all the muddy trails along the river. Yay! Many of the little birds,Continue reading “A bit back to normal, for now…”