The Goldeneyes are back!

      

       I spent all day Saturday photographing dog with Santa to raise money for Izzy's Place. You would think I'd need a break from my camera but it only whetted my appetite for more.
 So I headed down to my favorite spot to see who was there.

   I came upon a couple of shovelers having a nap. Gotta love those reflections.

     I continued on to the small pond and who did I see but the goldeneyes! Yeah! I had read on some birding websites that goldeneyes had been seen in the area. And finally they had arrived at my favorite spot!


                Here's a cute couple......

      This is the female goldeneye

      Here's the male goldeneye showing off..

      And here's another one showing off...

      She's not impressed....

   And here's another cute couple...

  

          I finally pulled myself away from the goldeneyes and saw this cute couple of 
         hooded mergansers........

   
    I decided to go see if the mandarin duck was around, so I headed over to Prospect park.
    Yup! There he was hanging out with the mallards....

   
   After enjoying his beauty for a bit I decided to walk over to the other ponds to see who wanted their picture taken.....

   A kingfisher gave me some sweet shots! I couldn't believe I got a couple of flight shots. When this guy takes off, it is fast. I missed my chance the first time he took off. But luckily he gave me a second chance and I got it!

   
     I continued on to find a female green winged teal. I saw the male but he flew off before I could get a pic.

       Then I saw a pied-billed grebe. They usually head south for the winter, so it was lucky 
       to see him.

     And then to round out the day, I saw a western grebe too. He was pretty far out but got a 
    halfway decent pic that was blog worthy.

     Finally it was time to head home. I was going to rake leaves but the wind picked up. So it was too windy to rake...ha! Guess I'll go watch the Bronco game and take a nap.