Blog – Page 85 – CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography

Great Horned Owl

The wind and showers did let up a little at the end of the day allowing for a short walk. I headed out to the North 40 as I had seen a report of some Lazuli Bunting being sighted there along with some Western Tanager. The Buntings have been fairly consistent in this area the last few years. A quick check of the usual spots was not turning up anything. While checking some of the tree lines I got side tracked by another recent regular.

This Great Horned Owl was roosting in a stand of old Oak trees. This was the first time I had seen it out in the open. Usually it has been tucked away high up and behind branches. Now I will just have to keep checking for the Buntings over the long weekend.

Sandhill Crane Chick

I received a heads up a couple of days ago about the first hole appearing in the egg on the Sandhill Crane nest. Unfortunately I was not able to head out to Reifel until this morning to help out with the newsletter. As luck would have it the chick had hatched just prior to my arrival. Needless to say when the Marshnotes stuff was done I made my way to the nesting site.

It was not long before the female Sandhill Crane got up and provided us with a look at the new arrival. As the chick will become mobile within a day or two, it won’t be long before the adults accompany it as it swims to shore so they can start feeding it. A temporary trail closure is already in place in anticipation of this to minimize disturbance by visitors.

Bonus shots of the day,

… the Cinnamon Teal were still around the inner ponds.

Phalarope & Teal

A beautiful day and lots of people out enjoying it at Reifel this afternoon. There was some activity in the outer ponds with Dunlin, Western Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs and Long-billed Dowitcher present.

The highlight though was this lone Wilson’s Phalarope.

Even better was that it was coming in close to the dyke trail.

It was getting everyone’s attention,

… which is not so hard being quite pretty and standing out from the crowd.

At the end of the day on my way out I stopped by the inner pond to check for the Cinnamon Teal which was seen again earlier in the day.

It was initially foraging back in the reeds,

… but with a little patience it did make its way somewhat closer. The fact nobody else was around probably helped as they are usually quite shy and leery of people. A nice end to a fun afternoon.