Birds and Nature

 Young bear visiting Pathfinder Park in Fremont County. Like a normal bear it took off when it heard by 30 lb dog bark at it from my car. More bear photos and video at https://birdsandnature.blogspot.com/search?q=bear  SeEtta

(Click on Read More  to see 3 additional photos) I spotted this Peregrine trying to dry off from a drenching rain when this Common Raven tried to chase it out of the neighborhood with aggressive harassment.  Note that the raven looks bigger than the falcon because it is closer to the camera.  It was quite surprising to find this Peregrine Falcon where it had landed which was in a residential area of the city so it must have been soaked to land there.  The raven wasn't the only neighborhood bird that didn't like this visitor.  A couple of blackbirds were perched below the Peregrine and the bottom pic shows it watching them.    SeEtta

It didn't take long this morning to realize there had been a 'fall out' of Gray Flycatchers due to the socked in rainy, sometimes snowy weather in Canon City . I saw at least 25 Gray Flycatchers during a mile long walk. Many of them were actively feeding.ngng Click on each pic to enlarge for best viewing.  Several years ago I saw a similar 'fall out' of Gray Flycatchers due to weather. SeEtta

Hundreds of Franklin's Gulls are feasting on worms and anything else they eat brought up by flood irrigation in this field. This is an unusually large flock of these gulls that are stopping over to eat here in Canon City during their migration. Their loud calling alerted me to part of the flock that flew high over my house, making the species a 'yard bird' for me.SeEtta

This Clark's Grebe crown feathers are lifted up in a courtship display almost looks like it's wearing a hat. The red eyes found on both aechmorphorus grebes (Western and Clark's Grebes) really stand on this species as the eyes are surrounded by white feathers and white lores and thin red loral stripes. Something I just learned from Birds of North America online: "Grebes are the only birds that are able to spend their entire lifecycle on water. Floating nests and back brooding their young make this possible. " SeEtta

When I looked through my binoculars at this nest today I thought the eagle wasn't on it as her head is so light and small--this nest is located more than 500 feet from the public road. Even at that distance I took the pics from inside my car and did not get so I didn't disturb the eagle. This nest has been used by Bald Eagles for a number of years as is evident by its' amazing size. The above pic provides a little perspective on the size of this nest. As I took the pic with a 210mm lens this pic is approximately 4X enlarged. This is in Crowley County on Colorado's southeast plains. SeEtta

I found this Virginia Rail 2 weeks ago in a return-flow channel on private property next to a residential subdivision in Canon City. Because it was almost 6 pm I couldn't get any reasonable pics. I have looked for this bird a number of times but did not refind until today and fortunately it was sunny so I got some nice pics. Interestingly this location used to wetlands until a developed bought the property and illegally diverted the return flow channel so he could put in a very small subdivision adjacent to the Arkansas River (for which the Corp of Engineers slapped his hands with a piddly fine) While Virginia Rail sightings are not rare in winter in Colorado they are pretty uncommon. I haven't seen a winter rail in the Canon City area for a few years. SeEtta

I got one good photo of the Super Blood Wolf Moon tonight and had to use my tripod to get it. Used my Sony RX10-4 hybrid camera with Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* f/2.4-4 Zoom Lens, a sweet camera. This pic is at 600mm focal length (35mm equivalent) SeEtta