Flags of Valor remebering the 9/11 attack. 7600 American flags have been planted in from of hte statur of Saint Louis on Forest Park’s Art Hill.
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Duck
Mallard Drake hanging out on Forest Park’s Post Dispatch Lake. This are a is full of wildlife, including: ducks, egrets, and geese. I enjoy walking in the area with Blossom, my Basset Hound enjoying this beautiful park.
This is a scenic, 22.5-acre lake located inside Forest Park. Spanning over 14 acres of water surface, the lake features two islands and averages a shallow depth of under 6 feet, with dedicated sections reaching 20 feet to provide a deep-water fish habitat. It serves as a central hub for outdoor recreation, wildlife viewing, and boating within the park.
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Screwhorn Antelope
White Addax at the WildWood Wildlife Park Zoo in Minocqua, Wisconsin. They are also called the white antelope or screwhorn antelope, and are rare critically endangered desert-dwelling mammals native to the Sahara Desert. Known for its spiral horns and coat that changes from white in summer to grey-brown in winter, fewer than 100 individuals are estimated to remain in the wild.
Here we have them hanging out at the wildlife park in Northern Wisconsin.
New deer at the park
Newborn at the WildWood Wildlife Park Zoo in Minocqua, Wisconsin. This is an interesting little zoo just outside on Minocqua. It is like a petting zoo with an African Safari in the back. Deer, goats and tortoises run wild allowing me to get up close to the fawn.
Min-Aqua Bats!
The Min-Aqua Bats are the oldest ski team in the world. Located in Minocqua, Wisconsin the team has been performing since the early 50’s with a lot of very skilled acts. I have been going to shows since 1955. This photo was taken this year in 2026, 71 years later.
If you are traveling “UpNorth” Wisconsin, be sure to take in a show.
4014 Cab
Here is a shot of the cab of Union Pacific’s “Big Boy 4014” on the way home to Wyoming. 4014 was on a cross country tour of the United States to celebrate its 250th Anniversary. Here you can see the Fireman watching the track ahead and an unknown person between the engine and tender.
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Big Boy on its way home
Ths is Union Pacific’s 4014, Big Boy returning from a coast to coast tour celebrating the United States 250th anniversary.
Big Boy is a1.2 million pound steam locomotive that was restored by Union Pacific and now tours mosstly through the mid-west. The “Big Boy” engines were the largest ever made.
Union Pacific (UP) needed a locomotive capable of hauling heavy freight over steep inclines like Sherman Hill and the Wasatch Range without requiring an additional engine to assist. UP president William Jeffers and Vice President Otto Jabelmann worked with ALCO to design a locomotive that expanded on the earlier Challenger design. The result was the 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, which featured a hinged (articulated) frame to allow the 132-foot engines to navigate sharp curves. Originally designated as the “Wasatch” class, the iconic name originated when an unknown ALCO factory worker chalked “Big Boy” on the smokebox of the very first locomotive being built in Schenectady, New York.
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F-15 Fly By
The Blue Angels made an appearance at the St. Louis Spirit Air Show. We were able to watch from a bluff overlooking the event airport allowing us to look directly at the planes.
Here they are flying their F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. Low flying and precision acrobatics made for a lot of excitement.
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Mallard on the Rocks
Mallard ducks are highly abundant throughout the waterways and lakes of Forest Park in St. Louis. As part of the park’s thriving urban wildlife ecosystem, they are heavily tracked by local researchers via the Forest Park Living Lab. Whether you are looking to photograph them, bird-watch, or simply relax by the water, several primary areas offer consistent mallard sightings.
Forest Park Egrets
Egrets are a common and highly visible sight across Forest Park, serving as a prime destination for local birdwatchers and photographers. While these elegant, white wading birds spend their days foraging throughout the park’s expansive waterways, their presence is closely tied to a fascinating, unique urban phenomenon just outside the park boundaries.
While egrets feed in Forest Park, many actually nest about one to two miles away in the neighboring Central West End (CWE). Since 2017, hundreds of egrets and herons have established a massive, rare inland nesting colony (rookery) in the mature sycamore and catalpa trees of the CWE, notably around the SLU Manresa Center and behind the Reliable Funeral Home. The birds commute daily between their urban treetop nests and the park’s waterways to gather food for their fledglings.
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