Sunny end to April

This has been nicest, warmest April in a long long time and it feels like Summer is just around the corner. I saw four deer on the north side but they all eluded my camera lens. I did notice that a few families of Mallards have just had their babies. They are funny to watch as they almost run across the water trying to keep up. The warm sun made for some nice views on the south side and when I got to the mouth of the lake the Carp were jumping out of the water like crazy. One or two would leap out, flop around and splash back in about every minute or so. I unintentionally managed to catch one in the left hand side of this photo. Shortly after a Muskrat came swimming by and I snapped this pic right before he headed into the cattails. It's kind of neat to see their long rat-like tail. The sun continued with a nice orange sunset.

Earth Day

It was fitting that my record fifth daily visit to the park fell on Earth Day. Even better was that I saw a record 19 deer in one visit! Of course, the last eight or nine could have easily been the same ones I'd seen earlier as the park is just not that big :) The first group I saw on the west side was large but I estimated on the low side at eight. I think then I saw two more, then four more near the bird feeders on the north side, then three more, then two more. They were just everywhere I looked which was pretty fun. Out of all those groups though, I only captured 2 pics worthy of posting and they're of individual deer. I don't remember but I think both of these were from the large group of eight on the west side. After crossing the bridge on the north side I got a surprise as an owl darted out right in front of me and perched in a tree looking over the middle of the park. It was exciting because I just don't see owls here outside of winter time. I figure they must be there in other seasons but seriously, you'd think they're flying south in the springtime because it's rare I see them otherwise. It was getting dark by this time but I was even more excited to see it was a Barred Owl as they are even a bit more uncommon here. Birds of all sizes and colors were out at dusk and it's hard to tell for sure but I think some of them were Brown-headed cowbirds.

Nature's Jackhammer

Today marks my fourth consecutive visit to the park this week. I'm glad I set a goal for more frequent visits as you just never know what you might see. Tonight was certainly no exception as I came across two Pileated Woodpeckers together on the north side. My previous encounters with these birds have been much further away but this evening I was finally able to view them VERY close up! It started as I noticed just one at ground level hammering away at a fallen tree. I found it tough to get a photo of him (or her) as it was so interested in the log that it would crawl towards the underside and disappear beneath the underbrush. I must have taken 50+ photos before I caught one decent one. In addition, this bird hammers away at dead wood like nothing I've ever seen before. After the second bird hopped up onto the same log I had the rare opportunity to see both a male and female at the same time. Together, they made short work of the log and I even saw one of them prying large chunks of bark off with their beak. I tried hard for a shot with both of them together but they never really got close enough. During the long time I watched them, I krept closer ever so slowly and quietly as not to scare the away. I did hear their call a couple times and it immediately made me think of Woody Woodpecker as it was kind of a crazy kind of "laugh." As close as I was, I took close to 100 shots before catching just a few of these blog-worthy pics. While they weren't hammering away, they would pause and pitch their head in about 2-3 different directions within about two seconds. So these photos were no easy task with my $200 point and shoot camera! Note the female has only a partial red "cap" versus the male's complete red cap. The male also had a red "moustache" behind the beak compared to black behind the beak on the female. Quite the subtle difference!

Deer in the same spot

Though this blog is nearing it's one year anniversary, I've actually been visiting Palmer Lake somewhat regularly for closer to three years now. In that time I've noticed that I'll rarely see deer in the same spot twice. If indeed I do spot them in the same area twice, I'll never see them there a third time. Maybe that has more to do with how often I visit, but it does seem consistent. Tonight I again saw a couple deer foraging underneath the Buckthorn bushes on the west side. This is the same place where a group of eight were feeding on April 7th. I think there must be something growing here that is attracting them. My friend and I ended up spotting seven or eight deer tonight especially near sunset. This is obviously the best time to see deer but the worst time to photograph them. Here's the only one that turned out later this evening.