Flying Bird Weekend - Ducks, Swans, Owls, Hawks, and Swallows

Had an exciting weekend of walks and sightings, amongst a family get together and a makeover too :-)

On top of seeing the wild turkeys (previous post), we were thrilled witnesses to many flying birds of all kinds and sizes. It began with swans flying right over our heads, like huge white 747s. Then, we realized the Tree swallows are back and flying and swooping close to our heads in many cases. I cannot believe I aimed and got one semi-decent  shot of one of these speeding birds. Then, there appears a Red Tailed Hawk, gliding hunting pretty much right above us as well, though high above. On top of this, last weekend, we had walked at another location before heading home to make din din and don't we get to see the Great Horned Owl, the boy, leave one tree to go sit in another. I waited till he got into an open sky space and I took one shot, managing to catch a far away but semi half decent pic of him. We were so amazed to actually get to see one of these owls fly.

Not quite flight, but we were also witness to a goose and swan fight on these very same ventures out. Crazy birds lol! All getting territorial and preparing to nest.

Short Walk on my Short Work Day

I had some lieu time to take, about 3 hrs, so I got to leave work at noonish Friday. I was excited as I'd be home long before dark time and we could do a walk on a weekday, which is always enjoyable.

Well, it certainly was Not +12 like Wednesday, in fact, with the wind chill it was -18 lol! We did go, kind of halfway hoping we'd see a Sawhet owl that 3 different people we've run into have mentioned they'd spotted. Typically, I am not one for going out specifically to look for something as I enjoy the walks for the walks first, then love the surprise of seeing something cool or interesting or exciting. Otherwise, there is that chance of being disappointed because one didn't see what they hoped to see - it's like that for me anyway.

Well, we got there and a guy had his shepherd running loose in the area where my boyfriend mentioned the owl is seen usually. So, no way was I going to walk around there. We figured we'd look a bit on the way back to our car. Venturing into another area, we startled a deer in the small tree and bush area, which scared the crap out of me at first. What a beautiful and large animal it was. It ran and we saw that down below in the valley, it joined a group of about 4 or 5 other deer and they headed away. I'd never seen deer there and was surprised by coming upon one.

In a different area, we happened to spot the Great Horned owl (not me though, my eyesight tends to suck). It was nice to see that it seemed fine and was still present as we'd not seen it for a while. It was dozy, turning its head slowly in the direction of some far off sound. They are always so high up that getting a photo of them is very difficult with my lens. Seeing it here, you'd think we were very close but at the height they usually are, I can barely see them with my naked eye. Nice to have a couple shots though, to recall in the future how lucky we were to have seen them.

We never looked for the Sawhet even though the guy and his dog were gone because we were freezing so we booted it back to the car and went home to make dinner and watch a movie.

Smorgasbord of Wildlife! Virginia Rail and Owl Family Treat!

Virginia Rail

We've been pretty damn lucky lately, in our own area even, to see some first time ever sights. While walking around in the forest east of us, we ran into people there who let us know there was a Great Horned Owl family.  People were being generously allowed, by a resident home owner, to come onto his property and view through his telescope, a baby owl and mom owl. The dad owl was a bit farther away on a different tree. It was a once in a life time amazing thrill to have that privilege! I could only get semi ok shots as I have only a 105mm old manual Nikkor lens. We saw other birds in the same area.....Magnolia Warblers, Kinglets, a Cat Bird, and Magpies.

We also were excited to see the deer for the first time, and a Virginia Rail, as well as some other kind of rail...maybe a Sora. The squirrels and muskrats of course, we always see.

Sora

Cat Bird

Baby Horned Owl