Out of the Garden 1-11-09

This morning as we were heading toward our birding destination I could tell that we were going to have a good day of birding because as you can see there was a break in the clouds and the sun was shining. The Sun was playing peek a boo through the clouds all day.My Dearly Beloved took all of the following photos. I want to thank him for sharing these with us.

Driving through Saunders Woods on our way to the power plant area we were delighted to see a Barred Owl sitting not too far off the road. He gave us the evil eye before he took off for a quiet place to rest for the day.
Standing sentinel as we entered the power plant area was a dapper Great Blue Heron. He is beginning to sport his breeding plummage as you can see the feathers out the back of his head and the feathers on his chest blowing in the wind that kept it cold today despite the sun.

We came upon this American Kesteral with his breakfast. He must have been hungry to allow us to get close enough to take his picture. Normally they fly when you get very close at all.He went on with his meal as we didn't want to disturb him.

Another great look was give to us by a male Common Goldeneye. They are such beautiful ducks. We usually don't get this close to them either. He was another hungy soul. Now you see him... bloop, now you don't. They are diving ducks and he went under all the way. DB caught him mid dive. Toward the end of our birding day we drove by the Bald Eagles nest. We knew there was something there because another car was stopped in the road near by. Sure enough there was a pair of adult Bald Eagles sitting side by side near the nest. This is a sight you usually only see during mating season. They pair up and remodel the nest together while bonding.

This was such a great way to end the day, the weekend. I hope you all had a great weekend and are well rested.