Waterfowl, shorebirds, swallows and blackbirds.

I just thought you might enjoy some evening wetland birds.

See Mr. mallard looking at us?

The first time I've been able to capture (a picture of course) a swallow perching!

A short-billed dowitcher.

Look at all that red on this blackbird!

And finally, wigeon.

Have a great week!

Close encounters at the wetlands.

Yesterday afternoon we payed a short visit to Koll wetlands. As soon as we got out of the car and walked to the edge of the pond there was a red-tailed hawk that swooped down in a mudflat near a killdeer. When he saw us the hawk took flight. We were worried he grabbed one of the killdeer but he ended up only getting a talon full of weeds. Although he only got plants the killdeer were calling rapidly to one another; "Killdeer, Killdeer". They were calling to each other the whole time we were there. Since the killdeer were disoriented I was able to get a rare up close encounter with the bird!

Enjoy!

Hello Mrs. killdeer!

Cool! That's a pintail!

Mrs. killdeer again.

Pintail, a mallard and short-billed dowitchers.

Lots of wigeon!

More wigeon. Also a female Eurasian wigeon! (bottom left).

The male cinnamon teal.

Look who's coming in!

Huh?

Oh no!

Two red-tailed hawks!

Hello!

No don't go in the parking lot!

What?

I can't quite tell what these are.

Me walking up to the male killdeer didn't even phase him! This is not zoomed in!

Bird list for the visit:

• Killdeer
  
• Red-tailed hawk
• Canvasback
• Bufflehead
  
• Western Canada goose
• Cackling goose
• Norther pintail
• American wigeon
• Gadwall
• Mallard
• Great-blue heron
• American coot
• Ruddy duck
• Ring-necked duck
• Greater scaup
• Lesser scaup
• Green-winged teal
• Cinnamon teal
• Northern shoveler
• Eurasian wigeon
• Wilson's snipe
• Short-billed dowitcher
• Tree swallow
• Violet-green swallow
  

Have a great weekend!

Park flooding.

Greenway park is flooded. When it floods here it brings the ducks, geese, herons, etc. closer in. We got a nice surprise when we found a group of violet green swallows flying in the air and catching bugs. Swallows are common in the park but not at this time of year.

Anyway these are some of the birds that came in from the wetlands and maybe some other places.

Western Canada geese.

Cackling goose (left).

More cacklers.

Gadwalls (left) and mallard (right).

Look how high the creek is!

See the little whirl-pools?

Mallards.

Mostly cacklers.

You can't even see the beaver dam!

A pair of American wigeon (left) and a green winged teal (right).

Golden crowned sparrows.