Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

The weather this morning was a real mixed bag. Not too cold, but a wind chill near zero. Blue skies and sun, but dropping temps and a gale warning. I did not expect to see much. This little cutie, however, had other plans. Yes, indeedy, our American kestrel was back and farther south into theContinue reading “A quick visit before the gale blows in…”

I can hear the wind whipping outside as I type this, and the weather channel leads off its hourly forecast with “Gale Warning”, so maybe it’s just as well that I don’t have time to visit Estabrook today. Luckily, there’s been so much to see lately that I often haven’t been able to fit allContinue reading “A raft of rejects…”

It was another blue-sky morning in Estabrook with temps above 0°F. What more could I ask for? The thin layer of snow on the path along the river had a wonderfully crisp crunch underfoot this morning, so I wasn’t gonna be sneaking up on anybody today. I saw the common mergansers again first thing, butContinue reading “The high-pressure system sticks around…”

Sure, it was cold this morning, but there was much less cloud cover and wind than forecast, so my visit to Estabrook was far more pleasant than I anticipated. The birds seemed to enjoy it, too, because they were out in droves. I had just walked past the common mergansers at the south end, whomContinue reading “The old gang’s just about all here…”

The weather was what one might call suboptimal for taking pictures this morning, with temps around 20°F, winds around 20 mph, heavy gray skies, and light snow, but these pictures aren’t going to take themselves, so off to the park I went to see if anyone was up and about. Holy Smokes! I’m sure gladContinue reading “A cold front blows through…”

This morning was a bit warmer, at 21°F, a bit cloudier, and a bit breezier than yesterday, so not quite as magical, but also not bad by any means. I was glad to see that our gadwall drake was still here on the lower river and suffering from much less of an icing problem thisContinue reading “Winter appears to settle in…”

Well, the sun finally came out, and the wind was nice and calm, so 7°F seemed like a small price to pay for such a glorious morning. Some of the critters might probably prefer the opposite trade-off, but let’s hope that anyone not built to handle this weather has long since flown south. Anyway, you’llContinue reading “The sun makes an appearance at last…”

The snow did finally arrive, even though the sun stayed hidden until I got back home, so there was a nice change of scenery after all, and I’ll take it! Our new gadwall drake was still on the lower river, and he appeared to be having icing issues that the mallards were not facing, butContinue reading “A change of scenery at last!”

Happy New Year! I hope yours is off to as nice a start as mine is. This morning looked like many recent mornings with low, dark skies, but as Forrest Gump always used to say, “Estabrook Park is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” This morning, I was thrilledContinue reading “A new bird for a new year!”

I don’t have a lot of time this morning, and it looks gray as heck out there again anyway, so let’s do a little year in review instead. Here are some of my favorite pictures from 2021. Nothing brightens up a gray day in January like a male northern cardinal on sumac, eh? But aContinue reading “2021 wasn’t all bad…”