Those burrowing owls have been on my mind since I was out at Barr lake a few weeks ago. I love photographing in the early morning. The light is so nice and it's a great way to start the day! Plus I am a morning person with lots more energy in the morning than in the evening.
The issue with the burrowing owls is that to photograph them I am facing east which means the sun is directly in front of me. Not good for photography as you normally want the light behind you.
So obviously it meant I would need to make a trip out there in the late afternoon if I wanted some good pics of the owls. We had afternoon thunderstorms all week but Saturday looked good to get out there. I had all of Saturday morning to do other things, so Hazel got to go swimming for 2 hours, I did a quick ride on my mt. bike and then did some errands.
Finally around 2:30pm I headed out there. The sun was still pretty intense, so I headed into Barr lake to wait for the sun to get a little lower in the sky.
I normally go to Barr lake early in the morning which means there are only a few other cars at best. But Saturday afternoons are hopping at the park. There were families having picnics, people riding bikes and just enjoying the beautiful day.
I walked over to see my barn owl friend. She acknowledged me but would not peek her head out.....
As I was watching her, a pelican swam by.....
The swainson's hawks were flying around being attacked by some kingbirds, the wrens were singing and the bullock's orioles were busy too. But no one was in a good place for pics. After walking around a bit I headed back out to Piccadilly Rd to see what the owls were doing.
Oh yeah! What a great show they put on! To hunt for insects, they would hover 30-40 ft high and search for food. So cool!
After watching the one guy hunting, I saw some movement and spotted another family of owls with a youngster! I think the darker owl is the female as she stayed close to the nest while dad flew around.....
Cute couple!
Here's one of the dudes perched on the fence.....
At first I thought they only had one owlet but then were three!
And then there were four! Wow! It was well worth it to drive out there in the afternoon. In fact I could have taken a nice afternoon nap and then headed out there around 5 pm. Next time I will do that for sure!
So now it's Sunday morning and I decided to stay local today. With all the rain we have had, I had not been over to see my owl friends. So I headed over there first. It did not take me long to spot two of the youngsters hanging out......
I looked for the third owlet but it was quite difficult with all the foliage in full bloom. I did spot Sonny sitting close by watching over the kids.
Next stop was Sawmill ponds. I was hoping the osprey pair I saw there a few weeks ago would be around. But all was quiet, so I headed over to Walden ponds.
Eastern kingbirds were all around. Finally one posed for me.....
Gold finches were also all around. Here's a female gathering nesting material.....
And here's the handsome male.....
While I was photographing the gold finches, I heard another bird chirping away. Hmmm..... that sounded familiar. Finally I realized I was hearing a yellow breasted chat. I had seen some last fall on the homestead trail when hiking with Hazel. But here was one close enough to get pics of. Well I did have to jump over a small steam and climb over a few dead tree trunks but it's all in a day's work......
Wrens are also all over the place singing their hearts out.....
Then this little guy flew in and I wasn't sure who he was. Just then a guy walked by with binoculars and a camera, so I asked him. He said " it kind of looks like a chickadee". What?
That's not even close to what a chickadee looks like. So I looked him up when I got home and he seems to be a western wood-pewee. Very cute!
After enjoying the pewee, I started heading back to the main pond. I had heard some bullock's orioles but hadn't seen them. While I was looking for them, I spotted this amazing view of the snow covered mountains!
I was almost back to the parking lot when this song sparrow just posed so nicely for me...
And then I spotted a pair of mourning doves building their nest. The female sat there and waited for her mate to bring in nesting material which she arranged to her liking. It was like watching the herons build their nest only on a smaller scale.
Next stop was 75th St where I was hoping to see the dipper but the walking path was under water. Oh well.....
So I stopped back over to see my owl friends. The two owlets had moved to a tree overhanging the pond. And one of the parents was there too. And I think the third owlet was also there but the leaves were too thick to be positive. I waited for a few minutes to see if they would move to a place where I could grab a pic but it did not happen. So it was time to go home and get Hazel out for some swimming time!
Thanks for reading!
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