Category Archives: Uncategorized

On this beautiful day in April, we’ve got something for everyone. Like pictures of cute little birds, especially ones we haven’t seen before? Here you go! Check out this little winter wren (Troglodytes hiemalis), cousin to the house wren we saw by the pond last summer, on its way to its breeding grounds just upstate.Continue reading “The parade won’t stop, can’t stop…”

Wow! It sure felt like summer out this morning, and the critters in the park didn’t seem to mind, but sometimes I find them inscrutable, so who knows? Anyway, the belted kingfishers are out in force now, and this guy got super excited when he spotted another kingfisher. I don’t know if this display meansContinue reading “Are we skipping spring this year?”

Last year, on Easter Sunday, I clearly remember searching high and low in vain for a rabbit picture, just cuz, and this year, almost the first thing I saw as I entered the park is this little cutie, working hard to help to keep the lawn look neat and trim at the Benjamin Church House.Continue reading “Spring sightings door-buster sale at Estabrook!”

One was the best of sites. One was the worst of sites. That’s as far as the wordplay goes. Here’s a male red-bellied woodpecker showing off his fine nesting site in hopes of attracting a mate. He made it look very easy-in, easy-out, and note how the hole faces downward so that it is shelteredContinue reading “A tail of two nesting sites”

Yikes, it was cold out this morning. I wish I had worn my good winter mittens. The soil was quite crunchy with needle ice in places, and this goose, who appears to have spent the night snoozing on the mudflats by the river, had a nice heavy coating of frost on its back and wingContinue reading “A morning that’ll frost your goose…”

What an absolutely magical afternoon in the park. Holy mackerel! Off the bluff, beside the river, the cool breeze from the lake was gone, the sun was warm and bright, the sky was deep blue, and the birds were everywhere! I encountered several groups of golden-crowned kinglets (Regulus satrapa), incessantly hopping from branch to branchContinue reading “April starts off with a bang! Wow!”

After that warm spell we’ve just had, two more park denizens have emerged from their winter hibernation, these daffodils by the Church House and these glories-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbesii) in front of the maintenance building. Yay! There is not much to report from the pond. There is only one goose clearly incubating, and the rest areContinue reading “Adios, March!”

It was an odd morning in Estabrook. The temperature was mild enough, but the wind was still quite gusty. The sun was mostly out, but the sky wasn’t very blue. I heard and glimpsed a kingfisher again, but didn’t manage to capture an image yet. I did finally manage to find wood ducks up inContinue reading “March heads for the door, as blustery as ever.”

Our latest arrival in the park this morning is this little chipmunk beside the Oak Leaf Trail. I read that they hibernate for the winter and are now re-emerging. I’ve spotted them a few times over the past week or two throughout the park, but this was the first one to sit still a bitContinue reading “The chipmunks return…”

I only managed to document one new arrival today, and it’s this little brown creeper (Certhia americana) whom I found methodically creeping up tree trunks beside the river. I also spotted, but failed to capture, a group of three cranes, probably sand hill, flying high and drifting south fast in the high winds, and whatContinue reading “Spring keeps on creeping in…”