June 06, 2020

An oddly overcast morning made me decide to skip today’s outing altogether. But my loyal and pesky dog, Whisper, was not hearing of it! He essentially demanded that I take him for his walk. So we got going on the trail around 6:30 in 60 degree temps and really lousy light.

Since the sky looked so gloomy I elected to go out with only my 55-200mm lens. That turned out to be not such a great decision. On the trail section of our walk that is close to the Arkansas River I spotted a Great Horned Owl pretty far into the woods. He was heavily back-lit so I didn’t even attempt a shot. Later on, as we were passing the Heron nest, I saw that it was being attended by an adult Heron. I had to move pretty far down the trail to get the big bird into the best light possible and clear of obstructing leaves which put the target of my shot pretty distant. What I got is today’s featured image above. That pretty much covers my bird photography for the day. I did manage to snap a few shots of some wildflowers that are finally starting to bloom in the park. Those images are in the gallery below.

One item of note occurred on the trip into the park. As I was driving along the narrow road between our normal walking site and the Osprey Picnic Area (where I had decided to walk today) I saw a rather plump bird with a prominent crest on his head sitting on a fence post. The circumstances of the sighting prevented me from even the hope of getting a picture so I have been forced to depend on my memory to aid in an identification. After some looking through my National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (Western Region) the best ID I can make is Scaled Quail. If that is what it was then that is a new bird for me. I am going to try to get another one into my viewfinder in a future outing.

Sightings:
Birds: Robins, Swallows, Osprey, Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Meadowlark, Canada Geese, Great Horned Owl, (Possible) Scaled Quail
Critters: None

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Gear: Nikon D5100, 55-200mm