Category Archives: Uncategorized

What a morning! It rained, it poured, the wind blew, we even got a tiny, but oh so necessary, dose of graupel, and then the sun came out. PS: that title rhymes if you don’t know how to pronounce graupel. Anyway, when I arrived at the pond, the skies looked threatening, the air was foggy,Continue reading “It just ain’t April without Graupel”

The high-pressure system we’ve been enjoying is starting to lose its grip, and we’re due for rain later, but it was still pretty nice in Estabrook Park this morning. All eight goslings are still at the pond, but I left them alone today, and here’s another picture from Sunday. There were a couple surprises onContinue reading “Not the surprises I expected to find…”

As happens from time to time, our streak of beautiful weather continued this morning, with even less of a breeze, and I got out nice and early to enjoy it. Oddly enough, however, the critters in Estabrook Park were much quieter than yesterday. I suspect some have already moved north. I was thrilled to seeContinue reading “Happy Tax Day!”

Yes, we have goslings! I counted eight. Here’s proud Papa right after chasing away some poor little dog whose owner obliviously walked it waaaay too close. In other news, check out this hefty kitty… Here’s an uncommon sight for Estabrook, a rusty blackbird just passing through. This majestic beauty, a turkey vulture, must have smelledContinue reading “Maiden Voyage!”

For a change of pace today, I joined the Pike Lake/ Hartford Area Field Trip organized by the Noel J. Cutright Bird Club and lead by Carl Schwartz. It was a picture-perfect day, and we stopped at several watering holes along the way. The one on Oil Spring Rd. was a jackpot of ducks andContinue reading “Pike Lake and surroundings.”

I didn’t have high hopes for my visit to Estabrook Park this morning. It was cloudy and breezy at sunrise, and neither condition usually makes for great pictures. The critters in the park, however, had other plans. It all started with this white-tailed deer that I only spotted because I was tiptoeing off trail toContinue reading “About as good as it gets…”

The warm sun and blue skies were gone, but the temps were still mild, the clouds had no leaks, and the air was nearly still, so it was a fine morning for visiting Estabrook Park. My first treat for the day was getting this yellow-rumped warbler, our first warbler of the season, to hold stillContinue reading “Every dog does have its day, it seems…”

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!”