A late summer or early fall sampler…

The weather in Estabrook Park this morning was like a poor photocopy of yesterday’s. Sure, it was a bit warmer, which the mosquitos took full advantage of, but there was a bit more breeze, and there’s a lot of something in the atmosphere, which makes the sky look milky white. Oh well, at least itContinue reading “A late summer or early fall sampler…”

A couple more firsts of the season…

As forecast yesterday, it was windy and partly cloudy in Estabrook Park this morning, but temps were only in the low 50s, so not too bad for finding critters, if you knew, or happened to stumble upon, where to look. As I mentioned on Wednesday, the flood water has mostly flowed down stream by now,Continue reading “A couple more firsts of the season…”

Finally, a turn back towards normalcy…

It was a nice morning in Estabrook Park, and things are starting to look a little closer to normal at the river. The sand bags placed to allow work on our side of the falls are just starting to poke through the water, and it is now possible to walk along the river trail fromContinue reading “Finally, a turn back towards normalcy…”

Some nice dashes of color after the storm, even if they’re not in a rainbow.

Compared to the heat waves and torrential downpours we’ve had already this summer, the weather was pretty nice in Estabrook Park this morning. The partly cloudy skies even let the sun through once in a while, which lit up this young great blue heron fishing on the pond very nicely. The two hooded mergansers wereContinue reading “Some nice dashes of color after the storm, even if they’re not in a rainbow.”

The smoke hasn’t cleared yet…

The Canadian wildfire smoke is still with us, and it was cloudy this morning, as well, so the sunlight took its sweet time filtering down into Estabrook Park. Add to that the fact that the Milwaukee Birders were here just yesterday, and I should not have been surprised that not many folks turned out forContinue reading “The smoke hasn’t cleared yet…”

Finding what I can on a rainy day…

It was raining when the sun came up in Estabrook Park this morning, and it rained pretty steadily till almost 9 a.m. Since there didn’t appear to be any significant gaps nor heavy downpours, I grabbed an umbrella and headed out. I guess it is a little remarkable that I didn’t get a single birdContinue reading “Finding what I can on a rainy day…”

Failing the sniff test…

In an effort to beat the heat forecast for today, I got out nice and early and was already at the north end by 6:30 a.m. I don’t know if it was my early arrival or we were just due, but I finally found our first black swallowtail in Estabrook. It was waiting for theContinue reading “Failing the sniff test…”

Several mid-July surprises…

As forecast, the cool and dry air we’ve enjoyed in Estabrook for the past couple of days has moved on, and it was warmer and rainier in the park today. The air has remained nearly still, however, and with non-holiday, early Saturday traffic, it was wonderfully quiet this morning. My first treat of the dayContinue reading “Several mid-July surprises…”

It’s not August yet, but these sure feel like some lazy days of summer.

The recent great weather in Estabrook Park continued this morning, the cicadas were already singing at 7 a.m., and this green heron making one of its infrequent visits to the pond was icing on the cake. There was also this trio of wood duck hens there, and they’ve started that mutual preening behavior that we’veContinue reading “It’s not August yet, but these sure feel like some lazy days of summer.”

And the award for most-lost visitor goes to…

Oof! What a day. My plan was to skip Estabrook again and go straight to the lake front to join the Milwaukee Birders one more time at Lakeshore State Park. My recent outings with them have been so fruitful that I had high hopes. There were some flies in my ointment, however, because I hadContinue reading “And the award for most-lost visitor goes to…”