Hawks, Heron, and Horned Larks.....

We went to Blue Grass stripper pits the other day and it was a great day for seeing a lot of things!  Rose and I have had a discussion on what to call these "pits".  I was raised calling them "stripper pits" and she knows them as "strip pits".  Anyone else want to give their name?  They are lakes that once were part of strip mining land and are now reclaimed for fishing and wildlife.

The first thing I saw was a Red Tailed Hawk sitting on a fence post by the bean fields, but as soon as I started to take a photo he flew off.  There were two of them hunting along this field.

As we were leaving, Mike caught one of them up on a power pole and he was a little less nervous about our presence.

Down near one of the pits, we saw this other hawk in a tree.  Not sure what kind.  Looks kind of skinny and young.  Not much tail.

This was a surprise!  I was shooting Horned Lark photos and suddenly looked up and there was a Great Blue Heron perched on the top of a small tree nearby! 

We saw 6-7 Heron at least, but most were flying over, leaving to get away from us, or like this one....out in the middle of the biggest pit where we could barely get a shot.

There is one parking lot where we almost always find Horned Larks at this time of year.  This one almost let me walk up to it, so it is the closest photo I have ever gotten.

They seem to like the rocky parking lot and usually it is a struggle to make them stand out against the white rocks.

This one seemed to want to stay in one place.  I would have thought maybe it had a nest, but this would be the wrong time of year for that?

They like areas with low grass and dirt and can blend right in......parking lots, airports, plowed fields, golf courses.  This is the only place in Evansville, that I have managed to find them so far.

Fat and fluffy.  Looked like it had a brood patch line down the center of it.

We saw lots of other stuff, so more tomorrow.