Weekend Birding: The Emergence of Spring
It has been a while since I’ve gone on a bird walk. While we didn’t have a lot of snow this winter, it had been too cold and too icy for me to want to spend more than an hour outside, so most of my recent birding has been very local.
A couple of weeks ago I went on a long (4-hour) hike with my bird club to look for early spring migrants. It was warm but overcast day, so not good for photography, but we did get to see a lot of birds for this time of year.
Great-horned Owl Nest
Our first stop was to look at a Great Horned Owl nest. Mom was sitting on the nest when our large group arrived. We stayed far away so we wouldn’t disturb her. This photo is at the limits of my zoom lens. You can barely see her face and ears sticking up.
A Visiting Coopers Hawk
The Great Horned Owl does not make its own nest and typically takes over nests in trees made by other bird species. This nest belonged to a Coopers Hawk last year. We were treated to a visit from the hawk while we were observing the owl. Mom owl sat perfectly still and the hawk sailed on past.
Hooded Merganser
A pair of Hooded Mergansers and a group of Mallard Ducks were swimming in one of the ponds.
Great Blue Heron
A Great Blue Heron was fishing but decided to leave when our group showed up.
Canada Geese
The ever-present Canada Geese were lounging along the shore.
[Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy. Visit her blog to see more great photos.]
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Under My Apple Tree 
Great photos! What a nice walk that must have been!
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Nice but exhausting! We saw 39 species, which is a lot for early March in Chicago.
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Happy spring, happy Easter, Leslie! I love these photos. I saw a lot of Canadian Geese last month, in Northern CA.
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What a great walk! Wonderful photos.
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A pair of Canada Geese nest in our neighborhood and they’ve been making a racket 4:30 in the morning and waking me up.
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Great pic of the Heron!
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What great shots. I love the heron in flight.
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Beautiful pictures!
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Great pictures….I especially like the one of the blue heron.
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These are some amazing shots Leslie.
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Great photos! I love the ones of the hawk and the heron.
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