Today was the first Winter Walk with Paul, and it was pretty awesome! I mean, it could have been more awesome if we had found the owl. But with two kinds of hawks and all the rest that we saw, that's being just a bit picky, even for me. :-)
On the way to the walk I checked for the great blue heron, who I did not see. Hopefully it's at the pond feasting there, since those tourists broke up the ice for it. I did however see two hawks flying together towards the south end of the lake, and later this one hunting near the ladies pavilion.
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
Also nearby were some white-throated sparrows and cardinals foraging on the ground. I love how these two look like they are hanging out in the office, chatting about who did what over the weekend.
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| Northern Cardinal, White-throated Sparrow |
Then it was about time to join the group, and right away we saw this downy woodpecker. They are so cute!
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| Downy Woodpecker |
Another hawk, we saw it perched for a few minutes and then it soared nearby. Hope it finds some lunch soon! We did see one fairly spectacular dive, but it was aborted before it reached its intended target.
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
Continuing with a series of great woodpecker sightings, we saw this red-bellied woodpecker. We saw quite a few of these throughout the walk, especially towards the end.
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| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
Song sparrow! Someone in the group spotted it and shouted it out, and I think everyone got to see this little guy.
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| Song Sparrow |
House finch! This guy was just singing away, staying still in the branches. Took a few minutes to find him!
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| House Finch |
This is probably the female oriole that's been hanging out in the park, but we didn't get close enough to be at all certain. Definitely and orange-ish tinge, definitely the right size, definitely something an oriole would do. So, we might have seen her!
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| Mystery Bird |
Chickadee! .........there is really not much more to say.
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| Black-capped Chickadee |
What? Another woodpecker? Yes, among the downies and red-bellies there was this yellow-bellied sapsucker. See the yellow belly? It's there! Yes it is. Yes, that's yellow. Okay, maybe not really a bright clear yellow, but yellow-ish. Right?
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| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
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| Cooper's Hawk |
On to the reservoir in search of fancy ducks. On the way we looked for the owl. I looked and looked and all I could see was pine cones, none of them extra-large. Aaauuuughghghghgh........ Oh well, hopefully I'll see the owl again another day. Today, it was fancy ducks. And boy did we find them! This pied-billed grebe was just close enough to make me hope I could get a good picture, and just far enough away to prevent a good picture. Well played, grebe.
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| Pied-Billed Grebe |
This hooded merganser was nice and close, and possibly having a Bad Feather Day. Hahahaha, mergansers are crazy!
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| Hooded Merganser |
His lady friend looks nothing but elegant.
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| Hooded Merganser |
Someone in the group noticed that this female merganser was bigger, and once he pointed it out to me I noticed that its face looked different too, so we called Paul over for a look. Well it looks different because it's a different kind! My first red-breasted merganser. Yay!
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
Further up the mud path that the reservoir jogging trail has become, we saw a nice group of wood ducks. Five males (one is grumpy because his molting did not go as planned) and one female. I suspect this scene is played out often: "Get away from my woman!"
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| Wood Ducks |
That was about it for the group. After breaking away and heading back home, I found this hawk hunting near the falconer statue. It's probably one I already saw today, but of course I followed it anyway, and snapped away until I ran out of pictures. A great way to end! :-)
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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