A Magical Day

Finally! I got to go out photographing! Last weekend was a very rainy weekend and the last couple of days were very cloudy. Watching the weather last night, it looked like a good day to get out with the camera. So got my butt up at 5am, took care of Hazel and the kitties and then headed down to my favorite place.

I was barely out of the car and I saw movement in the trees. Sweet! Bush tits! They are very tiny! About half the size of a sparrow and very fast too! Got lucky with this pic.......

I stopped to check on the great blue herons but all was quiet. I did meet a fellow New Yorker/photographer with his Yankee cap on, so it was a good omen for the day. I decided to do a lap and then come back to check on the GBH.

Yes! Baby ducks and geese are all over the place! These ducklings are pretty big already!

The avocets are nesting on the island right now. One of the males was taking a break and looking for breakfast.......

And the spotted sandpipers are back!

I quickly spotted another mallard mom with about 10 youngins!

And the yellow rumped warblers were all over the place!

There is nothing cuter than goslings......

I was walking through some grasses and almost stepped on this guy! It was still chilly, around 45' so he was waiting for it to warm up......

Some gadwalls flew in and the guys seemed to be fighting over who gets the gal!

This guy won!

The happy couple!

This guy was the loser but he seemed to be taking it well....

Grackles are all over the place but I really liked where he was perched. And he was posing so how could I say no......

More baby mallards! I counted 14!!!!!

I finally made it to the back pond and spotted mrs wood duck! I did not see mr. wood duck but hoped he'd show up.

In the mean time a GBH was at the back pond too. Finally! I scored a pic of one eating a fish!

I saw the male wood duck had shown up in the pond but as I was looking for a good spot to get pics, I saw something perched on a nearby pole. I figured it was a red tailed hawk but it is always good idea to check it out. And surprise! It was a swainson's hawk! Sweet! I have been coming here for at least 4 years and I have never seen these guys here.....

Then I looked down and there was another swainson's hawk! They come in a light morph and a dark morph. This is the light morph( below) and I am guessing is the male as he is smaller than the other swainson's perched nearby......

While I was watching the hawks, a few people came by walking their dogs. I played tour guide and explained who the hawks were. I also got to meet a cute border collie which is always a treat!

I pulled myself away from the hawks to go back to check on the wood ducks. But again some movement caught my eye and it was a couple of red breasted nuthatches! They were faster than the bush tits but patience paid off and they gave me a few decent pics!

Yes they eat insects and he scored a big one! Yum!

So I finally got back to the wood ducks and there was the happy couple. I must have circled the pond a 100 times as I tried to get some pics of them......

While I was watching the ducks I saw one of the hawks fly into their nest! Ha! I will be watching for the youngsters later this summer......

Back to the wood ducks.....I probably took over 100 pics of them, so here are the best ones!

I decided I had enough pics of the wood ducks, so I continued on. This pine tree totally caught my eye. Wow! I have never noticed this before........

 I was three quarters of the way around the main pond when a big bird flew towards me. The sun was in my eyes so it was hard to see who it was. At first I thought it was an osprey but it turned out to be a GBH. Still cool but not as cool as an osprey! Of course I tried to grab a pic but the light was too harsh.

I finally made it back to the bridge and gazebo area. The barn swallows were zipping around. No way I could get a flight pic as they are so fast, so settled for this one......

There were at least 5-6 photographers with their huge lenses perched on tripods, taking up most of the gazebo. So I grabbed a quick pic of nest # 1 and moved on. Yes that is a youngster( on the right) and there's another one lower in the nest. I thought it was a bit rude to clog up the gazebo but then I noticed that nest #3 had youngsters and that there was a better spot to get pics. So I headed over there.....

Along the way I had to stop and get baby duck pics........

I was almost to the spot for good pics of nest #3 when an osprey flew over me! Sweet! Remember when I thought the GBH was an osprey? Maybe my intuition knew an osprey was coming! Either way I was very excited! Watching them grab a fish is amazing and get pics of it is fantastic!

I could see he/she was actively looking for some breakfast. I positioned myself in the best place I could and hoped for the best!
The osprey spotted a fish and dove feet first into the pond. It was a bit far for my lens but I managed to grab this pic........

He/she grabbed the fish and did a big circle. And then flew right by me! Luckily my new camera can take up to 22 photos in a single burst! It surely helped me get these pics!

I was standing on the smaller deck just north of the GBH nesting area when I got these pics. There was also a gal painting the landscape. She totally missed the show! Didn't she wonder why my camera was going off like a machine gun? Apparently not as she never looked up and never asked what I was taking pics of.........
Even better is all the guys on the gazebo missed the show too! So now I was glad they clogged it up as I would have missed the osprey show! Thanks guys!

I finally took a look at the #3 nest and there were 4 youngsters! OMG! That's a lot of work!

Also nearby was a goose on her nest. She stood up to stretch and I could see the eggs....

The tree swallows were mating.....

And the turtles were sunning.....

I was starting to head back to the car when this old guy with his camera came up to say hi. 

I had my Yankee cap on which prompted him to ask if I was from NY. I answered yes and we had a nice chat. As were chatting a sand piper appeared. I learned a long time ago to grab the pic and not worry about being polite. I did point out the sand piper to him as I got this pic and he said " is that an avocet?" Somehow I managed to smile and say "nope, that's a sand piper." We wished each other a good day and as I walked away, I could only shake my head in amazement! Avocets do not look anything like sand pipers.......

I was a tired gal having been out here for over 4 hours! So it was time to head home. I was just putting my stuff in the car when I heard a bird singing. Hmmmmmm that sounded familiar. There was a say's phoebe singing his heart out! So I grabbed my camera and got close enough to grab these pics.

So now you can see why it was a magical day! Time stood still as I had so much fun taking photos of some very cool birds! It's now 6pm as I finish this blog. Whew! I am a tired and happy gal! Thanks for reading!