Another early start had us on the trail this morning with mostly sunny skies and a little toasty 65 degree temperature. Summer is starting to rear its ugly head. As the temps continue to rise each morning I will be forced to start rolling out of bed even earlier. One advantage with arriving early is the chance to get some great prairie landscape sunrise shots like today’s featured image.
Three notable events emerged from today’s outing. Probably the most exciting was spotting a young Great Horned Owl perched in a tree just checking things out. I think this is only my second owl of 2020 – I was starting to worry that something had happened to the owls at LPSP. Next event occurred at the Heron nest that I have been keeping an eye on. I was starting to think that the nest had been abandoned but there was one of the gorgeous birds sitting there this morning. Unfortunately my approach to try to get a shot somehow spooked the nest occupant and s/he flew away – so no photo. The final item was pretty amazing to watch but really impossible to photograph. Here is what happened. I was walking along the trail when I heard an amazing commotion just over my head. Looking up I saw a Magpie flying frantically trying to escape the attacks of three Bullock’s Orioles. I have to classify the passes of the Orioles as attacks instead of the normal kind of harassment you might see when a smaller bird bothers a hawk in flight. No these Orioles were scoring some serious hits on the larger Magpie who ended up cowering in the branches of some underbrush. It was all happening so fast I couldn’t get anything in focus. It was an amazing thing to see, though.
Sightings:
Birds: Starlings, Robin, Swallows, Wood Ducks, Osprey, Cormorants, Canada Geese, Kingbirds, Bullock’s Oriole, Magpie, Great Blue Heron, Turkey, Western Meadowlark, Great Horned Owl
Critters: Mule Deer, Cottontail Rabbit, Squirrel
Gear: Nikon D5100, 55-200mm, 55-300mm
Young Great Horned Owl at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado 
Magpie at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado 
Wood Duck perched in a tree near its nest at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado