Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

After all the recent sogginess, it was a very nice morning in Estabrook. The crowd of wood ducks on the pond has subsided a bit, but the surprise sighting was this giant snapping turtle appearing to try to climb up onto shore. I wasn’t able to get close enough, sadly, to tell if it isContinue reading “A break from the rain and a bit of sun”

Once again, the day lit up pretty quickly, I suspect as the sun finally rose over a cloud bank on Lake Michigan, and I tried my best to take advantage of it. The pond is still full of wood ducks, and here are three handsome drakes in a row. Well, the one in front looksContinue reading “Another sliver of sunlight”

It was dark until 7am, and then, as if someone flipped a switch, it became light out, so here we go. It’s a short one, though, because the front edge of a thunderstorm started dripping on us by 9am already. The pond was chock full of wood ducks, I counted 18, and they were allContinue reading “Soggy Sunday”

It was still quite dark at sunrise under thick cloud cover. Then the fog rolled in, and I’m surprised any of my pictures came out at all. Here are the ones that seem presentable. There was no sign of the huge snapping turtle at the pond, but a handful of wood ducks are still around,Continue reading “Soft-Focus Saturday!”

It was dark and wet at sunrise, so I waited a bit for the forecast “partly cloudy”, and by 9 o’clock, it came. Yay! I hustled out the door and was soon greeted by another batch of juncos foraging on the lawn together. As I walked up the parkway, they retired to a small tree,Continue reading “Out came the sun…”

It seems like it has rained all day, so thank goodness I saved some pictures from yesterday. As I was trying to capture that shot of the reflection off the river of the foliage glowing in the morning sun, I climbed down the bank onto some rocks in the water for a better angle. FromContinue reading “Soggy Thursday”

Gadzooks! When I hoped that “partly cloudy” would give us a little bit of sun this morning, I never imagined that we would get so much. What a beautiful morning it was, and I made it to the park before the streetlights shut off. Before I even got to the pond, I was greeted byContinue reading “The sun really did come out.”

As promised, here are the rest of the pictures from yesterday’s magical Monday morning. First up, a bit after the four deer strode up onto the island and disappeared in the brush, this young one came back out seemingly to see what that weird old guy on the far shore was up to. “What isContinue reading “Magic Monday Part II”

This morning was supposed to be dark and grey, again, so I lolled in bed till 6:30, and the reward for my sloth was about an hour of warm morning sun and even a bit of bright blue sky. Do not get me thinking that sloth might pay! Anyway, by the time I managed toContinue reading “A Monday chock full o’ surprises.”

It was a wet and dreary morning in Estabrook, but before we get into that, let me say “thanks” to all the folks who stopped by the Friends of Estabrook Park booth yesterday at the Fish & Feather Festival. We sure had nice weather in Hubbard Park for the event. There are too many namesContinue reading “Some surprises despite the rain.”