This Saturday morning was yet another sunny start to the weekend with an above average temperature. It's been easier to count the overcast days this winter as they've been the exception and not the rule -which is not normal. My walk today started off great with a fairly close sighting of a Northern Shrike right off the bat.
He was in a place I'd not spotted one before, overlooking a field on the far south side right along 69th Avenue. I actually heard him before I spotted him but by the time I did, I only managed a few shots before he took off in the direction I had just come from. Later as I was coming around the west end of the park, 5 or 6 Deer were walking across the baseball diamonds into the outfield. I stopped to watch and see and sure enough they all filed through the narrow opening in the chain link fence, across the trail and into the woods. It was the largest group of Deer I've seen in weeks. After letting them pass through I moved along and stopped where the trail kind of takes a hard right. In the trees above me there must have been around 300+ Starlings. I thought the last flock was the largest group I had ever seen but this flock was even bigger -and noisier!
I just sat right underneath them again listening to all of their odd sounds. I tried to capture a photo of the whole flock to show it's size but I could only ever get 1/3rd of them in one shot. Instead I tried to focus on one or two individuals and try to capture their iridescent plumage -which proved to be difficult when they were more or less directly above me. A lot of them were "puffed out" like this one. Amidst all the noise, I could also hear squawking of Crows somewhere behind the Starlings. As I moved on I realized just how loud the Crows were going at it and decided that they must have cornered a raptor of some kind. So I went back to where I started and found a Deer trail leading into the woods. I followed the sound of the Crows until I could see them circled around a faint lighter colored spot in the trees. I had to look with my binoculars at first to realize it was a Great Horned Owl. He was
very light grey in color and possibly the same one I'd seen earlier back in December.
I was facing him straight on and I knew he had seen me so it wouldn't be long before he bumped. I snapped just one or two pics before he did and landed further into the woods and perpendicular to me. I tried going in closer for some more shots but they just weren't working with the new angle. Decent Owl shots have really eluded me this winter, making me really appreciate the ones I had gotten last year.
He was in a place I'd not spotted one before, overlooking a field on the far south side right along 69th Avenue. I actually heard him before I spotted him but by the time I did, I only managed a few shots before he took off in the direction I had just come from. Later as I was coming around the west end of the park, 5 or 6 Deer were walking across the baseball diamonds into the outfield. I stopped to watch and see and sure enough they all filed through the narrow opening in the chain link fence, across the trail and into the woods. It was the largest group of Deer I've seen in weeks. After letting them pass through I moved along and stopped where the trail kind of takes a hard right. In the trees above me there must have been around 300+ Starlings. I thought the last flock was the largest group I had ever seen but this flock was even bigger -and noisier! 
I just sat right underneath them again listening to all of their odd sounds. I tried to capture a photo of the whole flock to show it's size but I could only ever get 1/3rd of them in one shot. Instead I tried to focus on one or two individuals and try to capture their iridescent plumage -which proved to be difficult when they were more or less directly above me. A lot of them were "puffed out" like this one. Amidst all the noise, I could also hear squawking of Crows somewhere behind the Starlings. As I moved on I realized just how loud the Crows were going at it and decided that they must have cornered a raptor of some kind. So I went back to where I started and found a Deer trail leading into the woods. I followed the sound of the Crows until I could see them circled around a faint lighter colored spot in the trees. I had to look with my binoculars at first to realize it was a Great Horned Owl. He was very light grey in color and possibly the same one I'd seen earlier back in December. 
I was facing him straight on and I knew he had seen me so it wouldn't be long before he bumped. I snapped just one or two pics before he did and landed further into the woods and perpendicular to me. I tried going in closer for some more shots but they just weren't working with the new angle. Decent Owl shots have really eluded me this winter, making me really appreciate the ones I had gotten last year.
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