Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

The one beaver we saw on Sunday must have reported back to the burrow that the deep freeze has indeed broken because today there were two of them, seeming to nuzzle and snooze together on the river ice in the bright morning sun. Sorry for all the pictures. I can’t decide which is the cutest.Continue reading “And then there were two…”

And they are hungry! As our long deep freeze finally eases up, the beaver, who we haven’t seen even a single wood chip from since December, finally ventured out last night, and they left freshly cut and debarked logs on the ice in at least four locations along the lower river. Since I walked onContinue reading “The Beaver are Back, Baby!”

It was a day so nice, I had to go out in it twice, and boy, what a difference 20 degrees makes! This morning, I wore two pairs of gloves, and this afternoon, I wore none. With last night being probably our last deep freeze, I figured it was today or never to walk upContinue reading “Fabulous February!”

It’s been a quiet couple of days in the park, and do you know what that means, boys and girls? That means it’s arty picture day, where I try to supplement the meager content I have with pictures of super interesting snow and ice formations. Yay! First up is this fascinating bit if snow thatContinue reading “Odds and Ends…”

I am always surprised to rediscover how more comfortable single digits above zero are than single digits below zero. Add a smidgen of sun and a patch of blue sky or two and it was a very nice morning in the park. To mark the occasion, we had a visitor we haven’t seen in weeksContinue reading “A bit of normalcy returns…”

After getting skunked for the last few days, I’ve finally got something to show you, and given the nature of this project, perhaps I should clarify that by “skunked” I mean coming up empty, not being sprayed by a skunk, which I would definitely endure in exchange for a good picture, but that would beContinue reading “The cold remains, but some color returns…”

The amazing streak of cold weather continues, and I didn’t see a single mammal this morning, but for the birds who are prepared for it, not only does it not seem to slow them down, they’re actually starting to get frisky! I had barely gotten into the park when this pair of nuthatches caught myContinue reading “Starting to get frisky…”

Today seemed a bit like an odd and dark repeat of yesterday. The temps were about the same, but the sky was blanketed by heavy grey clouds, and that seemed to throw everything off. I only spotted a few female common mergansers on the lower river, and was doing my best to spot more, whenContinue reading “Fade to grey…”

Our string of pitch-perfect weather continues, and it was another glorious morning in the park. Right off the bat, as I was checking on the female common mergansers we’ve been seeing regularly at the south end, I annoyed a hawk on the near shore, who flew across to the other side to keep hunting, glareContinue reading “The Day of the Raptors”

It wasn’t as cold as yesterday so my eyelashes didn’t freeze this morning, but sustained temps near 0°F and about a foot of snow on the ground is about as good as we get it here in southeastern Wisconsin, and the hardy critters seem to be coping just fine. The five female common mergansers wereContinue reading “The deep of winter settles in…”