As New Year’s Day can be busy at Reifel, I headed out there this afternoon to assist with visitors on the trails. On my way in along the driveway something caught my attention in Robertson Slough.
This Common Merganser had caught itself quite the prize.
So much so, it was really struggling trying to get it down.
Finally, after about 15 minutes, it managed to get it down the hatch.
On arriving in the parking lot, there were good numbers of visitors today, but it was not overly crowded. Before starting my walk I was informed of a couple of birds of interest. A Barred Owl and an immature Northern Goshawk.
No sooner had I started down the trails a Red-tailed Hawk showed up.
The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the larger buteos,
… and common in this area year round. Large enough they will hunt ducks, so a place like this can be like a smorgasbord to them.
This younger Red-tailed Hawk seems to frequent the ponds regularly.
No luck on locating the Barred Owl or Northern Goshawk, but the rest of the afternoon was still enjoyable speaking with the many visitors and answering questions.