My owl friends: Owls and Orioles

I didn't have any commitments today, so I headed out to photograph again! I was up at 4:30am. Yup, 4:30am! Didn't even need an alarm, it just happened. It was already 60' as we're having a bit of heat wave. So the earlier I could get out, the better pics I may get.
I decided to head over to Barr Lake to see what was going on. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed!
The sun was just coming up as I got to Barr Lake........

I recently bought myself a parks pass that is good to all the state parks in Colorado. So it was nice to just drive in and not have to stop to pay the day fee. When I got to the parking lot, I saw I was the first one here. Guess the early bird does get the worm.
I decided to go check out a nesting box I had seen a few weeks ago. I wondered if someone was living in it. I was about 30 feet away when a barn owl flew out of the box! OMG! I love barn owls but they are pretty shy and do not show themselves like great horned owls. So this was mind blowing! As I watched the barn owl fly away, another barn owl flew out from the box! Now this is crazy!
I thought I had an idea of where they landed, so I scanned the trees and there they were!
They were pretty far away and tucked into the branches, so I was just happy to get a half way decent pic. I did a little reading about them. They have the most developed hearing of all owls. They can pinpoint prey with 100% accuracy in total darkness. And they can hear a mouse's footsteps on packed earth from 30 yards away. For that reason, they can be a good friend to farmers by keeping the rodent population under control. Luckily I bought that pass. I think I will be getting my money's worth checking on these guys and maybe making friends with them.

I pulled myself away and saw a small herd of deer nearby.......

As I continued down the trail, I spotted some movement in the bushes. Wow! He was very cute but I had no idea who he was. So when I got home, I posted the pic on a birding website
and had the answer within minutes. It is an orchard oriole! Very handsome guy for sure!

My swainson hawk friend was in his usual spot, so I had to grab a couple of pics.

As I was enjoying the hawk, a flash of orange streaked by. Holy moley! A bullock's oriole! My second sighting ever. He wasn't in the best place for pic but I was happy to see him.

I headed over to the boardwalk and found a house wren's nest. She was busy getting it ready. She was a fast mover but I managed to get a couple of ok shots.

I continued on and realized the bullock oriole flood gates had opened! They were everywhere and I was loving it! They have a beautiful song and the colors are so magnificent! These are just a few of the pics I took.....

After all my excitement with the orioles, I realized there were lots of western kingbirds around. So very cute these guys are. They are about the size of a sparrow and love insects! It was so fun to watch them zip through the air inhaling lots of bugs.

There were also quite a few eastern kingbirds......

I watched as 3 male western meadowlarks battled for territory. They swooped and dove with each other all over the field. I managed to grab a half way decent flight shot.

And it bunny season big time! A very cute youngster stopped long enough for me to grab a pic.

I was almost back to the parking lot when I spotted the wood ducks. I love seeing these guys! Looks like they were house hunting. If you look closely at the middle pic of the male wood duck, you can see they have toe nails to help them sit in the tree branches. Very cool,huh?