My owl friends: Checking In At My Favorite Place

I had not been down to Belmar( aka my favorite place) for two weeks, so it was time! Avocet chicks and cooper's hawk chicks were on my mind. So with coffee in hand, I headed down there. When I got to the top of McCaslin Blvd this is what I saw!

I checked on the cooper's hawk nest and thought I saw movement, so I made a mental note to check back later.
I started my loop hoping to see the avocets. As I got to the walkway this sandpiper posed nicely for me!

I also spotted a great blue heron along the bank of the pond. I knew as soon as I got close enough, the GBH would fly. So I was ready to get a flight shot. What I totally missed was the male avocet dive bombing the GBH. Damn! That would have made a great pic!

Hmmmmmm..... Why were the avocets so worked up? I did not see any avocet chicks.....

Sweet! After a few minutes I spotted one youngster.....

And then another youngster! I attempted to get some pics but it was a challenge with the light and the tree branches. So I moved on happy to have seen them!

The GBH youngsters are doing great!

This one was sitting below the nest. They will explore and then head back to the nest hoping for a handout from one of the parents.

After enjoying the GBH, I came upon some cute ducklings......

Here's a male mallard. He and other male ducks will molt soon. you can see his head colors are fading. When they molt, they lose the ability to fly for a few weeks. So they are vulnerable to predators. So they go in to hiding to be less vulnerable....

I walked along the north end and quickly spotted momma wood duck and four ducklings! They were not in a good spot for pics, so I continued on my loop.

Here's a momma gadwall and her crew......

I walked over to the swainson's nest but no one was around. So I continued my loop finishing near the cooper's nest. No sign of mom or dad...bummer!

I started my second loop with hopes of getting better avocet pics. Momma avocet was in full protection mode! She was even chasing away the spotted sandpipers who are half the size of the avocet youngsters.

And finally I got some decent pics of the youngsters! I will never ever get tired of seeing avocet chicks! Last summer was not kind to the avocets. They had their young but something happened to the chicks early on and the avocets left the area. So hopefully this summer will be better. Watching the avocets grow up is the best!

So as I was watching the avocets, another photographer was watching from the other side of the inlet. I had better light to get pics and he finally made his way over to my area. One issue was that he was in a wheelchair which would make it a challenge to get through the tall grasses. I said hi and offered to help him get to a good spot for pics. So we pushed through the thick grass to a good spot and had a nice chat while he got some pics. Then I assisted in getting him back to the main path and we headed our separate ways......

I continued on and spotted momma wood duck again. The ducklings were close by zipping around......

I continued on and went back to the swainson's nest. Still no one was around...darn!
By now it was getting hot and it was only 8:30am...crap! So it was time to head home. I was almost back to the car when I heard a sound.....spotted this female lesser goldfinch.

I checked on the cooper's hawks one last time. Still no sign of the parents but saw at least two youngsters in the nest...yahoo! Stay tuned for updates!