I had planned to go to my favorite place today. I haven't been there in awhile and wondered what was going on there. But the other day I saw a post about the western grebes with their young at Barr lake and that changed my mind. The cutest thing about the grebes is that their young will hitch a ride on their parent's back. That would make a fine photo so I headed to Barr lake to check it out......
Before heading into the park, I checked on the burrowing owls on Piccadilly rd but there was no sign of them. So I figure they have already left the "hood". So I drove over to to Trussville road to see my other burrowing owl friends. One was perched on the fence posing nicely for me.
Other than the one owl, it was pretty quiet. So I headed over to Barr Lake. Of course I had to stop and check on the swainson's hawk nest. There she was on her nest......
I took a few pics and was leaving when her chick popped it's head out and said hi! So damn cute!
I finally made it into Barr Lake and walked over to the barn owl nest. I couldn't tell if she was in there or not. So I headed over to the refuge area. I could hear the grebes calling but they were a bit far out to get a good pic. Of course I still had to try.
Here's a fuzzy pic and you can just make out the chick on the back....
I started heading for the gazebo in the hopes that the grebes may be closer in. This eastern kingbird posed nicely for me....
And I spotted this juvenile male downy woodpecker....
The bullock's orioles were all over the place but they tend to stay high in the trees. Finally this female one was in a good place for a pic.
And the western kingbirds were quite busy caring for their young. Finally one stopped to get their pic taken....
Then I noticed some action on a the fence across the drainage ditch. Sweet! It is a young yellow headed blackbird!
I spotted a group of geese just hanging out on a log.....
A bit farther down the trail I spotted this big family! I wonder if it's the very large family I saw a couple of months ago. The youngsters are almost as big as the parents......
I absolutely love dragonflies but getting a flight pic is very challenging. All the shots I have are of them resting on a plant. Somehow I managed to grab this pic!
It's almost 1.5 miles to the gazebo and my legs were a bit tired from my bike ride on Saturday. But that was quickly forgotten when I spotted this young great horned owl. I had just started onto the gazebo and looked up to see this guy! Now I know there are GHO around but this is the first time I've seen a youngster in this area! Luckily all my years of training( photographing Sonny and Cher) paid off and I managed to get a few pics as he flew away.....
I got out to the end of the gazebo and could see quite a few grebes. One family was kind of close, so I starting photographing them.....
It was so fun to observe them. Seems one parent watched over them and the other went fishing to get breakfast for the kids. Very cool!
Finally it was time to head back. As I got to the end of the gazebo walkway, the GHO flew by me into a clump a of trees. He blended in well. I would have never seen him if he hadn't flown by.....
This is a little white butterfly that I see all the time but they never seem to stop for a pic until today....
There were quite a few great blue herons around too....
And this one was perched on the boardwalk....
Very cute!
One of the many bunnies I saw today!
I did one more check on the barn owl nest but no luck but this cute house wren gave me some nice pics!
It was time to head home but I decided to stop by the burrowing owls again. Sweet! This one was in a great place for pics.....
Well, that was a fun day! Even though I didn't get the pics( of the grebes) I was hoping for, it was very fun to watch them care for their young!
Thanks for reading!
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