Back To My Favorite Place

I made a difficult choice to not go out photographing last Sunday. The reason was because the Ironman race bike course was going right down 26th St which is how I get to my home. After I go photographing every Sunday, it's Hazel time. And her most favorite thing to do is go swimming. But if they had the road closed to cars, there would be no swimming for Hazel dog. So instead, we did a fun hike and swim in south Boulder and got home before the race came by. Turns out they did not close the street, so I filed that in my memory banks for next year.

Of course Hazel always comes first, so it was still a fun Sunday! I did bring my camera along but didn't see anything worth photographing......

Fast forward to this Sunday and I was excited to go out photographing! Of course I had to head down to my favorite place to see how the cooper's hawks and swainson's hawks were doing. So with coffee in hand I was in the car by 5:30am driving down to Lakewood.

I was barely out of the car when I spotted one of the cooper's perched on a tall building in the historic village next to Belmar lake. It wasn't a good location for a pic but it was worth walking over to check out. Yup! The other two siblings were perched on a low fence! They were having fun chasing each other around and I was close behind trying to get pics.

After enjoying the hawks, I started my usual loop. I stopped at the main gazebo to see if anything interesting was on the island. There was another photographer there and he had a red sox cap on. I had my Yankee cap on. Okay then! I have dealt with red sox fans for years so I was ready for any crap he wanted to start ( if you're a baseball fan you get this). But all he wanted to talk about was camera lenses. Cool! I could do that. We had a nice chat about telephoto lenses and then he said he had seen an american bittern the other day. Hmmmm I was not sure about that as they are quite secretive and usually hide in marshy areas. Also I have been photographing here for 4-5 years and I had never seen one here. But I did not say anything. Then he said he still had the photos in his camera and he pulled one up for me. Nope, it was not a bittern, it was an immature black crown night heron. I was gentle as I explained what bird he had seen. He was crushed but he took it well. Red sox fans are used to disappointment.......

I continued on and spotted this snowy egret. The light was pretty harsh but I had to give it ago.....

Now I had not seen black crown night herons around here all summer. But today I saw two!
This one was posed very nicely.....

And the great blue heron was close by posing too......

Got more pics of the BCNH while I chatted with a gal that lives nearby. She gets to walk around here most everyday and see very cool things! I was a bit envious for sure....

And here's the other one napping....

Next stop was the swainson's nest. The gal I chatted with mentioned that two youngsters had left the nest but were perched nearby. Here's one perched on the telephone pole....

While enjoying the hawk, I spotted this say's phoebe on a roof top......

The hawk on the telephone pole took flight to be closer to his sibling who was perched on the wire.

I love when they look right at me....

I finally pulled myself away from the hawks and finished lap one. I started my second lap and the GBH was still in the same area posing so nicely for me.....

Check out those feet.....

I was seeing the young wood ducks all over the place. These were in a decent place for a pic.....

I went back to check on the swainsons but not much was going on. But I did hear the kingfishers flying around the back pond. Again they tormented me by flying around too fast to grab a pic. Here's what I did get......

I had also been seeing dragonflies all morning and finally had some opportunities to get some pics......

It was starting to get hot, so I decided to head home. But then I remembered there had been some sightings of a yellow crowned night heron at Prospect park in Wheatridge. We have plenty of black crowns around here but the yellow crowns are quite unusual. The birding blogs I watch were very excited about this, so I decided to stop by on my way home.

It was around 10:30am when I got to prospect park. The light was pretty harsh but I figured it was worth the gamble. I met a few birders who had seen the YCNH and they pointed me in the right direction to see him.

On the way I spotted this pretty big snapper.......

There were a few birders still observing the heron when I got to the spot. He was tucked into the bushes enjoying the shade. He was not in a good place for decent pics but I got this one to share on my blog. The other birders left and I had him all to myself. I was hoping he would at least move out of the shade so I could get a decent pic, but he looked pretty darn comfortable. So I decided to call it a day and head back to the car. 

Just as I got back to the bike path, he took flight and landed on the same log as the snapping turtle! Are you kidding me? I needed to hustle over there without spooking him and somehow I did it! He started walking towards the snapper and I was worried it maybe a wild kingdom moment. But luckily he thought about it and left mr. snapper alone. Another photographer showed up and we stood there enjoying the heron. After a few minutes he flew into a tree that hangs over the lake and tucked himself him into the shade. I was happy with the pics I got and headed back to the car. A few more birders were walking out to see him. I shared his location but refrained from saying "too bad you weren't here 10 minutes ago".

Holy Crap! What a spectacular morning it was! I couldn't wait to get home to download my pics. But first Hazel and I went swimming......yea for Sunday!

Thanks for reading!