Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

It was 46°F at sunrise yesterday morning, a new low for South Holland this season, I believe, and I read that temperature change is one of the many signals birds use to know when to head south. Thus, I’m sure that you won’t be surprised to hear that ducks are not the only critters onContinue reading “More change in the air…”

I guess I am getting to see a fall migration after all, because here is yet another new duck trying to catch some zzzzs beside the water. I couldn’t get very close, so the images aren’t too great, but the dark, wide, horizontal band around the eye marks the one on the right as aContinue reading “More ducks!”

The sun didn’t rise until nearly 8 o’clock this morning, and the temps didn’t even break into the 60s today, but the skies were clear, the breeze wasn’t too strong, and the birds were out, so I was finally able to sneak up on one of the several great spotted woodpeckers searching for a soulContinue reading “Still something new…”

As I walked to work along the east side of the TU Delft campus, yesterday morning, I came across the largest flock of gadwalls I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if the body of water right beside the road would be considered a pond or just a widened canal, but I counted at least 50Continue reading “Birds on the move…”

As is often the case, once I notice a new creature for the first time, I start to see them everywhere, and the Eurasian jay is a perfect example. They really are shy birds, quite similar to the blue jays in Estabrook, but now that I know where to look, I’m getting closer to makingContinue reading “Birds of a certain size…”

It felt as if this morning set out specifically to show me that one data point does not make a trend. Thus, not even 24 hours after I announced that “the storks have flown south for the season“, look who I found posing pretty as a picture. While it may be true that some storksContinue reading “Not so fast…”

Happy October, everybody! My assignment in Delft is officially half over, and I’m sorry about the recent radio silence, but I had some family events to which I wanted to give my full attention. Anyway, the weather’s been pretty cool and wet around here for the past couple of weeks, and the forecast wasn’t greatContinue reading “Dutch Autumn”

I didn’t see the goslings this morning, but that could simply mean that they were down in a canal paddling around when I tried to look from across the field. You may be surprised to learn, however, that they are not even the only late-summer youngsters out on the polder. Here’s one of a clutchContinue reading “More little ones…”

Earlier this week, I came across an article in the newspaper that featured a nice bird picture, and as I prepared to send it to Anne, I realized it was of a Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), which I have not yet seen, and not of one if its cousins, the great tit (Parus major),Continue reading “Late arrivals…”

I’ve still got some pictures left over from the weekend, if you can believe it, so here they are. This first one features a pair of mute swan cygnets, and I took it on Sunday after I was inspired to look up just how big they are by the spectacular Saturday fly-over. I read thatContinue reading “Differences and Similarities…”