The Swainson's Hawk Show- Finally!

Yea! Time to go photographing! Last Sunday Hazel dog and I went to Buttonrock for a hike. The Ironman triathlon was going on in Boulder and we wanted to escape the craziness! I did bring my camera but there wasn't much to photograph. So I was ready to go this morning!

Of course I had to head down to my favorite spot to see what was going on. So I was out the door by 5:30am filled with anticipation as to what I would see today.

As I drove into the parking lot, I took a quick look to see if the cooper's hawks were around. Nope, but I was not surprised. By now they are quite self sufficient and their territory is quite large. So I knew it was a crap shoot to even see them.

As I was gathering my camera and daypack, I heard a very distinct call down near the outdoor concert area. Hmmmmm who was that? I thought it might be one of the cooper's hawks, so I headed that way to check it out. It took a few minutes to see that it was one of the swainson's hawk youngsters! Yahoo! I had not seen the swainson's since early summer. Once the parents had built their nest and the leaves filled out in the tree, it was impossible to see how many youngsters they had. So it was nice to see one of the kids. This one was a bit far from the nest area and was getting harassed by a few magpies. But he/she was handling it all in stride.

I continued west on the walking trail to the swainson's nest area. I looked around and had just about given up when I heard the same call. Finally I spotted another youngster!
 This one was quite vocal and kept calling for food but mom and dad were not around.

I was so happy to see the swainson's that whatever else I saw today was gravy! 

The back pond was very quiet, so I headed over to the area where the black crown night herons have been hanging out. Bingo! There were three adults and one immature.

Nap time......

Here's the immature night heron......

Beside the herons, the wood ducks were everywhere! These are a few of the youngsters and they sure have grown.....

I continued on my loop doing it backwards from the way I usually do it. This cute gadwall youngster was just chillin.......

And then I spotted another BCNH. One of their techniques for catching fish is to vibrate the water with their beak to attract the fish....how cool is that? I was hoping to get a pic of her catching something but no luck for me or her.......

I headed for the trail that goes out on a small peninsula. I heard some gold finches and looked to see where they were. Hello! There was one of the cooper's hawk kids! I could not believe my luck! The hawk was not in the best place for a pic but I was just happy to see one of them!

I continued on towards the gazebo. A snowy egret was in the main pond looking for breakfast!

I got to the gazebo area and spotted these young barn swallows. They look fresh out of the nest......

And here's an adult barn swallow. That blue color is spectacular!

The gazebo makes a great place for barn swallow nests. Yea it's a bit late in the summer but they can have a couple of batches during the summer. These guys were making quite the racket waiting for food.....

After enjoying the swallows, I headed back for another loop. This dragonfly kindly posed for me......

The wood ducks were still hanging out....

Here you can see these two youngsters are becoming adults quickly. One male and one female.....

I headed back to the swainson's nest area and finally saw momma hawk! She was sitting in her favorite spot on top of one of telephone poles.....

The youngster was still in the same tree and calling for food. Mom ignored the kid and just enjoyed the beautiful morning.....

I doubled back to see the herons and was able to get a flight shot! Sweet! They can sit for long periods of time so I got lucky!

So the wood ducks were just relaxing ......

When this young dude flew in....

 Well, they were not happy about his presence! This young gal duck got in his face and gave him some attitude....

They all got into quite the tussle for a few minutes before it all calmed down.

While the duck fight was going on, this GBH just watched from nearby......

While I was watching the ducks and GBH, a night heron flew over me and landed in a nearby tree. Yes, the night herons nest in rookeries like the GBH but they still look out of place sitting in a tree instead of near some water.....

It was getting hot and I was ready to head home. On the way I spotted this juvenile night heron....

And finally the turtles were up and about. This is a popular log as they were all looking for a spot to sun themselves....

Well, that was a very fun morning! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I saw some Pokemon Go players. Actually quite a few. Too bad they were all staring at their phones and missed all the cool things going on around them.....

Thanks for reading!