Monthly Archives: September 2023

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning in Estabrook Park, at long last, with blue skies, a warm sun, mild temps, and calm winds. Despite my exuberance, however, it was pretty quiet in the park. I counted 15 wood ducks, 5 on the pond and 10 on the river, but the most photogenic ducks in theContinue reading “The weather finally breaks our way…”

The weather is finally improving, but it was still pretty cloudy in Estabrook Park this morning. At least the clouds weren’t leaking today. I counted five wood ducks on the pond, but no herons, and the prettiest sight was this female northern cardinal sipping from a puddle on the path. At the river, my wayContinue reading “See ’em while they’re here!”

Despite the improved forecast, the weather this morning in Estabrook Park was not much better than it has been over the last few days. The skies were plenty dark and still leaking enough that I had to drape my hat over my camera at times to keep it dry, but at least it wasn’t pouringContinue reading “No new critters, but several new sights”

Well, my whining about the weather has somehow failed to improve the situation, and the radar forecast suggests that it will be raining all morning. Sure, I could go to Estabrook Park, because I won’t melt, but if I see a bird, and I can’t take a picture of it to show you, did theContinue reading “Staying dry on a soupy morning…”

Man, if this dreary weather pattern ever moves on, and blue skies ever return, I will never complain about them again! The weather this morning was actually better than the forecast I checked before going to bed last evening, and even though it was raining during breakfast, the radar suggested that we might get aContinue reading “A morning better than expected…”

The grey morning skies over Estabrook Park continue, but at least the temps were mild, so I stopped in to see who was around today now that the crowds of moved on. There were eight wood ducks on the pond, and their late summer molt appears to be wrapping up, so here’s a hen andContinue reading “Back to Estabrook for some peace and quite…”

I took a break from Estabrook Park today, and rode my bike down to Lakeshore State Park to join Donna’s Sunday morning birding group. There were plenty of Canada geese and mallards, but the first surprise was this gopher keeping an eye on me. I counted five hooded mergansers in various plumages. I think thisContinue reading “A visit to Lake Michigan”

It was an odd morning for me in Estabrook Park. The weather was about the same as the past few days, with plenty of clouds and mild temps, but the park was packed with runners for some big group run, so I wasn’t seeing much. Then I opted to walk around the east side ofContinue reading “A roller coaster of a morning…”

The skies look pretty clear, if hazy, now as I write this at my dining room table, but they were plenty grey earlier this morning when I ventured into Estabrook Park. The first big surprise came early when I spotted this majestic red-tailed hawk right on the lawn across the parkway from the soccer fields.Continue reading “Two surprises and even a minor miracle”

The dark skies over Estabrook Park continue today, but at least they didn’t leak on me this morning. The first bird I was able to get a picture of, by the soccer fields, is a Swainson’s thrush, very similar to the gray-cheeked thrush from yesterday, but with “a distinct buffy eyering,” and flying to aContinue reading “More September Surprises!”