Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

The weather this morning in Estabrook was way better than forecast. The temperature was 21°F instead of 20°F, winds were 13 mph instead of 14 mph, and so the “RealFeel®” temperature was a full 8°F instead of the measly 6°F predicted. Ha! Plus, the sun was out and there was hardly a cloud in theContinue reading “A spectacular morning in Estabrook.”

It was two years ago, to the day, that I wrote those first four words and kicked off this whole adventure with an email message to some friends and my family. Two years later, it was cold, cloudy, and windy, with snow showers forecast, so I went into Estabrook with pretty low expectations, despite theContinue reading “Spotted a wood duck, again…”

The rain finally took a break, the sun came out, and it was a gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park. Plus, my visit started off with a bang when I spotted this deer sneaking into the woods at the far south end. Even better, she turned around and and struck a pose for us. We haven’tContinue reading “A break from the rain, if only for the morning…”

It is a soaking wet morning again, and I don’t know if and when I’ll be able to get into Estabrook today, but I’ve got some great news to report, in case you don’t enjoy the Journal Sentinel with breakfast as Anne and I do. Paul A. Smith reports on the front page of theContinue reading “Breaking News!”

It seems that the drizzle won’t stop, and the fog won’t clear, but I needed the walk anyway, so I went out with just my phone. Check out this happy sight that I found waiting for me by the pond! Spring is really starting to spring now! I bumped into a birder new to Estabrook,Continue reading “March Showers!”

No sense in sugar coating it. This morning started out cold and dreary, and then it began to rain. The good news, however, is that I spotted another new arrival in Estabrook, this little cutie beside the river, whom I believe is an eastern wood-pewee, just in from South America! At first, I thought itContinue reading “Maybe a surprise early arrival.”

The beautiful weather yesterday seems to have caused a regular “changing of the guard” in Estabrook Park. Today, all the common mergansers, hooded mergansers, and buffleheads were gone, and they were replaced by golden-crowned kinglets, which were thick along the river. I did see one red-breasted merganser drake, perhaps the one we saw on theContinue reading “Changing of the guard.”

Wow! What a morning! I couldn’t ask for a better first day of spring. I counted 34 different species of bird, with some help from my friends, and a few were even willing to sit for a picture. The first one was this little American tree sparrow on a frosty log beside the river. IContinue reading “Happy Spring!”

Once again reality was not nearly as soggy as the forecast, and it was not a bad morning for seeing the sights in Estabrook Park. Things are starting to quiet down on the river, and I didn’t see a single common merganser today. There was still one pair of buffleheads, one pair of hooded mergansers,Continue reading “Banded!”

Despite the wet forecast, I lucked out and stayed dry today. It was a good morning for seeing birds, if tough for photographing them, but I took some anyway. At the north end, the crowd of buffleheads have moved on and left only one pair behind. Similarly, the flock of common mergansers have flown northContinue reading “A happy swan song…”