Environment:
Start Time: 7:55 AM Temperature: 50 degrees Sky: Fading sunshine due to increasing clouds, not much breeze.
Check out last year’s walk on this day!
Another chilly morning made a little chillier by the incoming clouds. Today’s bird menu offered little variety but if you were hungry for Great Blue Herons – this was your day. I saw at least three individuals – the first of which (posted here) was sitting in the unused (this year) nest near the paved trail. Maybe this is one of the birds who was born here last year just coming back to reminisce about the good old days. Today’s featured image is another of the big birds whom I caught posing in great morning light high up in another tree. Posted below are a couple of shots of a Red-tailed Hawk that caught my attention as I was leaving Lake Pueblo State Park. That was really it in terms of big birds though I did see one (and only one) Osprey and the Cormorants lounging in their favorite tree by the river. On the smaller side of things I managed a pretty decent shot of a Downy Woodpecker despite his many efforts to avoid capture.
Sightings:
Birds: Mallards, Osprey, Double Crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, Starlings, Great Blue Heron, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-tailed Hawk, Gulls, Turkey Vulture
Critters: Prairie Dogs
Gear: Nikon D5600, 55-300mm
Red-tailed Hawk ruffling its own feathers at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado September 21, 2021 
Red-tailed Hawk takes flight at Lake Pueblo State Park, Colorado September 21, 2021