An Avocet Sunday!

What a fun weekend I had! Saturday I did a massage technique class( cervical spine work) and today I got to go out photographing! I was out the door by 5:30am.....ouch! But it's necessary this time of year if I want to take advantage of the beautiful morning light.

Of course I had to head down to my favorite spot in Lakewood to check out the avocets. Yes, I am obsessed with them! I hustled over to the avocet area. I spotted the two parents and then the youngster appeared. Wow! He had grown so much! The colors are already coming in!

Here is dad, so you can see the resemblance!

From the avocet area you can see the 3rd GBH nest quite well. They have been busy for sure as this week is less than a week old.

This is a favorite perch of the tree swallows, so I had to get this pic......

I continued around the lake and it was fairly quiet except for the red-winged black birds dive bombing me. They are quite territorial dudes!
I did see this double crested cormorant quietly sitting. They do not normally hang out in this spot. Mostly they stay in the trees on the island which makes it difficult to get good pics. So I was happy to see this guy.....

I headed over to see the cedar wax wings. Right on cue, they flew into a nearby tree for me to enjoy! I love it!

Next, I went over to the see the GBH nests. Just as I got there, the male for nest # 3 showed up. Maybe more baby GBH are on the way...

Here is the male for nest #2. How they can perch like that amazes me! I figured he'd be taking off soon and he did......

                                               

The GBH babies in nest #1 were snoozing while all the action was going on. I also spotted the other pair of avocets. They had their chicks back on the island, so all was well!


This pair of canada gesse swam by with their kids. There were two more kids dragging behind.....

Things seemed pretty quiet, so I decided to stop by Prospect park on the way home. I have not been there for a couple of months, so it was time!

I decided to walk west on the path to check out the 3 lakes. Here is a momma mallard and her kid snoozing.....

I got over to Bass lake and spotted this cute yellow warbler. There were quite a few singing away. This one kindly gave me a few nice pics.

I continued on and this cat bird posed for me!

Next I saw this kestrel......

another cat bird.....

and a house wren.....

I stuck out looking for a few more birds. I heard there were a couple of manadrin ducks around and a hooded merganser with babies. Guess I will have to go back to find them.
I also struck out looking for the great horned owls. I don't think they ever had any owlets this season, so they were not around either.

Still, it was a very fun morning! Thanks for reading and Happy Father's Day to all the dads!