Sunday Fun Day

Sweet! Finally had a free Sunday to go out photographing. So of course I headed down to my favorite place to see what was going on. I am a morning person and can get up pretty early when necessary or when it's for something fun like photographing. At the height of summer I need to get up by 5am if I want the nice morning light. Now as the days are getting shorter I can get up around 6am and get to wherever I am going just as the sun is coming up. That extra hour of sleep is very nice!

So I got to Belmar lake( my favorite place) and spotted the cormorants enjoying the morning sun. All their young are grown and taking care of themselves. Soon they will head south for the winter.......

I spotted some ducks near the cormorant island and realized it was the northern shovelers! They winter here but head north for the summer. I think it's a bit early for them to be back but I was happy to see them!

The sunflowers are all over the place enjoying the last days of summer....

There were two snowy egrets doing some fishing. Always love seeing them!

I spotted one of the wood duck youngsters and it looks like he is gonna be a handsome drake.......

After enjoying the wood duck, I headed over to see if the swainson's hawk youngsters were around. And there they were sitting in one of their favorite spots. One of them kept calling for food from mom or dad but it didn't happen while I was watching.....

I had almost completed my first loop when I spotted a small flock of bushtits. I had seen some earlier this spring, so it was nice to see them again. They are so darn fast that it took quite a few tries to get some decent pics......

This scruffy one looks like a youngster to me.....

This is looking west. The three rows of clouds were amazing!

After doing one lap, I headed over to the historical museum area to see if the cooper's hawks were around. That's where they were hanging out a few weeks ago. But I struck out today......oh well.

I started on lap two and spotted four more of the wood duck youngsters. They all looked like gals to me. Here's one of them. The other three were tucked into the tall grasses......

As I was enjoying the wood ducks, I spotted an immature black crown night heron! Sweet!

I love how the mallard was flapping her wings and the heron never even flinched!

Next I headed back to check on the swainson's. They had moved to a new location down the path. They seem to enjoy sitting on the wires and telephone poles. Not the best background for a pic but I will take what I can get......

After checking on the hawks, I doubled back to see about the BCNH but he/she had left.
But a dragonfly flew by and posed for me!

I was ready to head home when I spotted more shovelers. I am pretty sure this is a momma shoveler with her young.........very cool! I do not think I have ever seen shoveler youngsters!

And here's a male shoveler. He's looking a bit pale right now but will start looking good come courting season......

Now I was near the gazebo and noticed there were lots of barn swallows flying around.
Here's an adult......

And then I spotted 3 youngsters waiting for food......

And here came breakfast!

Looks like a dragonfly was served for breakfast.....

Look close and you can see the wings sticking out of the youngster's mouth......

I heard some chirping and found this swallow nest with 4 youngsters! How cute is that!

Well, it was a very fun morning! Fall migration is slowly starting to ramp up! I for one am looking forward to some cooler weather and seeing my winter friends!

Thanks for reading!