Monthly Archives: February 2024

Today we visited Utah’s Snow Canyon State Park, which features both petrified sand dunes and lava flows, and the views were spectacular. As soon as we arrived, I spotted a sextet of Gambel’s quail, and here’s the hen that was too slow to avoid my camera. The canyon wrens from Zion were replaced by rockContinue reading “Snow Canyon State Park”

After a couple of days at the Grand Canyon, Anne and I drove up to Utah to visit Zion National Park today. The weather was absolutely gorgeous with blue skies, still air, and temps in the low 60s, so we did our best to take full advantage of it. We had a nice hike atContinue reading “Zion National Park”

With all the obligatory pictures of the canyon out of the way yesterday, I could focus on the wildlife this morning, and this is what I have to show for it. Here’s the best I could do, so far, for a mountain chickadee, a brand new bird for me. Even more elusive than the chickadee,Continue reading “Grand Canyon, Day 2 …”

Anne and I arrived safe and sound at the Grand Canyon this morning, and Arizona’s big erosion problem is truly a sight to behold, but the critters we encountered along the south rim were just plane amazing. The western bluebirds were thick, and this one was the pick of the litter. This red-breasted nuthatch wasContinue reading “Grand Canyon, Day 1 …”

Anne and I are on the road again, and I won’t get to take any pictures today, so here’s one more glimpse of the winter wren from a couple of days ago.

We got some snow overnight in Estabrook Park but not a lot, only an inch or so, and it’s above freezing out, so I don’t think it will stick around for long. With a pretty thick cloud cover, the day took its time getting light, so I was out later than usual. Luckily, the snowContinue reading “Winter gives it one more try…”

Our recent interlude of mild winter weather continues in Estabrook today, and it was a beautiful morning for a walk in the park. Our American coot is still with us, and here it is in the exact same spot as the last two mornings. Man, it must really like it there. A red-breasted merganser drakeContinue reading “Sometimes things line up just right…”

It was a greyish morning in Estabrook Park, with bright spots in the cloud cover, and a bit warmer than the previous two days, but still cool enough to firm up the mud in the river path. As I hiked north along the river, I was thrilled to find our American coot again, in theContinue reading “A shy one finally relents…”

What an absolutely fabulous morning it was in Estabrook Park. The air was cool, crisp, and still, the skies were crystal clear, and the river path mud was frozen solid. There was even enough light for me to head out before 7am for the first time this year. My first reward for starting so earlyContinue reading “It’s starting to sound like spring…”

It appears that winter is not quite done with us yet, and actual air temperatures were in the low 20s this morning. The sky was cloudy, but not too dark, and the air was nice and still, so it was a pretty nice day to visit Estabrook Park. The first big surprise was spotting thisContinue reading “Cold finally returns…”