Geese and fungi.....

We saw lots of Canada Geese when we were at the wetlands as well as a few other things as we strolled the pathway.Who lives here? I always wonder that when I see a log or tree with a cavity.
Did a beaver do this??

This pair were enjoying a nice swim.

This one looks like he really has his chest huffed out.....mating activity? Territorial?

Some of the bystanders sharing a log.

Lots of grooming and head tucking activity.

This one looks so senuous as she rubs her feathers.

A funny pose! All puffed up and head on sideways :-)

Honking at me!

Droopy wing on the far side.

I like the orange color of these, but they were out in the water where I couldn't get close.

This and the next one I actually photographed last summer when they were new and fresh! Still there!

Darker with age.

A greenish looking one.

Lots of interesting things to find whenever I go here.
Probably my favorite place to go walking with the camera.

Skywatch Friday.....

It's Skywatch Friday time! This was the sky over the wetlands yesterday!

It may look gloomy, but the temperature was 60 and the birds and turtles were active. Perfect day for a walk! For more SkyWatch Friday, click on the icon on my sidebar. Thanks to Klaus, Tom, Louise, Wren, Ivar, Sandy and Louise for hosting this site!

Look up at your sky! What do you see????

For more of my walk at the wetlands, see the post below!

Wonderful walk at the wetlands.....

What a terrific day to go walking at the wetlands! The temperature was up around 60 and Mike and I went to see what was there. It's been a month since I've been there last!As you can see, we saw Canada Geese, Mallard ducks, LOTS of turtles and so much more!
The most exciting thing for me was spotting a Kingfisher! Cool! Wish I could have been closer, but was thrilled to get this and I liked all the turtles around him :-)

Lovely bird even in less than sunny conditions.

A Mallard showing his lovely back to us.

There were a bunch of Robins in the woods digging for worms. Mike also saw a grey squirrel but we didn't get any photos.

There were piles of turtles everywhere! I know we saw at least two areas where there were 30 or more. Then there were lots of places with just a few here and there. And many slip into the water before you get their photo.

3 Turtle pile up

4 to go

Big pile! How many can you count?

5 on a log

6 in a pile. I know this is a lot of turtles, but I just love to see them on the logs in piles. I don't think there will ever be a lack of turtles at this wetlands!

The Shoveler ducks were swimming among the turtle logs. We saw at least 3 pair of Shovelers.

Mike spotted a muskrat swimming across the creek and I followed him all the way to the edge.

We weren't sure at first what he was, but the tail looks long and skinny.

Mike took this in another part of the creek.....muskrat? We saw evidence of beaver activity also. I took a lot more photos and will show goose shots and some fungi tomorrow.
It is so good to get out and the weather was so great even without the sun shining!

Home.....

"It's about time you came home! We almost starved to death while you were off having your vacation!"

(Yes, Star....I can see how thin you are. Did you have to resort to eating the corn off that cob?)
A very sweet looking Red-Bellied. For some reason it looks smaller? younger? It was just hanging there enjoying the nice weather, I guess.

"How about if we share that??"

Sharing with reluctance. There was one on the left corner, too, but the Red-Bellied reached down and pecked it to make it go away. Sharing is limited apparently.

We've seen several hawks while out driving around the last few days. I can tell this one has a reddish belly but that is about all I can tell.

A Towhee from before we left. I'm pretty desperate for photos at the moment!

A Song Sparrow....also before we left.

That is all. But it is a beginning. I'm home and have to start looking for new photo opportunities on the home front once again.

Mt. Lemmon Part II.......and the final bird photos from Tucson

I believe we are up around 6000 ft. at this point. Right across from this stack of rocks is a lovely overlook area called Windy Pointe. I like this rock stack
Circles? Rock puddles?

The view out and down

An odd rock. I saw some hawks soaring in the distance while up here but no photos.

Look to the right and you see part of the road we came up.

Mike went way out on the rocks.......no thanks.......I took photos.

One of his photos from out on the furthest rocks.

As we climbed higher we started seeing bits of snow on the ground. At one stop we saw this beautiful blooming bush, but I don't know what it is. It had red branches.

A picnic camping area. What a change from the cactus where we started!

Sunlight glistened on the pines.

In 2003 there was a bad fire on Mt. Lemmon in the Summerhaven area. You still see lots of evidence of the burn.
Summerhaven is a community at about 7000 feet and you can eat there and there are houses. Most of the houses burned in the fire. There are new ones for sale. Any takers??

You can see the burn behind the Cookie Cabin where we enjoyed a cookie......

....while watching several Stellar Jays way up in the pines. They jump from branch to branch so much, I didn't do too well with photos.

He leaped off the branch just as I shot.

Snow on the road side heading up to the ski area.

The ski slope with a few people out that day.

That is the last of my Mt. Lemmon photos. The rest are a few last bird photos back at my sister's house in Tucson.

The Lesser Goldfinch would not come down and I didn't have any niger to tempt him with.

Best I could do to show his other side with is dark greenish back.

Female Phainopepla.....she is grey as opposed to his lovely black.

Male Phainopepla to compare.

Even Cactus Wrens moon me!

A last Gambel's Quail......what I think of most when I think of Tucson birds.
That should finish off my trip unless I start showing shots from the airplane window....which are interesting to any one who likes geology.