Friday, July 30, 2010

Gorgeous summer day in the park! :-)

Today I was free in the afternoon and it was absolutely beautiful.  I left a meeting and took the subway to the pond, where almost immediately I saw a gorgeous black crowned night heron.  I went around towards the waterfall a bit but didn't see any others, and decided not to go all the way because I needed to head up to meet Brooke.  On the way back, the heron had a fish!  Oh, he speared it all right.  It's a huge catch, I have no idea how he's going to eat it.  Maybe this heron can tear it up, maybe it doesn't always swallow everything whole.

Anyway, I kept going towards the bridge, hoping to see the wood duck, who I did not find.  I did see the other black crowned night heron though!  :-)

Went up to the lake, meeting Brooke along the way.  At the bridge by the upper lobe, we saw this turtle with a ridiculously long neck.  I was too slow to get a picture with its head, this one is nothing but neck.  Amazing!


We also saw this black crowned night heron.  I'm so glad there are so many of these guys in the park!

We made our way around to the oven, along the way a cardinal flew by, teasing us and then not posing.  At the oven we saw a blue joy who also declined pictures.  What's up with these birds?  Don't they want to be famous?

We gave up on the oven and went around to azalea pond, where we saw a mockingbird (Brooke nearly saw it through the binocs, but, not quite) and another cardinal (this one posed but the pics are crappy) and our favorite - this downy woodpecker!  he stayed around for a little while but was moving quite quickly, so he was a challenge.

On the way out we saw a mourning dove with its left wing not folded up properly, I think it must be hurt.  Rightie was fine, but leftie was dragging.  We also saw the heron on the way out, across the way on the rocks, looking like a rock with feet.  :-)

It was a beautiful day and a wonderful time to be in the park!

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