Monthly Archives: March 2021

It was a delightful morning in the park, and there was surprisingly little going on. Not many visitors and no new critters. The two pair of geese, a pair of mallards, and Mrs. Gadwall were all on the pond. The river is full of geese and mallards and one last goldeneye hen. The red-bellied woodpeckersContinue reading “The hens have it…”

I couldn’t find the wood ducks again this morning, neither on the river nor on the pond, and was making my way home empty-handed, when I stopped to check on the Cooper’s hawk nest I spotted under construction yesterday. Is I searched the treetops for it or the hawk itself, a bird watcher came byContinue reading “Lost and found…”

They’re back …. the wood ducks that is. I spotted my first pair on the river this morning just off the south shore of the northern island basking in the morning sun. Some of you long-time readers may recall that my very first post from the park was to announce that I had spotted woodContinue reading “Some color returns to Estabrook…”

The greening of Estabrook continues, perhaps slowed by the grey skies but undaunted. The geese at the pond have picked up a fifth wheel whom nobody seems to like. There were three mallard drakes and one hen, and she rebuffed advances more than once. And the solo gadwall hen is still there doing her thing,Continue reading “The greening of Estabrook continues…”

I didn’t get to the park until this afternoon and it was quiet, super quiet. The wind was calm, the sky was dark grey, hardly anyone was around, and many of the critters were taking a nap, like these two mallards beside the pond. We’ve seen them there before, and I wonder how long they’llContinue reading “The calm after the storm…”

The wind was brisk out of the ESE this morning, so right off of Lake Michigan, and it felt like it. The cold snap was not slowing down this maple tree, however. The 5 recent regulars were on the pond, the goose couple, the mallard couple, and the solo gadwall hen, but there was nobodyContinue reading “The cold and blustery before the storm”

First things first, I gotta apologize for misidentifying yesterdays newcomer to the pond. After I gave it what I thought was my best shot and pressed the “publish” button, the decision still gnawed at me, and I dug even deeper, which led me to a nice page published by “The Wildlife Trusts” on “How toContinue reading “Not much color today…”

The fun continues on this fine spring day in Estabrook with new birds on the pond, new birds in the river, and new flowers up out of the ground. First, the new bird on the pond looks like a female mallard or a female American black duck. You may recall we saw a male onContinue reading “More ducks…”

It was a very nice morning in the park, with calendar appropriate temperatures for a change. At the pond, the ice is almost all gone, the pair of mallards were napping in the morning sun, and the pair of Canada geese were feeding. The river is still high, but the parts of the trail thatContinue reading “A whole lot of Spring going on…”

I didn’t get to the park until the afternoon, almost all the snow is gone now, and more than half of the pond ice is gone as well. The mallards and the Canada geese were getting comfortable with all the newly exposed water … … and the grass. The big new arrival, however, are theseContinue reading “Snow comes and goes…”