Beautiful Winter Day

Saturday was more reminiscent of an early spring day versus an early winter's day.  Frost was on the boardwalk over the pond early in the morning but quickly burned off as the sun rose higher.  By the end of the day temperatures had risen to about 63.

I didn't stay too long as I had a breakfast get together to attend.  There were lots of Canada Geese on the pond when I first arrived but most of my shots looked horrible.  By the time the light was good, they had all taken off.



I did take one shot of an unusually marked goose that stood out among the other geese.  A quirk of Mother nature.

Merry Christmas

Winter Solstice - Bare Trees, Gray Days

Winter Solstice will occur locally at 1803 EST today.  The winter solstice occurs when the sun has reached its most southerly declination of 23.5 degrees.  Today we will have 9 hours and 43 minutes of light.  Want to know info about your geographical location?  Check here.

One good thing, it is all up hill from here on with the number of daylight hours gradually increasing.  This morning it is gray, overcast and cool.  These photos seem to match the mood of the day.

Terraforming

The beavers have been actively working to create a new "pond" area.  It has been interesting to watch over a couple of years as they have built step down ponds in the wetlands.  The area they flooded last year has essentially gone dry this year as the creek has reverted to its original course of flow.

The beavers are now working on a series of mini ponds on the opposite side of the wetlands which is the natural flow of the creek.  During periods of heavy rain, portions of the dam will get washed away but the beavers will generally quickly repair the area.

In their latest effort,  and while there are sections where tree limbs have been used, the majority of this dam building is using packed mud.  They are truly nature's engineers.

Kingfisher

The female Kingfisher was quite active at the pond today.  She chattered and flew about fussing at an immature Red-shouldered Hawk that was sitting nearby.

Yesterday my friend caught a shot of what I feel sure is the same hawk chasing after the Kingfisher.  The hawk today did not try to go after it but conserved energy focusing on the small birds under it.

I had hoped that the Northern Shovlers were still there today but no such luck.  This time of year things come through, spend the night on the pond then take off for parts unknown.

The mallards of course were still on the pond.  When the hawk flew down after something close to where this mallard was, it spooked and took off to a safer position in the middle of the pond.

Northern Shovlers

After a rainy, gray day yesterday it was nice to see the sun out this morning.  I headed to the park early and found lots of N. Shovlers had arrived.  I wished I had taken my long lens with me but had planned mostly on doing some macro stuff.

I think I will go back in the morning with the long lens and see what else I can get.  I would like to get some shots of the large group but they were too far out with the lens I had today.

These are such odd looking ducks with their large flat bill.  I get tickled at them swimming in circles with their head under water.  They definitely have their own technique for stirring up food.

Mallards

Beauty in the common.  The electric emerald green of the drake's head is a sharp contrast to the shades of brown in the landscape this time of year.  The hen, with her patterned feathers in muted colors has a gentle beauty of her own.