Summer will be here soon but Summer temperatures have already arrived. Sixty two degrees at 6:15 AM. Weather forecasts are calling for the high nineties today so I guess things could be worse.
When we arrived at the park the first thing I did was swing past the heron nest before parking. There seemed to be no activity so Whisper and I proceeded to complete the first leg of the morning’s walk. This first portion was pretty uneventful except for the sighting of two turkeys right at the start. I tried to close in for a clear shot but Whisper and I are anything but stealthy and my two intended victims beat it into the brush. For such large birds they sure can move fast when properly motivated.
Things really perked up when we got back to the car because an adult heron flew in and landed near the nest. It didn’t take long for me to deposit Whisper into the car and switch lenses for maximum reach. My pulse got another jolt as I was approaching when I noticed two babies in the nest. I’m going to call them babies because they are pretty well developed and seem too big to be called “chicks.” Needless to say I shot quite a few pictures. Today’s featured image (above) is a family portrait with both adults and two siblings. After I shot the family portrait I did some more moving around to try for a better angle. This turned out to be counterproductive in that both adults flew off. At first I was disappointed but then I noticed that there were not just two “little” ones – there were three! The image below is the result of that discovery.
Sightings:
Birds: Starlings, Robin, Swallows, Osprey, Cormorant, Kingbird, Bullock’s Oriole, Mallard Ducks, Flicker, Great Blue Heron, Turkey
Critters: Mule Deer, Cottontail Rabbit, Squirrel
Flicker at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado 
Osprey comes in for a landing over the Arkansas River at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado