Author Archives: Andrew Dressel

First, it has been raining steadily since it was light enough this morning to take pictures, and second, my laptop died last evening, and this loaner I’m typing on right now doesn’t have a slot for reading the chip from my camera, so I wouldn’t be able to show you any pictures from today anyway.Continue reading “I did not see this coming…”

I couldn’t ask for a nicer morning in Estabrook Park, and I made it out the front door at 7:00 am CDT to celebrate. That’s my earliest start of the year, if you ignore the recent time change. As I hiked down to the river, I found our winter wren hasn’t flown north yet. AtContinue reading “A wood duck hen at last…”

Our latest warm snap continues, and it was 20° warmer in Estabrook Park this morning than yesterday morning. I could hear my first killdeer of the season today, and I’m positive that it wasn’t just a starling mimicking one, for a change, but I wasn’t able to spot it yet. A sight that I didContinue reading “Yet another sure sign of spring…”

The huge news in Estabrook Park this morning is that the female goose on the pond has finally chosen her nesting site on the island and has started the long process of laying and incubating her eggs. Woo Hoo! When I saw one lone goose on the water, I was hoping that this would beContinue reading “Now the waiting begins…”

After a crazy February, it feels like we’re getting a March closer to normal, at least for this weekend, and it was below freezing in Estabrook Park this morning. The skies were clear, however, and the sun was warm, so none of the critters seemed put out by losing an hour’s sleep last night. OnContinue reading “Welcome to Daylight Savings Time!”

It was a pretty morning in Estabrook Park, even if the temps were seasonably cool, but the interesting pictures were few and far between, for some reason. In fact, the only one I took was of this dark-eyed junco by the pond. Luckily, I have some shots left over from previous days, and here’s anotherContinue reading “An oddly slow morning in March”

Despite the forecast for a wet morning, the rain still has not yet arrived, and I had a great walk in Estabrook Park. The big treat for me today was spotting this Cooper’s hawk with the chipmunk it had just caught. Nature in action! At the pond, this downy woodpecker posed perfectly on what’s leftContinue reading “Some get lucky, and some don’t.”

It was cloudy when dawn broke this morning, and it is cloudy again now as noon approaches, but in between there were a couple of hours of glorious sunshine in Estabrook Park. Cooper’s hawks were very active today, and I saw a pair hunting together at the pond, possibly a third bird hunting on itsContinue reading “Some interesting looks…”

A muskrat was up having its breakfast where the high river has flooded into a bottom, and it appeared to ignore the mallards trying to do the same while they returned the favor. I was asked yesterday how the elaborately colored males of some species manage to survive, and here’s the red-breasted merganser, who hasContinue reading “Songs come and go…”

After the thunderstorms rolled through last evening, I didn’t have high hopes for this morning, and it was indeed cloudy and windy in Estabrook Park, but, as Anne pointed out, at least it wasn’t raining. Things were pretty quiet at the pond, with just a few mallards for a change, and the geese probably offContinue reading “The morning after a good soaking…”