Mid Week Fun

    I have a busy weekend coming up. I will be selling my notecards/photos at a small metaphysical fair in Denver. So I made time this morning to go out photographing. I had lots of places I wanted to go but finally decided to just go check out my favorite spot and Prospect park.
    I went over to see if the tree swallows had arrived. They nest all over the area but there is one nesting box that always gets used each season. Bummer, I did not see them flying around so figured they had not arrived yet. I happened to look up and there was the cutest pair of swallows! This is highly unusual. Sure they take a break and perch once in awhile but mainly they fly around all day scooping up insects. So cool......

Of course canada geese are quite plentiful and I am excited to see the goslings in the next few weeks. This goose was posing, so I had to get the pic!

 


There was lots going on. The buffleheads were courting and defending their territories..

The gadwalls were also very active....

I saw some movement in a pine tree and spotted this cute junco. He posed for a bit and flew to the top branch for more pics.....

When I had arrived at my favorite spot, I had checked to see if the herons were around but they were not. I was almost ready to leave when I met up with one of my photographer friends. Just then, the herons showed up and we were excited. So we hurried over to the gazebo which was an excellent spot to observe and get some pics!

It was so fun to watch the male go find sticks and bring them back for the female to arrange the way she wanted.

The cormorants are also back and busy building their nest in the tree next to the heron nest. 

I finally pulled myself away and headed up to Prospect Park. I went to check on the owls. Dad was having a nap and mom is still on the nest...

I walked over to the lakes and spotted a female hood merganser with a fish. So cool! It's not the best photo but it was so funl to watch her flip it around so she could swallow it...

Now I see mourning doves all the time but today this one was in the perfect spot for a pic.

I was ready to head back to the car and I remembered that a robin had nested in a pine tree right nearby last summer. So I peeked in and to my surprise, there was a mourning dove on the nest! If you look closely, there is a baby 's head right below dad's head. And there was another head by dad's butt.

Mom was very close by watching over everything. Now you might be wondering how did I know the it was dad on the nest and not mom. Well, I did a bit of reading and it seems the dad sits on the nest all day and the mom sits all night. Who knew?

Well, that was a fun morning! Thanks for reading.....