My owl friends: A Quiet Day

Yup, it's that time again. The seasons are beginning to change which means things are quieting down after a busy spring and summer. Many birds have raised their young and started heading south. And the birds that winter around here have not arrived yet. Oh well, I still decided to head down to my favorite place to check out the happenings.

The cormorants were gathering in large numbers. They will soon head south for the winter..

I quickly spotted the snowy egret on the north side of the main pond, so I headed that way. It was so nice and calm that I scored a fun reflection shot.....

Now I see the flickers all summer but when it's quiet, they get photographed....

Same with the mallards, they are always around. Today they got noticed.....

I walked back to the swainson's hawk nest area but all was quiet. With the youngsters almost full grown, they are able to fly quite far. S o I knew it was a crap shoot if I'd find any of them. Lucky for me, a guy walked by with his cute dog and mentioned he had seen a few coyotes at the south end of the nature area. Cool! I hardly ever walk over that way, so I headed over to check it out. It didn't take long to spot one enjoying some breakfast.

I don't see these guys very often down here. They are quite normal to see in the Boulder area. The last time I saw one around here, he was attempting to eat some mallard ducklings but momma duck stopped that. So he started walking towards me not realizing I was there. Of course I was torn between getting a pic of him or getting out of his way. He finally noticed me and took off running. And I missed the pic......oh well.

So I continued on and spotted some finches enjoying the berries.....

The barn swallows are still around and so damn cute!

I started my second loop and the snowy was still around......

The young wood ducks were spread all over the place. This young dude was in a decent place to grab a pic....

The first time I walked by, there was nobody here. Now the night heron was in her usual spot.....

Just past the night heron, I spotted a tiny bird in the tree. I have learned through trial and error to shoot first and decided who it is afterwards. I did think this bird was a house finch but lucky for me it was a western wood pewee. Ha! That's why I shoot first!

I did walk back to the swainson's nest again and nobody was around. So I doubled back towards the night heron. The night heron was gone and then I looked up to see the female swainson's hawk fly by and she headed towards the nest area. Damn! So I headed back to the nest area again hoping she would land on her favorite telephone pole. Nope! She continued on looking for some breakfast.....crap!

So I doubled back again got this pic of Mrs Mallard.....