Friday, March 29, 2013

Owls and Ducks

Happy Easter to all that celebrate Easter! What a beautiful Good Friday it was. The weather here was in the 50's(F) and the sun was out most of the day. The wind was a little cool but still a very, very nice day. We just had to get out for a walk. First we went to Paxton Bush and we saw some fellows standing around with huge cameras so of course, we wandered over towards them and they waved to us to join them. Then we found out what they were filming -  a female Great Horned owl sitting on her nest. She had two baby owls but they were not clearly visible. Here's a few shots I got of her - and them - sort of, of them! We were no more then 20 feet from her and in fact I got a little closer for a couple of shots. She ignored us.

Up close and personal - and not too happy about it??

The sun was out and the babies came out a bit. That whitish fur on her right is one of the babies.
She's a little washed out because I didn't have time to adjust the camera because the babies don't stay up long and I really wanted to get a picture of them. Still not a great shot so we are going to go back in a few days to see if they are out more.

Here she is just sitting there keeping an eye on us.
 
 
 
So after we watched her for awhile and finished the trail thru the bush we went over to the Mudd Creek trail and walked another 50 minutes or so. I took two pictures of ducks on that trail, both ducks being just a wee bit different.
 

Here's the first one:
 
I'm pretty sure this is an American Wigeon but they are not usually in this area so I'm waiting for confirmation from the naturalist at Rondeau Park - or for her to tell me what it is. Pretty duck and I'm glad I got to see it what ever it is.

*****March 30 - I have heard back from the naturalist at Rondeau Park and this is indeed an American Wigeon. They migrate thru this area and they have seen several of them on Lake Erie other years. My Peterson Field Guide that I keep by my computer is the oldest one and obviously, there have been changes.


This is the second duck - I call this one the Mallard on Steroids

The duck in the back is about 4 inches from the duck in the front. The duck in the front is the standard size for a male Mallard. The duck behind him is huge - at least twice the size of the average duck - looks like he had to be on steroids! We've seen a lot of Mallards in our hiking, but never seen one that large before. Interesting day for sure.





1 comment:

  1. Excellent shots of the birds Vi! Especially love the owl :)

    It was so very nice to see the sunshine today.

    ReplyDelete

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