Sandhill Cranes

It was the most amazing event, stretching out for roughly two weeks, when my attention was drawn by large numbers of birds flying overhead.  Their vocalizations were deep, and carrying, somewhat reminiscent of Ravens but somehow much deeper as they flew above me.   However these birds were much slimmer and bigger, their wings spanning to at least six feet.   At first I only managed to get pictures of them very far off in the distance, but because weather conditions were windy and cloudy, and I only had my small camera, the pictures were unclear.

Sandhill Cranes in V formation

Horned Grebe

Oh happy day!!!

I visited a place I had never been before today and not only did I see two species of hawks hunting the area, I also got many pictures of small birds which are totally unfamiliar to me, and baby geese.  The highlight of my day however, was the sight two Horned Grebe, aka Slovenian Grebe. They have been granted  other names over time, among them devil diver.  They are remarkably beautiful,  especially when displaying their breeding plumage.

Horned Grebe pair

When you first see them from a distance, the Horned Grebe seems  to stick out only  due to its  brownish color and because they tend to disappear  beneath the water.   However, a closer view of this bird  shows just  how striking its features are.  I was lucky enough that both birds were relatively close to me when I first arrived on the scene, and that neither seems to be shy of humans, as they were not bothered in the least by either my presence or the sound of my camera.  In fact they continued to come closer as I stood there taking these pictures.

Golden Eye Duck

Male Golen Eyed Duck in flight

The Golden Eye duck is a tiny diver that is much smaller than the Mallard duck and has very distinctive black and white coloring.  As usual there is more than one species of this beautiful little duck and they are not easily identified, although it is easier to distinguish a Buffelhead from a Common, or Barrow's Golden Eye.

Golden Eyed Ducks

Lesser Scaup

My apologies for being tardy in my posting of late, but I have been busy almost every day with birdwatching, taking my opportunities in bits and pieces as it were, eager to spot something new as usual.  Lately I haven't seen anything that I haven't seen in the past several years.  Also, unfortunately, opportunities to go to new locations in search of birds,  have not yet presented themselves to me. However, my pictures are turning out to be better,  so I have decided to share pictures of the Lesser Scaup that I have recently taken.

Lesser Scaup Female

It is difficult at best to distinguish between the Lesser and Greater Scaup; a diving duck, but because of the curve in the neck of this duck, it's amber eyes, and due to the fact that they are frequenting this fresh water pond, I have concluded that this particular duck is the Lesser  Scaup, as the Greater Scaup apparently prefers salt water.

Celebrating Earth Day

Mallard on ice

In honor of Earth Day, which in my opinion should be every day, I decided to put together this post to remind myself what is important. To do that I needed to ask myself what I would do if I did not have contact with the natural world, if there were no birds left in the sky or wildlife was so scarce that I would be unable to find  it to photograph, or if  I were unable to find places where I could walk in the shelter of trees listening to birdsong, to sit beside a stream or pond listening to insects drone, close my eyes and soak up the peace which only nature can provide for me.  I realized very quickly that being unable to do so would simply be devastating to me.

Crow

American Coot feeding young

Red Tailed Hawk

Today was the best!!!

I went out early, as usual, on bird watch headed to my favorite place near the golf course.  When I got there nothing much was flying except  the ever present sea gulls, so I went a little further than I normally do.  The first thing that happened was that I startled some Grouse into flight in a place that I didn't expect to see any, never having come across them in the city.  They startled me almost as much with their sudden noisy flight, so of course no pictures, but I kept going hoping to flush out some more of these birds so that I could get some pictures.  I came across some tracks that I believe belong to Elk next and kept going listening for any unusual sounds.  Nothing much was to be seen for quite a while, and then I spotted a large bird at the top a tree  in a stand of woods straight ahead of me.

The Grouse were immediately forgotten, in favor of getting closer to this bird.   I have visited this particular location earlier this spring and noted a large nest there in one of the trees.  This bird was in close proximity to that nest.

Red Tailed Hawk landing on nest

Naturally I started taking pictures right away, because you never know what you might have in your sights.  Pretty soon I heard the bird cry out nervously and knew immediately that it belonged to the raptor family, but since the sun was behind the bird, I still had no idea which kind it was and then it took off.  It flew behind and below the tree tops and for a minute there I thought I'd lost sight of it altogether, but then I heard it again and looked up only to see two birds, a male and female.  One of them had flown to perch on the nest I mentioned and a few minutes later one was flying around me in agitation, and in so doing, revealing itself to be a beautiful Red Tailed Hawk.

Red Tailed Hawk

Red Tail coming around

Swans in flight

I just love it when I spot birds (or wildlife) that I don't usually see or have never taken notice of.  So it was a wonder to me when I went out early only to witness the flight of migrating Swans and another type of large bird flying in formation that I have yet to identify.  The latter were too dark all over in coloring to be a Canada Goose, as well as too distant to identify correctly. All I was able to note was long sweeping wings and long necks, as well as an all black silhouette.   I am hoping to see them again, if not this year perhaps in the next.

We all see large birds flying in formation overhead often during migratory season in the spring and fall, but how do you tell the different species of birds apart when they are so high in the sky that you only see their silhouette?

Swan in flight