The Blue Heron Holds Court

To say it was an amazing day, is an understatement...at least for the variety of birds/ducks that I saw. It began early in a very dark cloudy almost raining sort of way when I saw a hawk near a crosswalk on West Union...of course I had to stop. He didn't stay around too long, but I found a sweet little downy woodpecker and a few other ducks, and proceeded to get rather muddy, ha! (well, you have to go check things out, don't you?)

Then it really started to rain, so I had to pull out my IPhone to figure out how long it was going to last...ah, good -- just a small passing shower. So I headed over to the pond near Imbrie & 229th and it was full of activity. Right off I noticed the blue heron, and then a kingfisher who was busy fishing! I decided to take the approach really slow, and then began to notice all sorts of other ducks...a hooded merganser, some teals, shovelers, ringed necked ducks...such a variety all in one small spot. I spent quite a while taking photos and then "off the entire pond" flew! Some circled back and landed, but the majority were gone. I decided to head home, via the "sentry tree" to check on the eagles. And YES one was on the sentry tree crying it's heart out...I'm not sure why they do this, but over and over he/she wailed...tipping it's head back and crying to the heavens. Then it would almost double over in despair. The poor thing. It was really a bit heart wrenching to watch. I'm sure it was just crying out to it's mate..."I've got dinner on the table, where are you?" Whatever it was doing, it didn't garner much attention from anything, and he/she finally flew off towards the wetlands.

To see more of today's photos, visit my flickr photos.