Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

Anne and I just go home, safe and sound, after about 38 hours in taxies, airports, airplanes, trains, and busses, so I’m sorry to say that I won’t make it to Estabrook Park today. I can, however, give you one more glimpse at that amazing Eurasian hoopoe we saw at the Dead Sea just overContinue reading “Back in the Dairyland State again…”

By the time you get this, Anne and I should be in a plane or an airport somewhere on our way home, and I might see something interesting out on the tarmac, but just in case, here are a few more critters from the Azraq Wetland Reserve. I’ve been seeing gray herons since Aqaba, butContinue reading “A little more of Azraq…”

We did make it to Amman, and we did have a nice daytrip to several “castles”, including Qasr Kharana, Qusayr ‘Amra, and Qasr al-Azraq, and the Azraq Wetland Reserve, which held the first freshwater we’ve seen all trip, so I had high hopes, and the reserve did not disappoint. The biggest bird we saw, byContinue reading “Amman and Azraq…”

We made it to Petra, though driving through the modern city was a bit of a trick, but the archeological site was far more amazing than I had even imagined. The iconic building carved into red sandstone, called “The Treasury”, and seen in many movies, is only the tip of the iceberg. Petra was aContinue reading “Petra!”

We did make it to Wadi Rum, “a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock” where some of Lawrence of Arabia was filmed, and it was spectacular. We had a guide, Ali, who grew up there, and whose mother remembers when and where the movie was made. He drove us around on the softContinue reading “Wadi Rum!”

As I mentioned yesterday, we are off to see Wadi Rum today, and I have no idea if I’ll be able to get any wildlife pictures for you, but I’ve got a few left over from yesterday, so let me use this post to get you caught up. Here’s a western yellow wagtail, whom weContinue reading “ABO Revisited…”

Well, I am thrilled to report that the Aqaba Bird Observatory is every bit the masterpiece that their website claims. It is, of course, connected to, or even contained within, a wastewater treatment facility, but they have created special pools just for migrating waders and erected viewing blinds to help us enjoy seeing them whileContinue reading “Aqaba Bird Observatory”

As promised, here’s a second, early-morning look at some critters at the northeast corner of the Dead Sea. I heard this first beauty and its traveling companions before I saw them, and they helpfully perched together in the top of a tall bare tree. I had only taken a couple of pictures, however, before theyContinue reading “Dead Sea Day 2…”

The stars must have aligned like nobody’s business over the last twenty hours because both of our flights and all our taxi rides went off without hitches, and we arrived on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan right on schedule early this morning. Anne did the sensible thing and immediately hit the sackContinue reading “Dead Sea Day 1…”