I like to be out early. Is this what you’d call the crack of dawn? The clouds were certainly broken, if not cracked. (For those just joining us, you can click on the picture below to get to a higher-res version you can zoom into.)

Up at the end of the lake, I found a Heron and an Egret hanging out, and they didn’t seem to mind my hanging out there too, as long as I kept my distance (or, really, their distance).

In fact, it surprised be a bit when the Egret decided to come over to my side of the lake. Maybe she didn’t get along with the Heron…


These fawns were hanging out on the shore.

While other Herons were conducting tree-top operations.

This Eastern Phoebe was working the trees along the shore.


Ooh, make that two Eastern Phoebes.

Moving to the other end of the lake, I floated into this little backwater lagoon and, odd, I don’t remember there being a rock there…

Or two rocks … and why did that small rock seem to be pushing around the big one?

Oh….

Not too bad a day for pictures. Of course, I came back from the lake with 261 images in the camera. Here’s the ones that are worth anything… (As usual, you can click on the picture to get to a higher-resolution version.)

The Saturday morning boat race had just gone by, and when the lake is still and just a little bit scummy, boats will leave a trail.

I got to the northeast end of the lake in time to find a Kingfisher…. well, this is where he was:

Oh, there she goes!

Over there in that tree…

With the other Kingfisher. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten two in one picture:

All this was being watched by an Osprey. Here’s a rare picture of a wild bird coming towards the camera.

Gotta include a Heron picture. This one was keeping an eye on me from across the lake.

…while I was taking pictures of the Killdeer. With the water down a fair bit, there’s more mud flats for them to pick around in.

No sooner did I remark about the dearth of Herons in my last post that I started seeing ’em all over the place. So, to make up for that, this will be a bit of a Great Blue Heron special.

I’ve noticed that they often drag their feet in the water to scrub off speed prior to landing:

then hop up a bit:

(Um, yeah, that’s what I’m really doing when it looks like I bounced the airplane on the runway.) Despite assertions by some to the contrary, I do believe birds can, and do, stall their wings. They just do it with very tight control and exactly when they want to, like these Herons making what human fliers would call a full-stall landing:



All that flying requires regular airframe maintenance:

Oh, yeah, the Osprey are still working their nest on top of the intake. I didn’t see any little ones this time, but this parent is obviously protective of someone:

Just a couple of weeks ago I noted the little goslings floating around with their parents on the lake, little tiny things. My, how fast they grow (as usual, click on the picture to get to a higher-resolution version):

The Osprey have been busy too, with at least one in the nest:

I spotted this one as he pulled breakfast out of the lake, perhaps to feed a family:

Obligatory Great Blue Heron picture… I hadn’t seen quite as many around the lake as usual, but maybe they, like everyone else this time of year, are busy.

I don’t think ornithologists would describe this Cyanocitta cristata as a shore bird, but that’s where I saw this one:

There was evidently something there of interest:

and worth carrying off:

One more of those little places on the lake I like to hang out:

The morning started with a spectacular show by the rising sun…

…which the lake denizens took in:

The rest of these I’m going to call “art”. That sounds better than “what happens when you try to take action shots of a Great Blue Heron with really poor lighting”.

What’s that expression about how the Heron flies?

No, that’s not right … it’s “How the Osprey flies…”

Crow! That’s it! It’s “How the Crow flies”!

In aerodynamics, drag is directly related to “frontal area”, or how much surface area is presented to the oncoming air. Birds don’t have a lot of frontal area in their flight configuration:

The Osprey are nesting on top of the intake structure. Best of luck to ’em!

I’m pretty sure this is a Bonaparte’s Gull, found hangin’ out near the dam, and probably on her way to breeding grounds, as they’re considered transients in this area:

(as usual, click on a picture to get to a higher-resolution version)