Cranberry Marsh - Whitby - Blue Heron Hangout

Ok, this is the second weekend morning we've gotten up early to head out on a walk before 7am hoping to see these famous mom and baby deer that we keep hearing about. This morning, we got distracted by a hawk that was crying out from a distant tree. 2 hawks were flying around and you could hear them easily. They were small and appeared to be sharp shinned hawks.


As we were viewing the hawks, John saw the deer and then the babies were there. I missed them as the sun was in my eyes and the babies were hidden by tall grass and bushes and I am not tall enough to have been able to see them as easily as him. Later that day too, down at the shore line, we saw deer hoof prints in the sand. I wonder how freaking early we'd have to be to see a deer walking along the beach. I'd love to though! What a great lit shot that'd be early with the morning sunrise. There were surprisingly though, merganser ducks up on shore (you don't see that every day), a second missed photo opp as I thought they were just boring old mallards lol! I got one shot of them heading into the water as we approached closer. The geese were out and about, being tossed on the waves and also fighting the closer we got to them. Maybe they thought we had food, which we didn't.
There were literally hundreds of fledgling starlings. Not a well liked bird but so cool looking with their various stages of  left over spotted breasts and beigey rose baby feathers. Lots of king birds to be seen too.

When we got to Cranberyy Marsh, we were amazed to behold up to 50 or more great blue herons and many snowy egrets, and one little blue heron. Quite the heron hang out! Also, the king fisher was there again as were lots of terns. We saw a bird fly over our heads, carrying another smaller bird in it's grip - no idea what either was and I wished I had gotten a shot. I am fast with the camera but that sight was just Too fast for me.

We headed back to Lynde Shores, where we had parked and entered the marsh area. Lots of blue jays again, quite an assortment of squirrels of all 3 varieties, a nuthatch, fledgling cardinals, and tons of ducks. Again, not my most successful capture day as I missed number 3 perfect photo opp - a painted turtle up hanging on to a log in the water, just before he ducked back down in 3 seconds flat.