A Beautiful Day!

     Whew! We have had some weather around here. Snow, rain, cold and did I mention snow? It part of living in the lovely state of Colorado but I was happy to see the sun this morning. I had cleared my calendar, so I was off to do some photographing today. I headed 
down to my favorite place to see what was going on.

As you can see, it was spectacular! This is a view of the main lake.......

Here's a closer look so you can see the island. This is where the cormorants, great blue herons and other birds nest.

Here is another view. The avocets tend to hang out near that boardwalk....

Today I walked over to get a good look at the heron nest. But right away I noticed this avocet sitting on the nest! I also noticed we now have two pairs of avocets! Yeah, more cute baby avocets are on the way!

Momma great blue heron was doing some preening. A fellow photographer had seen two GBH chicks in the nest the other day. Didn't see them today but I will keep watching for them!

I then stopped by the swallow nest. Mom and dad were having a discussion about their day...

I continued on and spotted another avocet enjoying the day! There was huge puddle from all the snow melting and this guy was loving it!

After I took a million pics of the avocet, I found a family of mallards! Can I hear a "aaaahhh"

I was hoping to see the wood ducks but instead I found a pair of ruddy ducks! I have never seen ruddy ducks in person, so this was exciting. The light was already a bit harsh for good pics but it was fun to see these guys! I hope they stick around so I can get more pics.....

This cassin's sparrow put on quite the show for me!

There were yellow rumped warblers all over the place. Finally I got an okay pic. They are quick!

I wandered back over to the swallow nest. Now mom was inside......

Then I saw one of the avocets diving for his food!

I was walking down the path when I spotted this mallard family. I think this is the family I saw a few weeks ago. The kids are growing!

The canda geese were all over the place but no goslings. Finally I looked up and there they were! How cute are they!!!

I was just getting ready to head home and the snowy egret showed up!

Look at that wingspan! It's huge!

Well, it was a great morning! It looked like the clouds were coming in, so I hurried home to get Hazel out for a swim.

Thanks for reading!