Historic Landmark on the Hudson River

Year: 2007

  • Trail conditions: muddy

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    Melting snow, rain, and tide-water mixed with thawing ground equals mud, mud, mud. Wear your boots!

  • Hooded mergansers

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    This morning, when I looked out the parlor window, several flashes of white on the creek caught my eye. I set up the spotting-scope to take a closer look. Hooded mergansers–eleven of them: five males and six females. Distinguished by their conspicuous white head crest, the males displayed their haute couture, vying for the attention…

  • First paddle of the season

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    Yesterday, I had an errand to run to the sloop Clearwater. By dusk, the tide turned and pushed the remaining ice out of the creek. A strong southerly wind eventually calmed, so I decided to put the canoe in the water and paddle up the creek to where the sloop is moored. In the dim…

  • Question for the keeper: smells

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    This question comes from a fiction-writer in Chicago: what does the lighthouse smell like? Let me begin by saying that I’m relieved that she didn’t ask what the lighthouse KEEPER smells like. Not nearly so pleasant a subject matter. I think a poet once said that to venture out on a day in March is…

  • Trail conditions: soupy

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    Daytime temperatures in the 40s turned the snow into a slushy sloppy soup. Waterproof boots recommended.

  • Trail conditions: crusty snow

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    Last week’s snowfall is slowly melting on sunny days and refreezing on chilly nights. The snow along the trail is packed down by foot traffic.

  • Snowbound

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    Typical indecisive March weather: several days of convincing spring thaw interrupted by a winter relapse. A snowstorm moving up the coast promises to drop a foot of snow overnight. As if that wasn’t enough, a bit of flooding forecast for tonight after midnight: runoff and snowmelt meeting wind-driven storm surge and rising tide. 3.98′ tide…

  • Migratory waterfowl

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    With temperatures in the 50s this week, ice is leaving the Esopus Creek. Today, the open water attracted some visitors: a mixed flock of waterfowl numbering in the hundreds. Mostly Canvasbacks and Ring-neck Ducks. Over fifty Green-winged Teals. Two male Buffleheads and one female. Two pairs of Northern Shovelers. Faint cooing was audible from the…

  • Trail conditions: slushy

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    As daytime temperatures reach the high 50s/low 60s this week, snow is melting along the trail, creating puddles and muddy spots. Boots recommended.

  • Sign of spring

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    This morning, as I stepped outside to chop firewood, I heard my first red-winged blackbird of the season, calling from the cattails. Temperatures are forecast for the low 50s. Last week, I couldn’t leave the lighthouse on account of the wind chill. This week, I’ll be walking around in short-sleeves and basking in the sun.