My owl friends: My Favorite Place Delivers!

Oh yeah! My favorite place lived up to it's name today! I have not been here in over a month, so I was excited to see what was going on!

I quickly spotted two snowy egrets. Here's one of them......

Soon after I spotted momma wood duck. She had a couple of her kids with her that were just out of range for a decent pic.

As I continued along the north side I spotted this great blue heron enjoying the morning sun.....

A little preening....

take off......

I continued on to the swainson's hawk nest with great anticipation. Sweet! There two youngsters in the nest. They look almost as big as their parents!

Mom was close by perched on a telephone pole.....

And then I spotted dad on a nearby pine tree. Since I was facing east into the sun, I had to walk by him to get the sun behind me. Thankfully he waited for me so I could get some good pics!

I love when they look right at me!

I learned a long time ago that when a bird poops, they are getting ready to take flight. So I was ready for dad when he took off......

Sweet! This morning was off to a great start! I continued on and now one of the snowy egrets was fishing nearby....

As I was watching the snowy, two young wood ducks swam by......

And a leaf dropped into the water.....

The two woodies continued to put on a good show.....

And I got my reflection shot too!

I finished my first lap and was ready for lap two when I saw my friend Neil( older gentleman and expert birder). We had a nice chat about what I had seen and he mentioned the cooper's hawks. They have three youngsters that are pretty active!

So I detoured over to see them before starting my second lap. As I walked over I spotted one of the youngsters standing in a puddle......

Then I walked toward the trees where the nest was. I could see the other two high up in the branches. Then one of the parents flew in with food and all hell broke loose! The kids were hungry! They were too high up to get pics of breakfast but got this pic afterwards......

Then one of them flew across the road into the dead walnut tree. Myself and two other people took some pics and admired how cute the youngster was.....

I finally pulled myself away to start lap two and I spotted this beauty!

I caught up to the gentleman that was also admiring the cooper's hawk. He had a point and shoot camera that he carried with him as he jogged around. Very cool! He got a run in but also stopped to enjoy the wildlife. He shared how he had gotten a great pic of a great blue heron stabbing a big fish with his beak a few weeks ago! Wow! That would be something to see!

I continued on and saw two muskrats swimming towards me.....

After watching the muskrats, I continued along the north side. I had barely taken five steps when I saw a GBH with a big fish! Holy crap! I was not in the best place for a pic as the grasses were in the way. But I knew if I tried to find a better spot for pics, I could miss it all.
So I gave it a go and got some fun pics!

I have only seen GBH catch small fish, so this was so fun! And I had just had a conversation about GBH and large fish! That was cool!

I headed back to check on the swainson's hawk. Mom was now perched in a pine tree. A woman was standing nearby waiting for her dog to get a drink from the pond. She never noticed the hawk until I pointed it out.......

A kingfisher had been tormenting me for a couple of hours. He'd fly by teasing me and never landing where I could get a decent pic. I finally managed this pic through a maze of branches......

Whew! It was getting hot but I had to go check on the cooper's hawks once more before I left. A couple of them were high in the nest tree. But then I heard the distinctive call of a young cooper's and found him/her in one of the spruce trees. He was very comfortable with my presence, so I got some sweet pics!