Wild and Windy Day

I went out for a little while this morning before the wind picked up too much.  Winds have been building from the northwest all afternoon 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph and feels like they are coming off ice.

I went out to watch the otters for a bit this morning.  They really put on a show.  I try to enjoy them while they are here as their visit is all to brief.  They swirled and played in the water, running up on the banks and sliding back in the water.  It was like watching children at play.




I was thrilled to see a Wood Duck on the pond this morning.  It has been a disappointing winter without them.  Hopefully additional will come in for nesting.  Not many brave souls out in the cold and wind this morning and the creatures responded to the quite by coming close in.









A usual visitor, the Great Blue Heron was not so skittish this morning.




The Cooper's Hawk sat nearby intently watching for an opportunistic meal.  All in all despite the weather, it was a really good morning.

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Sunny Sunday Shots

My friend and I met at the park early in hopes of seeing the Wood Duck but no such luck. We were both disappointed. Disappointment soon turned to thrill as we spotted what had upset a group of Mallards that were hanging out. At first I thought it was possibly one of the beavers that live in the pond, but more exciting, a pair of otters. They swam about diving and swirling in the water. What a fun to watch.

Moving on to the back part of the park where the deer hang but no luck. Runners had already come through. A brief look about and on to another part of the park to see if possibly the Wood Duck was hanging out there.

We decided to take on last walk and see over the main bridge and got another thrill. A juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk flew in close. After a few minutes, it made a futile attempt to dive at some of the Mallards. The two photos of flight are during the attempt on the ducks. No luck.

It flew to a tree and sat with its back to us for the longest time. We laughed saying it was embarrassed by its attempt at the ducks.

The Kingfisher that usually hangs out in that tree was in the next tree over fussing and being indignant that the hawk was in its tree. The hawk made a move towards the end of the limb and we expected it to take off towards the Kingfisher but it only turned and watched us for a while. We continued to watch it for a long time hoping that when it flew we would get some good in flight shots. It was determined however it was not and after 20 minutes or so of watching it we left.

All and all, a very good day!