Environment:
Start Time: 9:20 AM Temperature: 52 degrees Sky: Sunshine.
Check out last year’s walk on this day!
Back on the birding beat this morning. Today started out on the cool side so I held back a while longer to let things warm up a bit which happened quickly since there were no clouds and little breeze. Once again the birds were keeping their distance. The bird that I got closest to today is the featured image (above) of (big surprise) a Great Blue Heron. My other two “close ups” are the pair of American Kestrels posted below. No comes the interesting part of my story. Shortly after I captured the image of the Great Blue Heron I spotted what I took to be a Red-tailed Hawk parked high up and well off the trail. The bird was heavily backlit which helped me jump to the Red-tailed assumption. I debated walking way into the weeds for a closer shot but decided that it wasn’t worth the effort for another Red-tail. So I took the long shot and moved on. It turns out – after another round of heroic image editing – that my “boring” subject was anything but. Turns out it was a Peregrine Falcon – the first one I have ever seen. I posted the “best” shot I got of it…. Sure wish I wasn’t so lazy.
Sightings:
Birds: Mallards, Northern Flicker, Gulls, Great Blue Heron, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Sparrows, Cedar Waxwing, Blue Jay, Canada Geese, Double Crested Cormorant, Killdeer
Critters: Prairie Dogs, Grasshoppers, Rock Squirrel, Tree Squirrel, Cabbage Butterfly
Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
