The weather finally decided to warm up, and it was a super day to go paddle around the lake. The water level is up, so I was able to poke around in the woods and marshy areas up at the northeast end of the lake, but there was wildlife action all up and down the lake. Spring is here, no question about it. As usual, high-res images are available by clicking on the picture below.

One sure sign of spring: lots of pollen:

A local pair of Osprey use the top of the water intake structure as a nesting platform. They’re back again this year, and I was present for the changing of the guard. You can see one of ’em down low on the nest as the other one lands. Another sure sign of Spring.

Turtles were out sunning all over the lake. I don’t think I’ve ever see this many in one place:

Cormorants were all over the place too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many in one place:

I’ve talked before about how difficult it is to get a good picture of a Kingfisher. I caught this one with a beak-full. Dinner time!

A mystery bird. The shape makes me think of a Heron of some sort, maybe an American Bittern, but the markings don’t seem to be prominent enough. If this was a Bittern, they were probably migrating through.

This is a new one on me: a Prothonotary Warbler. All About Birds says this bird is found in southeastern wooded swamps, which is exactly where I saw this one:

Beavers have been at work, explaining all the hidden ponds up at the northeast end of the lake:

As I was leaving the northeast end of the lake, I found about a half-dozen geese between me and the main lake. I managed to talk my way out of there and avoid capture. 🙂

This is the first of what I hope to be a regular feature here: creatures seen, and photographed around Lake Rabon. As usual, click on the picture for the full-resolution version from Picasaweb.

I took advantage of a warm Friday afternoon off to do some much-overdue boating out on the lake. At first it seemed like spring has been thoroughly dampened by the cold weather we’ve had lately, but a little observation showed that things were still well under way. I saw two Osprey circling each other and calling, and this little Carolina Chickadee in the real estate market:

Also taking advantage of the warm weather were the turtles:

Cormorants executing a formation landing, sort of:

I wasn’t close enough to get real good pictures of the action, but this montage captures an Osprey collecting lunch:

And, of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron in-flight picture (here in cruise flight):

Today I attended a session on nature photography at the Lake Conestee Nature Park, a neat restored natural place on the Reedy River right in the Big City (in my out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere opinion) Greenville, SC Metro area. The session was put on by professional nature photographers Ben Keys and Clay Bolt. The session was both entertaining and useful. I’ve got some more things to try with my camera now.

A couple of the attendees are wildlife rehabilitaters. After all the photography, we were honored to be present while they released a barred owl that had been rescued after getting his head stuck in a chain-link fence. Click on the picture to get to some more pictures of the event.

I wasn’t sure how good this picture really was since I had to fiddle with the exposure after the fact, but a friend said it was one of my best yet. So, captured last week, here it is (as usual, click on the picture for the expanded version):