So sure, I could have stayed home and cleaned the house but there were more important things to do. The house cleaning could wait........
I was out the door by 6:10am and drove down to my favorite spot in Lakewood. The first thing I saw was a mallard and her 10 babies.......yes 10! so incredibly cute!
I pulled myself away from those very cute baby ducks and saw a pair of tree swallows. The male was flying around and the female was poking her out of the nest.
She let me get some great pics! Here is one of them!
I continued around the lake and found my canada goose family from last week. The babies are getting big and even cuter!
Besides the parents, there were about 8 other adult geese. I was only 6-8 feet away from the babies and no one got upset. They seemed to understand my intentions, so they were very calm as I photographed the chicks.
Finally, I pulled myself away and decided to drive up to Prospect park. It's on the way home and a fun place to photograph. I soon came across another canada goose family....
I also saw a pair of cinnamon teals and blue winged teals but they were too far out in the lake to get pics of. Oh well......I love a challenge, so I'll keep trying.
When I was here a few weeks ago, I saw a sharp shinned hawk building her nest. Somehow I was able to locate it among all the leaves. Look closely and you'll see her. Looking forward to baby sharpies!
Since I was already out, I decided to go see my owl friends. There were 2 other photographers there and then my friend Georgia arrived. The babies were cute as usual....
Cher was sitting on the other side of the trail facing the nest. Her eyes were closed but I knew she was watching over her owlets. Suddenly a crow flew up and landed near the nest! Now crows and owls do not like each other. The crows like to gang up on the owls any chance they get. Sonny and Cher can take care of themselves but the babies are very vulnerable to being killed by the crows. So when the crow appeared, I knew Cher was gonna react at some point. I had been photographing the owlets but moved down the path to photograph Cher if she decided to fly back to the nest area. I was watching Cher, so I had my back to the nest and the crow. I asked Georgia if the crow was still there and she said yes. I shared that Cher had her eyes open and was watching that crow closely!
Ha! Next thing I knew she flew straight towards that crow and almost hit him!
That was the coolest thing I ever saw! I thought I got some good flight shots, so I was scrolling through the camera to see what I got......the one photographer- Bodo said " wow! Did you get some good shots?" The other photographer said " why didn't you tell me she was gonna fly?" I just smiled and said it was obvious she was gonna protect her young against the crow. Apparently he does not pay attention to his surroundings as it was obvious what was gonna happen. And I believe I had said loudly to Georgia, Cher has her eyes open and is staring at the crow. He was standing right next to Georgia, so he should have heard what I said....
Here are a few pics of Cher after she kicked the crow's butt! She decided to stay close to the nest in case the crows decided to come back.....she looks pretty tough to me, so i/ think those babies are well protected!
Finally it was time to head home, so one of the owlets gave this final pic of the day!
Thanks for reading!
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