My owl friends: Spring is Coming

I had a great week of photographing! So here's what happened. On Thursday I headed down to my favorite spot. Spring is coming so I was on the lookout the avocets,
black crown night herons and snowy egrets. They are not back yet but I still had fun.
The northern shovelers are still around. I just love the colors on them!

There were a couple of male hooded mergansers trying to get a female's attention.....

They bob their neck up and down and raise the feathers on their head. Very cool but the female ignored them.....

Here the shovelers are trying to get this female's attention. She was playing
"hard to get".....

Here is a happy couple relaxing in the sunshine....

Here are a cute pair of hooded mergansers..

Here is a lesser scaup. They are very common and fun to photograph!

It was time to move on, so I decided to head over to Prospect park. The mandarin duck was napping with his mallard friend. He wasn't in a good spot for a photo, so I said hi and continued on. I met an older couple also out photographing. They were very nice folks.
Some photographers barely say hi but these guys were quite chatty. I soon learned they had seen a great horned owl and were happy to share the location with me. I found the location but no GHO. So I filed the location in my memory banks for the next time I'm over there. I'm sure with a little patience, I will locate them.

So I didn't find the GHO but did see a beautiful red- tailed hawk. She was posed nicely for me as I grabbed these shots. As I was shooting and enjoying her beauty, a couple of gals walked by me. I don't think they even saw me. Here was the conversation " oh look! Is that a bird of prey? I think it's an immature falcon. I'm not sure. Oh, it's flying for us"!
It was hard not to bust out laughing but I stayed focused on the hawk.....

After enjoying the red-tail, I headed out to the other lakes. It was fairly quiet but did find these ducks.....I never get tired of seeing the green winged teals.

And this pied billed grebe had lots to say....

And finally this widgeon was posing, so had to get some pics...

While talking to the nice couple, they mentioned photographing at Rocky Mountain
Arsenal Wildlife Refuge in Denver. I had heard about that spot but hadn't ventured out there. So I decided Friday would be a good day to go out there. You can go to their website for more information but here's a brief description......This space is about 15,000 acres located just north east of Denver. You can easily see the Denver skyline. There is a herd of wild bison, lots of deer, coyotes and plenty of birds. There's a 9 mile driving tour with plenty of places to stop and hike on the trails. This land has seen it all. Native American lived here, then it was farm land and then it became an arsenal during WWII and stayed that way through the Vietnam war. Then a pair of bald eagles nested there and the rest is history.......

So with map in hand, I was off to explore......

Here's why you stay in the car...

There were two bison hanging out near the road. There's a herd of at least 30-40 bison but they were off in the distance napping. These guys must be the official greeters to the refuge.

After enjoying the bison, I continued on and saw a herd of mule deer right by the side of the road. They were quite relaxed as they know there is no hunting in the refuge.

I decided to stop at one trailhead to do some hiking. I had walked about 100 ft when I spotted this GHO. I'm pretty sure it's the male as the female should be on the nest. I'm guessing the nest should be close by, so it's on my radar to check back.