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Today wasn't as warm as it has been (we set a record just a few days ago, hitting 86°. While I enjoy the warm, it is a little concerning to be that close to 90 in April.) It was nice enough to want to be outside though, so we headed over to Pelican Pond. There have been pelicans there a few times this year already, but none today.
(Glad we took advantage of the nice day; Friday - Sunday we might be getting snow. Sobcry.)
It does make me feel a little better to get to go outside and do things, even if the boost is a bit temporary, so that's another reason to be glad.
Bella made it all the way around, though she was pretty tired for the last third of it or so. We'll get her endurance built back up yet!
When we first got there, before we'd even gotten out of the car, we saw a cloud of seagulls take off, all milling around in the air above the lake. They were reacting to an eagle! The eagle was hunting, making some really dramatic swooping dives toward the water, but I don't think it caught anything. After a couple minutes, it flew off into the trees. (I of course couldn't get any good pictures from the parking lot, haha.)
The apple trees were blooming and they smell absolutely wonderful.
Hint of pink!
Pink! I think these are crabapples.
More pink!
Golden banner.
A chickadee! I love them.
A spotted towhee!
Another little chickadee.
Once we'd made it to the far side of the lake, the eagle came back! It was circling fairly high, so still no great pictures, but at least you can see that it was there, haha.
We saw the eagle a third time, too. It always seemed to decide to land on the opposite side of wherever we were at the time, haha.
While I am still very excited when I get to see eagles, it's also exciting that it no longer feels like an Event. When I was a kid, it was a rarity to see them at all: there was one place they nested every year, but other than that one place, it was something that might happen every few years if you were lucky.
A "bachelor flock" of ducks.
Nice green head and bright orange feet. (Also a goose nesting in the background.)
A flicker! This one had a brief fight on the ground with another flicker and won the chance to eat some ants, but then flew up to the tree a minute or so later.
I did also find about half of a mostly-skeletal cormorant. It's kind of cool, but not everyone wants to see dead critters, so it gets its own section:
On the sort of beachy area... the skull and neck of a cormorant. I think it's sort of cool to see the shape of the beak so clearly, with the little hook that I imagine makes catching fish underwater a little easier. (There was also a wing and the keelbone nearby, but I didn't take pictures of those.)
While there are plenty of potential predators, I do wonder if this might have been the result of a successful eagle's hunt. (It could also be coyote or fox, but it seems less likely they'd succeed in catching a bird that spends so much time in the water or on islands/up high trees.)
(Glad we took advantage of the nice day; Friday - Sunday we might be getting snow. Sobcry.)
It does make me feel a little better to get to go outside and do things, even if the boost is a bit temporary, so that's another reason to be glad.
Bella made it all the way around, though she was pretty tired for the last third of it or so. We'll get her endurance built back up yet!
When we first got there, before we'd even gotten out of the car, we saw a cloud of seagulls take off, all milling around in the air above the lake. They were reacting to an eagle! The eagle was hunting, making some really dramatic swooping dives toward the water, but I don't think it caught anything. After a couple minutes, it flew off into the trees. (I of course couldn't get any good pictures from the parking lot, haha.)
The apple trees were blooming and they smell absolutely wonderful.
Four more pictures of flowers:
Hint of pink!
Pink! I think these are crabapples.
More pink!
Golden banner.
A chickadee! I love them.
A spotted towhee!
Five more pictures of various birds:
Another little chickadee.
Once we'd made it to the far side of the lake, the eagle came back! It was circling fairly high, so still no great pictures, but at least you can see that it was there, haha.
We saw the eagle a third time, too. It always seemed to decide to land on the opposite side of wherever we were at the time, haha.
While I am still very excited when I get to see eagles, it's also exciting that it no longer feels like an Event. When I was a kid, it was a rarity to see them at all: there was one place they nested every year, but other than that one place, it was something that might happen every few years if you were lucky.
A "bachelor flock" of ducks.
Nice green head and bright orange feet. (Also a goose nesting in the background.)
A flicker! This one had a brief fight on the ground with another flicker and won the chance to eat some ants, but then flew up to the tree a minute or so later.
I did also find about half of a mostly-skeletal cormorant. It's kind of cool, but not everyone wants to see dead critters, so it gets its own section:
One picture of a dead bird. Mostly skeletal.
On the sort of beachy area... the skull and neck of a cormorant. I think it's sort of cool to see the shape of the beak so clearly, with the little hook that I imagine makes catching fish underwater a little easier. (There was also a wing and the keelbone nearby, but I didn't take pictures of those.)
While there are plenty of potential predators, I do wonder if this might have been the result of a successful eagle's hunt. (It could also be coyote or fox, but it seems less likely they'd succeed in catching a bird that spends so much time in the water or on islands/up high trees.)
