My owl friends: The Avocet Show

Every Saturday evening I decide where I'd like to go photographing on Sunday. I thought about exploring some new spots but finally decided to go check out my favorite place. Maybe there would be baby avocets along with the ducklings, goslings,etc.

I walked by the GBH nests but figured I would catch them on the second lap. So I continued on. It was very quiet except for the male red winged blackbirds that were dive bombing non stop!

I was all the way to the back pond before I took my first pic. This cute squirrel was looking very cute!

The back pond was also very quiet, so I headed back to the GBH nests.
Here's one of the parents feeding in nest #1. There are 4 youngsters! That's a lot of mouths to feed!

The geese just lay their eggs anywhere! This is on the island below the GBH nests.

This is nest #1 after the parent left. Love how they are all pointing the same way!

This is nest #2

The cormorant put on a fun show taking off.....

While I was watching the GBH and cormorants, I could hear and see the avocets. They were making quite a bit of noise. So I wondered if their chicks had hatched. Hmmmm

I started out on my second lap with hopes of seeing more than a squirrel. As I crossed the boardwalk I spotted some mallard ducklings napping.....

And there was another mallard with her ducklings....

Then a pair of the avocets flew in. Hmmmm they must have their chick or chicks with them.

Bingo! There is nothing cuter than an avocet chick! Looks like they just have one. I got a few pics and continued on my lap.

I think this is the momma mallard that I saw a couple of weeks ago. The gal with 14 ducklings. They were spread out so it was hard to get them all in one pic. Here are 9 of them and I think there was one or two more around. There is a high attrition rate with baby ducks so this is amazing!

I went to check on the swainson's hawk nest. I could just see mom's butt in the nest. Looking forward to seeing baby swainson's hawks! While I was watching the nest, Neil ( a birder) came down the trail. He lives in the area so knows quite a bit about the wildlife around here. In fact, he's the gentleman that told me about the cooper's hawks last summer plus lots of other great info. I had mentioned to him that I had found the swainson nest a few weeks ago and tried to explain where it was. Luckily today I was able to point it out to him.

The nest is close to the back pond. Neil mentioned he had spotted the wood duck and her kids! Yea! So after we chatted I hustled over and there she was with 10 ducklings! I am wondering if this is another wood duck because the one I saw a few weeks ago only had 7-8 ducklings. Totally possible as I have seen 2 or more pairs of wood ducks around here.

She was doing her best to keep all 10 close by but they having a great time zipping around and not listening to her......

Instead of completing the loop, I doubled back to see what the avocet chick was doing. But on the way I could hear other pair of avocets making quite a fuss. So I walked over to where the two small docks were to see what was going on. Another photographer was there and he explained that the avocet pair had two chicks and were trying to get them off the island and into the water. Cool! We had a nice chat while waiting to see what would happen.
This cute mallard duckling swam by while we were chatting. So I had to grab his pic!

The avocet parents were trying so hard to get the kids into the water and get them to the same area where the other avocet family was. They would fly back and forth, then land in the water and encourage the kids to get into the water.

The other photographer left to go find momma wood duck and I went to sit down at the dock. A barn swallow posed quite nicely for me!

I was still keeping an eye on the avocets and got a couple of flight shots....

And then finally! They got one of the chicks into the water. And then shortly after got the other one in too.

I was walking around trying to get some pics and annoyed this sand piper. I almost stepped her and she flew up to the dock. I apologized!

The parents would fly a bit then go back to the chicks and kept encouraging them. They brought them all the way over to the east side of the pond.

So I walked over to get some pics and spotted this carp. He was about 2 feet long!

And then all hell broke loose! The 2 pair of avocets started chasing each other all around the pond! I have never seen this before! It went on for over 1/2 an hour. I tried to get pics but they were soooo fast! These will give some idea of what went on.....

After chasing each other around they all settled down.It wasn't very violent but more just establishing their territories.....very cool! The other photographer made it back in time to see all the action but he did miss seeing the chicks get into the water.....