Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

I was out in the field next to our hotel in Asilah again early yesterday morning when I started hearing little sounds from the grass around me, which I first thought were coming from insects, but instead they were coming from these tiny and aptly named zitting cisticolas (Cisticola juncidis). I have never heard ofContinue reading “More sights from northern Morocco”

After a couple of long, but uneventful flights on Turkish Airways, and a nice long layover in the Istanbul airport, we all finally arrived safely in Morocco yesterday afternoon, at which point we rented a car and drove north along the coast to Asilah, a bit south of Tangier. This morning, after a solid nineContinue reading “Day 1 in Morocco”

You won’t believe who’s back. Ol’ Mrs. Snappy was right were I first found her yesterday morning, and that’s the curb at the edge of the parkway right under her chin. It appears that I misjudged how much she would prefer to lay her eggs in exactly that spot. It did not appear, however, thatContinue reading “Still plenty of lessons to learn…”

She’s baaaaack. Yup, the snapping turtle in the pond was up on shore and trying to lay her eggs again, just three days later than last year. Here she is, perhaps thinking, “oh, it’s you again.” Anyway, this year she had already marched past the bench when I found her, and she was trying toContinue reading “Almost like clockwork!”

The skies have been cloudy and dark all morning, but the air is calm and not too cool, so it was not the worst weather for a visit to Estabrook Park. At the pond, I saw three wood duck hens, but only one had ducklings, and here they are setting off to graze some moreContinue reading “An old hen seems to learn a new trick…”

and some days you’re the bug. Despite the nice, though a bit breezy, weather this morning, my luck went from red-hot yesterday to pretty darn cold this morning. I did get to see the mallard duckling again, because it really wanted to forage through the detritus along the far edge of the paved path aroundContinue reading “Some days you’re the windshield…”

Yesterday’s forecast did hold, and it was a beautiful morning in Estabrook Park. At the pond, I was able to find all three hens with their ducklings: the two mallards, … the five wood ducks, … and the seven wood ducks, which I believe were eight the last time we saw them. Boy, it’s beenContinue reading “Still more firsts, after all this time…”

The skies are starting to clear now, but it was a very soggy morning in Estabrook Park. The forecast suggested a gap in the precipitation right after sunrise, however, so I hustled out the door, and my reward for getting out so early is spotting this Virginia opossum hurrying home after a night of foraging.Continue reading “This wet spring continues…”

After all the rain last night, it was still pretty cloudy this morning in Estabrook Park, but the air was nice and warm, and a lot of birds were up and about, although it took me a while to get any pictures. In the meantime, there were plenty of other, more-obliging critters taking advantage ofContinue reading “A five class morning!”

I rode in the UPAF Ride for the Arts yesterday morning, including two trips over the Hoan Bridge and back, and then the rest of the day got away from me, so I never got to take pictures in Estabrook Park. Sorry about that. Happily, the nice weather continued into this morning, and I didContinue reading “Back to work…”