Open water reappeared at the mouth of Esopus Creek after heavy rainfall two days ago. This morning, various waterfowl congregated in the open water. Two dozen Common Goldeneye, a half-dozen Common Mergansers, and a handful of Canvasbacks paddled the open water and dived along the edge of
Read more →The distance from the trailhead where I park my car to the front door of the lighthouse is a half mile. How do I get from point A to point B? There a numerous possibilities. For routes, the choices are the trail, the creek, and the cove.
Read more →After a day and night of wind-driven snow and white-out conditions, I was so excited to see what the snowstorm had brought to the valley that I couldn’t wait for sunrise. I was tromping around outside before dawn with my camera. The creek and river were frozen
Read more →I put on snowshoes and walked to the mailbox. Along the way, I encountered 2 to 3-foot deep drifts of snow on the trail. In other places, the wind blew the snow clear from the trail. In the relatively protected forest on the shore, the snowfall was
Read more →Twenty degrees. Wind-driven snow. White-out conditions. Can’t see the opposite shore of the river.
Read more →Today, a most unusual visitor arrived at the lighthouse, and he arrived by mail. In my mailbox was a large brown envelope. I opened it and found Stanley Lambchop inside. The envelope also contained a letter of introduction. The letter was from the second grade class at
Read more →Captain I. R. Dangerous called me on the phone this morning. “Is Ballast there?” When Captain Dangerous needs dead-weight in his boat, he calls me. Yesterday, he phoned me asking for a fool and found one. Either way, I’m happy to oblige, because it means I get
Read more →This morning, after breakfast, I looked out the parlor window. Common mergansers dived for fish in the open water at the mouth of Esopus Creek. In a nearby treetop, a bald eagle watched the waterfowl with interest. Barely visible in a tree in the south cove, a
Read more →When I left for vacation, ice was just beginning to form in protected coves during cold nights. By the time I returned a week later, after several days and nights of temperatures in the single digits, the river had filled with ice. With the exception of the
Read more →In the pre-dawn light, a group of 16 or more common mergansers swam and dove in the creek. Thin sheets of ice drifted slowly with the outgoing current.
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