Monthly Archives: March 2022

The beautiful weather yesterday seems to have caused a regular “changing of the guard” in Estabrook Park. Today, all the common mergansers, hooded mergansers, and buffleheads were gone, and they were replaced by golden-crowned kinglets, which were thick along the river. I did see one red-breasted merganser drake, perhaps the one we saw on theContinue reading “Changing of the guard.”

Wow! What a morning! I couldn’t ask for a better first day of spring. I counted 34 different species of bird, with some help from my friends, and a few were even willing to sit for a picture. The first one was this little American tree sparrow on a frosty log beside the river. IContinue reading “Happy Spring!”

Once again reality was not nearly as soggy as the forecast, and it was not a bad morning for seeing the sights in Estabrook Park. Things are starting to quiet down on the river, and I didn’t see a single common merganser today. There was still one pair of buffleheads, one pair of hooded mergansers,Continue reading “Banded!”

Despite the wet forecast, I lucked out and stayed dry today. It was a good morning for seeing birds, if tough for photographing them, but I took some anyway. At the north end, the crowd of buffleheads have moved on and left only one pair behind. Similarly, the flock of common mergansers have flown northContinue reading “A happy swan song…”

Yesterday afternoon was so beautiful, I couldn’t help but go to Estabrook a second time, and that’s what it took to finally capture some images of the killdeer that I’ve been hearing on the river. I had an exam to proctor this morning, so I couldn’t go early, but I hurried home as soon asContinue reading “The killdeer are back…”

It was a nice enough morning in Estabrook, but the air was a little foggy, so no good for long shots, and the birds were a little busy, so in no mood for portraits. Thus, I didn’t take many pictures and saved a lot on film. I was happy to see again the great blueContinue reading “A couple of new sights for the season…”

It was pretty dreary looking this morning, when the sun did finally come up, so I didn’t mind going to campus instead of the park. Plus, the sun started to burn through the clouds a bit later this morning, when I got back home from school. There are still plenty of fancy water fowl around,Continue reading “More signs that spring is on its way…”

If you asked me to design the perfect mid-March morning, I don’t know what changes I would make to today’s specifications. It was cold enough overnight to firm up the trail, but in the mid-30s already when the sun came up, so I hardly needed gloves. Plus, the air was nearly still, and the sunContinue reading “Ah, that’s more like it….”

It seemed as though it took a whole extra hour for dawn to come this morning, and it brought an extra surprise with it when it finally arrived. The great blue heron, however, whom we’ve been seeing on the river at the south end lately, did not appear to be as excited about one lastContinue reading “From last blast to last gasp…”

Wow, that was cold! The thermometer said 9°F this morning, but the stiff breeze out of the north made if feel as though it was well below zero. The sun rose right on schedule, at 6:09 AM, and I was out the door soon after that, but I didn’t even hear a cardinal singing untilContinue reading “Winter’s last blast, for real this time.”