Monthly Archives: April 2024

While Anne and I were off to Illinois to see the total eclipse of the sun, spring really kept springing along in Estabrook Park, and there were a few new faces to see this morning. First, the ruby-crowned kinglets have returned, and there are also yellow-rumped warblers, but they were less bold this morning. ButterfliesContinue reading “A nice step forward…”

Anne and I made it to the Rotary Park in Sparta, Illinois without any trouble, and we got to enjoy a full three minutes of totality. It was amazing, but I didn’t bother with pictures, and we just enjoyed it. Before the big show, however, we also got to watch this Osprey fishing over theContinue reading “A great opening act to the big show”

Anne and I drove down into Illinois yesterday afternoon in hopes of finding a good location for viewing the eclipse later this afternoon. This morning, I got to go look for birds with my uncle, and we found a few, but I don’t have a lot of time this morning, so here are just aContinue reading “Greetings from sunny Illinois!”

This morning started out very nice in Estabrook Park, but then the clouds soon rolled in, and we’re now enjoying yet another grey day in April. Oh well. The mergansers and now all the grebes have moved on, but as happy coincidence would have it, I captured my first great blue heron image of theContinue reading “One more happy return.”

What a gorgeous morning we had in Estabrook Park today. With nothing to block the sun, I was able to start my visit at 6:30, which let me beat some of the rush. Plenty of birds were singing, but the first critter to pose for a picture was this red squirrel, busily munching on aContinue reading “April finally gets its act together…”

The huge storm system, which brought us snow two mornings in a row, has finally moved on, and I can’t see a cloud in the sky right now, but it was still pretty cloudy when I visited Estabrook Park earlier this morning. Happily, there was still enough light to capture this image of our firstContinue reading “April finally relaxes…”

The April snow persists, and this morning’s weather was almost a repeat of yesterday’s. Happily, the critters in Estabrook Park changed things up for us, so here’s who I saw today. The red-breasted merganser was on the pond again, along with the two Canada geese and about a dozen mallards, but the new sight todayContinue reading “Once again, with feeling…”

Well, the snow sorta did eventually arrive here in Estabrook Park, but temps never got below freezing, so the little bit that did stick to the grass and branches is almost already melted. The big surprise for me this morning, however, was how high the river water has become. I estimate that it is 2-3Continue reading “April snow showers bring …”

It appears that the weather’s April Fools’ prank will be arriving a day late this year, if we do get any of the snow forecast for today. In any case, it’s dark and precipitating now, which is expected to continue all day long, so this is my big chance to get some more Africa picturesContinue reading “One last look at Nkotakhota…”

The weather hasn’t pranked me yet today, and it was a nice sunny morning in Estabrook Park. That let me get out nice and early, so I was able to spot this muskrat at the edge of the river, which we’ve seen plenty of times before. But this is the first time I’ve managed toContinue reading “No April Foolin’”