Visit To My Favorite Spot

I was looking forward to going out photographing this morning! But I knew the weather maybe a factor. Oh well, it was worth a shot! Hopefully it wouldn't be an April fool's joke on me!

 But as I left the house around 6am with coffee in hand, I felt something touching my face! Damn! Snow! Luckily it didn't last long and I had about an hour's drive so hopefully the weather would be better in Lakewood at my favorite spot.

Well, it wasn't snowing when I got to my favorite spot but it was very cloudy as you can see........

The light was very flat which makes photographing very challenging. I kept looking up at the sky hoping to see the sun. And while I waited, I still took pics......

I love avocets! I found this lone one having breakfast. Female avocets have a more curved bill. It's easy to tell males from females when they're together but singles are a challenge. I'm gonna call this one a female.....

I scanned this area for any great blue heron nests but all I saw was the cormorants. In the past, there have been 4-6 GBH heron nests but it looked like they got pushed out.....

The northern shovelers were quite numerous. Here's a cute couple.......

Mister gadwall is very handsome!

This flicker flew up and landed right near me. He posed so nicely, I had to take his pic! His markings are spectacular!

Two dudes.....

 I made it to the back pond and spotted a pair of ring necked ducks. And even better, the sun had made it's way through the clouds!!!

I was almost done with my first loop when I spotted this handsome green winged teal!

I had made it back to the gazebo and was so happy to see that there were two GBH nests among the cormorants!
Interestingly, the GBH males arrive first in the spring and pick a nest. Then they court females as they arrive. Once they have a mate, the males bring the nesting material and the female arranges it to her liking!

 So after he dropped off the stick, he took off for more.......

I continued on and quickly spotted the GBH again, busy getting more sticks!

As I've said before in my blogs, I always do multiple loops here. Why? Because things change rapidly!
Here's a good example! The first time around, I saw one avocet  and now there were three! I think the front avocet is a female and the other two are males as their bills look a bit more straight.

I finally pulled myself away from the avocets and continued on. There were quite a few buffleheads but mostly out of reach. This guy came a bit closer for a decent pic....

I noticed these two cormorants seemed like newlyweds. So cute!

When I came by later, they had the beginnings of a nest!

Then this cormorant put on quite the show for me........

I had to walk by the avocets to continue my loop, so of course I took more pics!

Sleeping mallard....

There were a gazillion robins around but they were much too busy to stop for a pic. Then this guy posed so nicely!

Mrs gadwall was busy preening......

and so was Mr gadwall....

nearby was mrs green winged teal. Luckily she has the one green spot or it would be challenging to identify her as she looks like Mrs gadwall......

I made it to the back pond and was very happy to see the hooded mergansers. Last summer they nested and hatched 4 hoodies!  

Damn! Mrs hoodie dove and brought up a crayfish on the other side of the small pond. I did my best to get any kind of decent pic.

After she chowed down her crayfish, they started courting.......

and then they mated! hoping to see more young hoodies this summer!

cute pair of gadwalls.....

The geese were plentiful too. But much like the robins, oh so busy! Except this one!

All morning I heard the kingfishers calling! finally this gal stayed still long enough for a pic.....

Here's how different it looked a few hours later. Sunny with blue skies!

Well, I had enough fun and started to head home. But then I decided to pop in and check out prospect park in Wheatridge. I hadn't been there since last year, so it was worth a quick look.

It ended up being pretty quiet but did see this handsome widgeon!

      

and the shovelers were active here as well...

What a fun morning! Being Easter, it was even quieter than normal for a Sunday! Then I headed home to edit all these pics and enjoy the NCAA women's basketball final!
Thanks for reading!