A Beautiful Fall Day

I spent the past week getting back into my normal routine after my trip to New York. So after getting unpacked, doing laundry and working, it was time to go photographing!

I had to go down to my favorite place as it had been almost a month since I was there. Just as I stepped out of the car, I spotted one of the cooper's hawks perched on top of one of the buildings at the historical village. So I grabbed my camera and headed over there. I walked around looking for any of them but had no luck. Oh well, I decided to head over to the main pond and come back later to look for them. 

No sooner did I start towards the pond and one of the cooper's flew in and landed on the fence! Sweet! Seems he got my message......

After enjoying the hawk, I headed for the pond. I was looking forward to seeing all my duck friends that winter in this area.

Right away I spotted quite a few lesser scaup. This is a male.....

And here is a female......

I continued on and spotted some gadwalls and widgeons.

This is a female gadwall.......

Here's a gadwall couple.....

Another female gadwall.....

And here's a male widgeon.....

As I was watching the gadwalls and widgeons, a cooper's hawk flew in! There were three youngsters in this year's batch. So I'm guessing this not the one I saw first thing but one of the siblings......

I continued on to the back pond and there were two pairs of hooded mergansers! I love seeing these guys!

I did take a quick look for the swainson's hawks but I was pretty sure they had left for the winter. So I continued on and found a black crown night heron looking for breakfast....

While I was enjoying the BCNH, my friend Neil walked by. He's the older gentleman that is a very good and knowledgable birder! He lives close by and walks around the area most everyday. We had a nice chat. He agreed that the swainson's were gone for the winter and then he told me about the leucistic shoveler. That means they lack the normal pigment of their species. He pointed me in the right direction and I quickly found him......

Here's what a normal shoveler looks like.....

Here's another pair of hooded mergansers....

Here is a female gadwall saying hi to them....

And here's one of the gadwalls showing off for the ladies......

Gadwall couple......

And a shoveler preening.....

 And here a front view of a gadwall. Love how it looks like he has chunky cheeks!

I was about done with the loop when this cute female downy woodpecker posed so nicely.....

And mr. mallard swam by.....

And the kingfisher was perched near the old GBH nests......

And finally I was almost back to the parking lot when I spotted this junco perched high and enjoying the day!

What a fun morning it was! I headed home to get Hazel dog out for a hike/swim and to continue enjoying the beautiful day!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week Barb!