Another sure sign of spring…

We had a nearly perfect March morning in Estabrook Park today. The sky was clear, the air was still, and it froze overnight but temps were quickly on their way to the 40s, which I hear is good for making the sap flow. Anyway, sorry about missing yesterday. I had a string of non-park activitiesContinue reading “Another sure sign of spring…”

A fond look back to a slightly warmer day…

It has warmed up a bit by now, the clouds have thinned, and the wind has abated, but it was pretty cloudy, cold, and windy at sunrise in Estabrook Park this morning. We even had a few nice lake effect snow showers. I did have one intrepid wildlife walker join me, but his excuse wasContinue reading “A fond look back to a slightly warmer day…”

Don’t forget to insert title here…

Our current deep freeze remains quite persistent, and the weather this morning in Estabrook Park was nearly the same as yesterday. Things were pretty quiet along the river, and on my way upstream I saw a couple of goldeneyes, a few common mergansers, and a few mallards, but no pictures I felt compelled to take.Continue reading “Don’t forget to insert title here…”

Plenty of woodpeckers in Estabrook…

After taking a couple of days off, winter came roaring back with a vengeance overnight, and temps were back into the low teens by morning. On top of that, the wind was forecast to be 24 mph at sunrise, so the windchill was below zero. Yikes! At least the sun was out, so if IContinue reading “Plenty of woodpeckers in Estabrook…”

Winter’s not quite done with us yet…

The stiff wind out of the west this morning in Estabrook Park made it feel colder than I expected, even after I checked the weather, but the mud on the river path was hard as a rock, and the sky was indeed a nice, bright blue, so it was a good morning for taking pictures.Continue reading “Winter’s not quite done with us yet…”

Plenty of woodpeckers and sparrows…

The crazy wind from last evening had died down by this morning, and the sun was out for a bit, but the cold was back, so the park was almost as empty of people as yesterday. The red-tailed hawk, however, did not put on a repeat performance. Instead, the cold seemed to slow down theContinue reading “Plenty of woodpeckers and sparrows…”

Some signs of spring already…

It was cloudy as heck this morning in Estabrook Park, so there ain’t no way our groundhog saw its shadow, and folklore has it that we should expect spring to arrive early this year. Perhaps in preparation for that possibility, look who I saw excavating a nesting cavity already this morning. This little cutie, aContinue reading “Some signs of spring already…”

A fine day to return to Estabrook Park.

After a long but uneventful day of travel, Anne and I got home yesterday afternoon and began our adjustment to Central Standard Time. After a week in the relatively balmy Balkans, the latest cold snap in Estabrook Park and the stiff breeze that came with it took a bit of getting used to as wellContinue reading “A fine day to return to Estabrook Park.”

They sure seem to take it in stride…

It was about as cold this morning in Estabrook Park as it was yesterday, but the sun struggled to shine through a varying layer of clouds, so there wasn’t much basking going on amongst the critters. For most of them, however, the sun seems to be just a pleasant supplement, and their primary source ofContinue reading “They sure seem to take it in stride…”

Winter resumes…

Temps were in the low 20s this morning in Estabrook Park, and a good breeze out of the west made them feel like the low teens. Better yet, the few clouds soon drifted away, and we had nice clear, blue skies for the first time since last year. The river was rapidly refreezing, and theContinue reading “Winter resumes…”