Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

I haven’t been to Estabrook yet this morning, but don’t worry, I’ll get there soon enough. In the meantime, I’d like to show you some pictures from my first excursion out of Milwaukee County since March. As I mentioned yesterday, Anne and I drove up to Kohler-Andrae State Park to visit with her family fromContinue reading “My field trip report”

I spotted somebody new this morning, if you can believe it! The image isn’t very good, and this is the best of a bunch, because the water and low light really messed with my camera’s autofocus, but that’s a pretty big fish, and it has found itself cut off from the river in a miniContinue reading “More signs of summer…”

My morning got off to an amazing start when Anne got me up at 3:50am to see the ISS pass over. The new meteorologist on TMJ4 news mentioned it last evening, and this counts because we went to the south parking lot of Estabrook Park for some pretty good viewing conditions to the west. ThereContinue reading “Wow!”

Yesterday afternoon, I notice a robin picking at something on the sidewalk just south of the pond, so I took out my binoculars to watch as he broke off a couple of chunks and immediately swallowed them. The thing looked like a little pinecone, and I thought to myself “Don’t eat that! That’s no goodContinue reading “The fruit is starting to come in…”

Well, here’s an oldie but goodie, I hope. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of deer before, and I can positively assert that I already have pictures of this one due to the long thin identifying mark down her left side, but still, it’s nice to see such a magnificent creature out enjoying the park right afterContinue reading “Something old, something new…”

A lot of cool new things to cover on this beautiful summer morning, so let me get right to it. First up are a couple of reader photos of the week, “sent in” by Donna, a keen observer and long-time reader. By “sent in”, I mean she invited me to stop by and bring myContinue reading “Plenty of flowers and critters about…”

The wild chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) is finally opening, and some little pollinators are already all over it! I think these little guys or gals are all hoverflies of some tiny variety. Another type of thistle has opened, unfortunately the invasive Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) this time, but it is also popular with the pollinators. OnContinue reading “Summer kicks into full bloom…”

As promised yesterday, here are some of the new blossoms in the park. Left and right both appear to be pale purple coneflower or prairie coneflower (Echinacea pallida) growing by the connection to the Oakleaf trail just south of the middle parking lot. The middle looks like common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) blossoms covered with antsContinue reading “A smorgasbord”

I learned all kinds of new things yesterday. It was nap time again for mom and her ducklings around noon again, and don’t worry, all 5 were still there. It’s just that this little pile o’cuteness on the river bank made the best photo. Also, chipmunks climb trees just fine, it turns out, a factContinue reading “Speaking of old dogs…”

Those of you who read these words and don’t just look at the pretty pictures (and you know who you are) may recall me mentioning yesterday that there were no water fowl on the pond. Well, I found a whole bunch down on the river, instead! Yesterday afternoon I spotted two families of mallards: oneContinue reading “Where the wild things are…”