Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

The forecast showers never materialized this morning, so I had a nice, if cool and dark, visit to Estabrook Park. The big news is that Baltimore orioles, or at least this one triumphant male, announcing his presence from the treetops along the river (specifically the longer song that starts at 1:00, right after the blueContinue reading “Making do with the skies we’ve got.”

Let’s start with the easy stuff. The six goslings on the pond are doing just fine, and here they are on a cruise with Mom and Dad, now that the weather has improved a bit. Although there may be some tension brewing between the siblings, but what else is new, right moms? Meanwhile, on theContinue reading “You will not believe the afternoon I had”

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw dawn breaking on a cloudless sky this morning. Woo Hoo! I wolfed down my breakfast and hustled out the door as soon as I could. It was great to see the goslings out enjoying the weather for a change. The wood ducks seemed to be enjoying itContinue reading “Let the sun shine in!”

We got a good soaking this morning, but as noon approached it appeared that there was going to be a gap in the rain, so I hustled home from school, and on my way, I spotted a big flock of cedar waxwings, maybe 3 dozen birds, beside the Oak Leaf Trail. I put on myContinue reading “Better than expected…”

Despite being on a new page of the calendar, the cool, dark, and damp weather persists, and the goslings on the pond have gotta be wondering, “I pecked my way out of a nice cozy eggshell for this?” We had a surprise retro visit on the river from this ever-dapper, red-breasted merganser drake. In theContinue reading “Will these grey days ever end?”

The dark and gloomy skies of April continue into May, I am sorry to report, but at least it wasn’t raining this morning, and the thunder and lightning we had overnight was done for now, so I went to Estabrook to see who the winds might have blown in. Most of the regular crowd wasContinue reading “Happy May Day!”

I see that it is already raining as I write this, but I was able to sneak into Estabrook before it started, and I managed to see a few things. One of the masked bandits was peeking out of a tree trunk, perhaps to see if the park was still crawling with birders hoping toContinue reading “Maybe a break from the crowds.”

The heavy overcast continues, but the air keeps getting a little warmer, the wind wasn’t too strong, and the forecast showers did not develop, so it was not too bad in Estabrook Park this morning. My first big treat was spotting this beaver hauling a branch upriver in the same spot where we saw oneContinue reading “A surprise visitor…”

I was disappointed that we didn’t have any of the forecast gaps in the cloud cover this morning, but I was preparing to head out anyway, and then the rain started. Ugh. So, I held off, went to school, and finally got into Estabrook in the late morning after I got home. The cloud coverContinue reading “Goslings!”

It was cold, just below freezing at dawn, and not as sunny as forecast, but the critters in Estabrook did not disappoint this morning! By the time I was heading inland toward the pond, the sky had brightened enough for pictures, and as I was searching for a bird, I heard a rustling above andContinue reading “Oh, what a morning!”