I got up Wednesday morning and decided to go photographing before I tackled office
work. Got the kitties fed, made coffee and I was in the car ready for some adventure.
It was a beautiful morning with cool temps and bright blue skies. I decided to go to my favorite spot to see who had arrived. This is a fun time of year as some birds have headed south and others are just arriving from the north.
These are ring billed gulls. They are always around but today they enticed me to photgraph them. They were circling around looking for breakfast.
I scanned the largest lake and saw the buffleheads had started to return. These are pretty small guys. About the size of a crow. They are diving birds which means they completely submerge to get their food. Very fun to watch. If you notice, when the light is just right you can see they have green cloring on their head.
Further along the trail I spotted some hooded mergansers. Yeah! they're starting to arrive. I just love these birds. Both the male and female can manipulate their head feathers into all kinds of hairdos. There were about 3-4 pairs today but I expect lots more in the next few weeks.
This ringbill gull was just enjoying the sunshine. You can clearly see the ring on his bill.
There were some juncos in the bushes. This one kindly posed for me.
The shovelers have been here a few weeks and more arrive every day.
The gadwalls are still arriving too.
I couldn't resist getting this butt shot of a female mallard. It's so cool to watch how they kick their feet to keep their head down in the water.
This is a lesser scaup. They too are still arriving.
It was a very fun day! There are plenty more birds to arrive for the winter so stay tuned!
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