Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

It was colder than forecast, just 5°F, but the air was still, and the sun did come out for a bit, so nice enough. The critters in Estabrook, however, were a lot quieter than I would have expected. They were certainly quieter than yesterday. Perhaps there’s a tipping point between the 10°F of yesterday morningContinue reading “Winter tightens its grip…”

It was quite a pleasant morning in Estabrook. Sure, it was only 10°F, but the air was still, and the sun came out for a while, so the sky was nice and blue. The biggest surprise for me was finding not a single mallard on the river. That might be a first. Perhaps an eagleContinue reading “A Friday of Surprises.”

I haven’t made it to the park yet today because I had to come to campus this morning, but on my way, I checked on the screech owl we first saw last week, and it is my absolute pleasure to report that there are in fact two screech owls sharing that same hole in aContinue reading “Seeing Red!”

Our February thaw was quite short lived, and temps were back in the teens again this morning with overcast skies and a nice stiff breeze out of the north, but we didn’t get any of the snow that this system is dumping to the south of us. Oh well. Just as the warmth seems toContinue reading “Winter Returns!”

Wow! What a change in the weather. It was 45°F and sunny by the time I got to the park late this morning, and most the regulars were on the river, but the big difference was the number of mallards. I counted close to 100 birds! The nice pictures, however, are of the bufflehead drakeContinue reading “February Thaw!”

The forecast suggested there might be some sun, seasonably cold temps, and no wind this morning. Well, the sun never made it, but as the dearly departed Meat Loaf used to say, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad“. The nice still air made for great listening, and the birds are really starting to get intoContinue reading “January winds down…”

I took my sweet time getting to the park this morning, but the critters didn’t seem to mind and were still quite plentiful when I finally rolled in, and as soon as I got to the river at the south end, I caught a glimpse of this young-looking Cooper’s hawk as it appeared to makeContinue reading “Quite a morning!”

Sure, it was cold and grey this morning, but the air was so still I thought I might get a lot of pictures anyway. The critters had different plans, however, and I saw very few of them today. One fun picture I did finally manage to capture is this one of the two merganser hensContinue reading “Sleep-in Saturday”

When I headed out to the park this morning, it was 10°F and the forecast was for mostly- to partly-cloudy, so I didn’t really have great expectations, but Holy Mackerel, what an amazing visit it turned out the be. The far south end is pretty frozen up these days, so not a lot to seeContinue reading “Double the Fun!”

I had every intention of going to Estabrook today, but sometimes life just gets in the way, and I don’t mean to rest on my laurels, I swear! Luckily, for us, however, nature came to find me instead. I had just started on my trek to the grocery store this afternoon, when I noticed aContinue reading “Sometimes nature comes to you…”