Third Time is the Charm!

Somehow I scored four days off in a row. Sweet! So the plan was to go for a hike with Hazel and take my camera along. Monday morning turned out to a be a rainy day, so we did a quick hike at coot lake without the camera and headed home to enjoy the rainy day from my couch. It looked like Tuesday would be a good day to hike and photograph but when I got up it was cloudy and rainy again. I definitely was not complaining as we always welcome moisture around here. But it wasn't ideal for photographing so we did a quick hike again and

headed home.......  

Now it's Wednesday and just spectacular! The rain had cleaned the air a bit from all the wildfires. So Hazel dog and I headed over to the eagle trail for a fun hike and some wildlife photographing too.

There's an osprey nest on 55th St a bit off the road. Lucky for me, one of them was sitting on a telephone pole!

The nest is not in a good place for pics as you can see. So that's why I was happy to see one of them close by and ready to pose for pics.

After enjoying the osprey, we hit the trail for a fun hike!

It was definitely a spectacular morning!

The meadowlarks were singing up a storm!

We were heading towards the horse ranch when I spotted a bird crossing the trail. Hmmmm I wasn't sure what kind of bird it was but I've learned over the years to shoot pics and ask questions later. OMG! It was a virginia rail !!!!!! This is a very secretive bird that calls freshwater marshes home. I couldn't believe my luck as this was my first sighting ever! The rail disappeared as quickly as it appeared...wow!

There are quite a few prairie dogs on this trail. Lucky for me, Hazel does not chase wildlife! She doesn't chase prairie dogs, rabbits or deer. So she makes the perfect photographing companion! Yup, she is the perfect dog!

We had just hiked through the west end trailhead when I spotted a small bird. Score! A blue grosbeak! I got a few pics of this beautiful bird years ago but they were not the best quality. Today that all changed! Best pics I've ever gotten of this colorful bird!

           The western kingbirds were singing all along the trail. Finally one posed for me!

             We made it to the small pond so Hazel could getting some swimming time!

This is the view from the swimming pond! 

 After Hazel got some swimming time, we hiked back up towards the trailhead. This is the spectacular view from the top of the ridge! wow!

 


Well, what a fantastic morning hike we had today! It was worth waiting for!
Thanks for reading!