Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

From my breakfast table, it looks like a much nicer morning than forecast, but I’m going to hold off on visiting the park until after my 11am presentation so that I can give both my full attention. The good news is that my visit yesterday morning was so fruitful, I’ve still got some more picturesContinue reading “Sights so nice, I’ll show you twice…”

Hot diggity dog! Have we got a great show for you this morning, boys and girls! At 10°F, it was pretty darn cold for the middle of February, but the sky was perfectly clear, and the winds out of the north never seemed as bad as forecast, especially down in the river valley, so itContinue reading “Some surprising guest appearances!”

You’ll be happy to know that I did make it to the park yesterday around noon and again this morning, so I finally have some new pictures to show you. Yesterday afternoon got off to an exciting start when I notice a gull squawking about something up ahead and found this scene when I wasContinue reading “Birds, big and small.”

If you are just joining us, the recent deal is that I have to go to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and the sun doesn’t come up early enough yet for me to visit the park before school. Two days ago, I tried to get by with a late afternoon visit, but the resultsContinue reading “Blasts from the Pasts.”

This morning arrived, just as advertised, and I set out to see how much difference 14 hours makes. The cloud cover was pretty thick, so when I arrived at the river it was still pretty dark, and it occurred to me, now that temps are above freezing, that I might get to see beaver upContinue reading “Seems like spring is on its way…”

Sorry this is arriving so late, but I had to go to school this morning, then stuff came up, and I didn’t get to Estabrook until late this afternoon. I guess the big news is that there were a slew of mallards, I counted at least 45, back on the river, but none of ourContinue reading “A quite Tuesday afternoon.”

I see the sun trying to poke through the clouds now, from the comfort of my kitchen table, but there was no sign of the sun earlier this morning. That, plus a stiff breeze, made 21°F feel like 7°F, and I failed to check on that second number when I dressed to go out thisContinue reading “Winter drags on…”

It was easily 20°F warmer this morning than yesterday, and plenty of critters were taking advantage of the relative warmth in Estabrook. The river is still mostly empty of birds, but the ones still there were in surprisingly posy moods this morning. Here’s the bufflehead hen all by herself near the southern edge of theContinue reading “Winter loosens its grip”

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.”