It's been almost 2 weeks since my last visit and I am surprised that the warm and mild weather is sill hanging on. Not only that but there are parts of the park that are just now displaying their best Fall colors. As I've said before, Palmer Lake Park is not a good place to see Fall foliage -being it mostly a swamp, overgrown with invasive Buckthorn trees.
Even so, it had it's moments today against the rich, blue Autumn sky. This particular view on the north side was one that stuck in my memory from earlier in the year, on a day with lots of frost. How different it looked now. A few other things caught my attention around the park today including busy Squirrels, Chickadees, Deer, Wood Ducks and more Starlings. I am just now learning to recognize and remember the Starling's unique "slide-whistle" sounding call.
When I came back around to the south side I spotted a large number of Coots out in the water. Other than maybe Canada Geese, I think this is probably the largest number of one species I've ever seen together at the park. I didn't even try to count them all, and this photo only shows a small section of them. Not much later I was making my way back to the parking lot and ran into another acquaintance I know only from the park. As we stood talking about what we'd seen today, he pointed out a "Marsh Hawk" over the water near the center of the park.
I'd never seen one before -or at least knew how to identify one. It didn't take too long before we could see the tell tale white "rump patch" as it swooped upwards. A Marsh Hawk is properly known as a Northern Harrier and a new bird species I can add to my list. As we both watched the clear blue sky, more birds of prey came into view, including a Red-tailed Hawk and also a juvenile Bald Eagle. To our delight, the young Bald Eagle and the Harrier decided to play a friendly game of dogfight in which the two would both show off their aerial skills by playfully attacking each other. It was pretty fun to watch -especially through binoculars.
While this was going on, the Red-tailed Hawk glided along much higher up in the sky, almost an invisible speck. Also, here is the first photo from today combined with the photo I remember taking in early February. If you think the top photo was in black and white you would be mistaken. But I can sure see why one might assume that when you compare it to the bottom photo. Click on the photo for a larger view.
Even so, it had it's moments today against the rich, blue Autumn sky. This particular view on the north side was one that stuck in my memory from earlier in the year, on a day with lots of frost. How different it looked now. A few other things caught my attention around the park today including busy Squirrels, Chickadees, Deer, Wood Ducks and more Starlings. I am just now learning to recognize and remember the Starling's unique "slide-whistle" sounding call. 
When I came back around to the south side I spotted a large number of Coots out in the water. Other than maybe Canada Geese, I think this is probably the largest number of one species I've ever seen together at the park. I didn't even try to count them all, and this photo only shows a small section of them. Not much later I was making my way back to the parking lot and ran into another acquaintance I know only from the park. As we stood talking about what we'd seen today, he pointed out a "Marsh Hawk" over the water near the center of the park. 
I'd never seen one before -or at least knew how to identify one. It didn't take too long before we could see the tell tale white "rump patch" as it swooped upwards. A Marsh Hawk is properly known as a Northern Harrier and a new bird species I can add to my list. As we both watched the clear blue sky, more birds of prey came into view, including a Red-tailed Hawk and also a juvenile Bald Eagle. To our delight, the young Bald Eagle and the Harrier decided to play a friendly game of dogfight in which the two would both show off their aerial skills by playfully attacking each other. It was pretty fun to watch -especially through binoculars. 
While this was going on, the Red-tailed Hawk glided along much higher up in the sky, almost an invisible speck. Also, here is the first photo from today combined with the photo I remember taking in early February. If you think the top photo was in black and white you would be mistaken. But I can sure see why one might assume that when you compare it to the bottom photo. Click on the photo for a larger view.
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