Monthly Archives: January 2021

What a fabulous morning! The sun came out, parts of the sky were blue, the trail along the river was hard as a rock, and I just about had the place to myself. Sweet! Once again, a chickadee dared me to take its picture, and out of a dozen shots, this is the best IContinue reading “A brief break in the weather…”

It was a nice January morning, with freezing temps and a dusting of snow, but hungry birds gotta eat, so here’s a goldfinch filling up on great burdock seeds beside the southern soccer fields. Down on the river, just about all the usual suspects were about, including all three of the white water fowl we’veContinue reading “A winter’s day…”

Anne didn’t get the jigsaw puzzle finished last night, so I didn’t get to the park till after lunch today. The pair of buffleheads were there again, but even more shy than yesterday, so I didn’t even both with a new picture. There were three goldeneyes today, which makes for a fun scene. There wereContinue reading “Buffleheads, goldeneyes, and mergansers, oh my!”

Well, some snow did finally arrived, but it was mostly melted already by the time it got here, and I blame De Joy for that. Luckily, the birds don’t seem to care one way or the other, and this little cutie, an American goldfinch by the river in its winter coat of “drab, unstreaked brown,Continue reading “Another banner day in Estabrook!”

Well, the snow I ordered did not arrive, I blame De Joy for that, and it has really warmed up, so the river trail surface has the consistency of butter than hasn’t felt the inside of a fridge in a week. Luckily for us, some parts are still serviceable, a helpful tip from eagle-eyed andContinue reading “Goldeneye!”

Not a lot going on today. Maybe everyone’s just waiting for the coming rain to pass through. Trails could sure use more snow, but that’s not what the hourly forecast is predicting, unfortunately. The mergansers were back on the river this morning, and this time I counted 5 altogether: 1 male and 1 female common,Continue reading “Calm before the storm?”

My luck continues with the weather in the park, and to sweeten the deal further, the sun came out a bit this morning, and the sky even had some blue patches. I finally captured a couple presentable images of the many American robins (Turdus migratorius) I see foraging together. Despite that “first robin of spring”Continue reading “Lots of little birds”

It was a surprisingly quite morning in Estabrook, nowhere near as cold as yesterday, but I still pretty much had the place to myself. Cool. I’d love to see more people out enjoying nature, but I’ll take the solitude when I can get it, too. I finally almost caught a pair of ubiquitous and surprisinglyContinue reading “A slow day in January”

It was pretty cold this morning, with “real feel” temps in the mid teens, so the trail was in good shape, and I just about had it all to myself. The critters were keeping a low profile, and I didn’t see much more than a chickadee until I got to where the mallards hangout northContinue reading “A cold day in January…”

Well, the blue skies are long gone, but at least the ice cold temps have stuck around so the river trail is still nice and firm. As usual I startled the mourning doves from their recent favorite foraging spot on the ground near the abandoned railroad bridge abutment south of the falls, and they decampedContinue reading “Lunchtime in Estabrook”