Yes, it is the year of the wood duck!

I had an appointment in Lakewood yesterday afternoon. Since that is where my favorite place to photograph is, I packed up the camera and did some photo taking.
I had heard the avocets were back. I had seen a mated pair last summer and was excited to hear they were back. I'm looking forward to seeing their cute babies later this summer.

I am always surprised at how many turtles live here. I probably saw at least 20 and I'm sure there were many more I did not see. It was a beautiful sunny day, so they were out catching the rays of warm sunshine.

Of course I was hoping to see my wood duck friends and they did not disappoint. At first I just saw the female. She kept calling for her mate and finally he showed up. I never get tired of seeing the amazing colors on this beautiful bird. I did some reading on them today. They actually have nails on their webbed feet to perch in trees. They prefer to nest near a body of water but will nest up to a mile from water. The day after they babies are born, they hop out of the nest and head to the water. I'd love to see that sight!

I finally pulled myself away from the wood ducks and headed over to another pond.

I saw a pair of ducks swimming and realized there was another pair of wood ducks in the "hood". Fantastic! I watched them for a few minutes but they weren't in a good place to get pics. so I just enjoyed their beauty before moving on.

There are many nesting boxes around the ponds. As I walked by one, I saw wood chips being thrown out of the opening. Hmmmmmm what was dong that? She/he soon made an appearance and it was a northern flicker. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the flicker do some house keeping.

I was heading back to the car to get to my appointment when I almost stepped on a cute garter snake. He allowed some pics before heading off into the tall grasses....

thanks for reading......