Juvenile Birds

I had the day off of work today but didn't get to the park until the afternoon. I had one particular goal in mind actually and that was to find and photograph a Green Heron. It took me a while but I did end up locating one in the small pond on the east side just north of the parking lot. I had to bushwack a little while being extremely quiet and not scare the bird away, but I finally got into a good position to watch my subject for quite some time. This bird was likely a young one as evident by the whispy, white feathers on it's head that stood straight up. I've heard that Green Herons will actually catch small prey like a Dragonfly and then dip that in the water to attract a larger fish, but that behavior is something i've still yet to witness in real life. This one did seem to pull something out of the water but I couldn't tell exactly what it was. I think I watch this bird for nearly 40 minutes before he wound up on the other side of the pond in some dark shadows. A fun experience though for sure, and one that yielded some acceptable photos :) I thought I was basically done for the day but later I ended up with very close views of another young bird, this time an American Redstart. Redstarts are Warblers and notoriously difficult to photograph because the move so quickly and so frequently. But this one was so busy preening itself that it let me approach closely. At a young age, the male American Redstart looks an awful lot like an adult female Redstart. So they are often confused. But one thing to look for to differentiate them is any indication of dark patches on the face or head. Generally a female will be all grey and not show any trace of dark or black feathering here. So I think I can safely say that this is a juvenile male American Redstart.

Three Little Birds

A lot to see today, but the highlights were a few different little birds, all showing lots of yellow color! The first was a Yellow-throated Vireo I located almost directly over the wood chip trail on the south side of the park. He (I'm assuming) was singing away which is how I came to notice him.

The light was pretty harsh and I was darn near underneath the bird so I backed up as much as I could and zoomed to make up the difference. He put on a good show for me, staying on basically the same little twig, while turning his other side to me more than once. This is the first Yellow-throated Vireo I've seen this year, and it's very possible it might be my last for the year. I just don't seem to see this species much at all and I count myself luck to see one per year. Next I spotted a bright male Yellow Warbler hopping around a Common Elderberry shrub. Having noticed the myriad of small insects attracted to the tiny, white flowers atop the plant, I'm thinking the bird was looking for bugs to eat. It was tough getting unobstructed photos of this guy when he was basically inside the plant. The third bird was also a Warbler showing a lot of yellow. This Common Yellowthroat was perched in what I think is native Red-osier Dogwood and may have been doing just the same by looking for small insects attracted to the shrub. I'm always amazed at how quickly warblers and vireos both can search individual leaves for insects. I generally only see it with binoculars but they are pretty darn good at finding the bugs or caterpillars and gobbling them down as fast as they can find them. Other sights today included; Ebony Jewelwing (damselfly), Green Heron, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (butterfly).

A Few Good Photo-ops

Though I heard and saw my first Red-winged Blackbirds of the year in early March, none of them have been approachable until today. I visited the park after work this Wednesday evening as there is still enough light now. I wasn't sure what to expect but as I rounded the corner from the east side into the southern end of the park I could hear Red-winged Blackbirds trilling loudly from the cattails not far off the trail. I made my way in closer, crunching on cattails and figured I would scare them away. But surprisingly this male stayed put and gave me my first good looks of the year! The light was fantastic to begin with, but as I approached closer I could see that my background was all brown cattails. I decided to kneel down and shoot upward just slightly as this angle would give me some nice blue sky behind the bird. I really love RWBB's despite how common they are. Nothing compares to hearing them in early spring and knowing that nicer, longer days are still ahead. I've not seen any females still, but it shouldn't be too long now. About 5 minutes after shooting these photos, the sun disappeared behind the clouds for the rest of the day. In fact it went from sunny and nice to almost dreary in a matter of minutes. As I hiked the wood chip trails on the southern end, I heard and saw a small number of flighty birds moving from a Dogwood shrub to the cattails and back. I first thought they were Juncos but they turned out to be American Tree Sparrows. I used to pass up on photos of this particular species because I saw them so frequently. But over the years I've come to realize they rarely give you good views and generally tend to perch in thick cover. I waited patiently for some time until one or two finally came out into the open. I didn't quite realize at the time but the colors of this bird really match it's environment here and it's no wonder they can blend in so well. I really wanted one to perch on the Red-Osier Dogwood you can see on the left side here but that never happened. As I started running out of daylight, I turned around at the duck pond and was headed back when I hear a distinct owl hoot. It sounded close but after scanning around I could not see anything. I tried following the sound and was either fooled about the direction, OR maybe I was hearing a second Owl, I'm not sure. Finally I honed in on one source long enough to make out a dark shape in a tree. I don't see Great Horned Owls often here on the south side so it was a nice surprise. As I approached many yards away, the Owl bumped from it's perch to a new one much further away. As I kept hiking it moved yet again, this time choosing to perch directly above the wood chip trail! Unfortunately it was very high up and the light had now turned ugly. I decided to take a guess at some different camera settings and I somehow managed to get something I could at least share here. It nearly looks like it's snowing out the sky is so white, but that's the camera compensating for the poor light. The Owl stayed perched here even as I walked directly underneath him and beyond. It was a memorable sighting for me.

Late February and First Red-winged Blackbirds!

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the park today or not. I had the day off of work but I have also been summoned for Jury Duty this week. After making my mid-day call, I learned I didn't need to report so I went for a long hike instead. Except for a few slightly cool (and average) days, today was another warmer-than-usual day for February. I believe we hit 48º or so and the sun was shining to boot. I wanted to check Shingle Creek on the north end of the park to see if any early waterfowl had returned yet, but all I found there was a lot of Mallards and a small group of Canada Geese. Shingle Creek has not been iced over for probably the entire month of February if not more, which is pretty unusual. There was also no sign of the Belted Kingfisher I spotted in the first week of this month. As I hiked around the south end of the park, I heard a familiar sound that I could not immediately place. It was a faint "chek" sound coming from my right. Then it hit me –a Red-winged Blackbird! The arrival of this bird (especially to the Palmer Lake area) each year has become an important observation as a sign of the coming Spring season. I swung around to my right, peering into the cattails and there he was! My first-of-year Red-winged Blackbird. I hiked in closer to the area in hopes of catching a better photo but it was not to be. In all of my previous years watching birds, my first RWBB's have always been spotted in March so to have seen them in February is a new record for me! As I continued on the south side I paused more than once to take in the golden light being cast over the cattails and tall grasses looking northward. This area is truly unique to find within such an urban area. In certain spots (like this one) you can forget that you are surrounded by urban sprawl on all sides. Today I was also carrying a new camera lens with me for the first time in over two years. I decided to give it a whirl on some of the Mallards in the "duck pond" on the southwest corner of the park. Both the light and the ducks were fairly cooperative so I got a few keepers. Surprisingly though I did not witness any mating behavior among them today. I guess they were too busy preening and soaking up the sun.