More Henderson Slough....

The first geese we saw were some Canadas at the edge of a field close to the road. My closest shot all day!
More of them were in the shallow water. A conservation guy was sitting there in a truck, so I asked if the Snow Geese were still around. He thought the main mass had already headed back up north.

4 geese a flying

I liked this shot because you can see the 3 Snow Geese in it as well as the Greater White Fronted and Canadas and Mallards.

They happen to lift off fairly close to the road, so I got a few decent air shots.

Flapping away

A mixed group in the field

A larger group. They seem to "segregate" themselves to some extent. The Snow Geese stay together and the WhiteFronts and Canada mix. The Mallards are all over the place.

Hmmm....I must have taken this one since the grass is in the way so much. This was the biggest group of Snow Geese I saw in the field.

A lake full of Mallard males.....not very good light, but the green heads certainly show up!

Some Pintails way out in the water.

As we were passing a grassy wooded area, I told Mike it was a shame we never saw turkeys.....

....Ta Da! I didn't know all I had to do was ask for them! There was a long line of them along one edge of the grass heading into the woods. Probably 50 or more. It was hard to find a spot that I could shoot through the tree branches lining the edge of the road.

The last few disappearing into the woods.

Hey, Roy.....sheep! I found a few! We took a different road on the way home and there they were. Mine don't pose as nicely as yours :-)

The only lambs were up the hill behind a lot of fencing.

A few odd shots....this was from the car window while stopped at a traffic light! Of course the light changed before I could snap anything more close.

We went down the "butterfly road".....if you remember it from last summer....and saw this mossy bank. I probably took photos of it back then, too. We didn't expect to find butterflies, of course, but thought there might be some hawk or deer in the area.

I like these roots on the bank. Home for little creatures of some sort?

Internet problems....

We're having problems with our Internet connection today and they can't fix it until tomorrow, so I'm not going to try to post anything more until they get it fixed. One minute it is there and the next it isn't.

Swans and Eagles.....

We drove to Henderson Slough to check on the geese and ducks yesterday and saw a lot of great stuff, but I can't say that any of the photos do justice to the subjects! It was really cold and windy and gloomy.Out in one flooded area there were 3 swans swimming with some ducks. We talked to another couple that was there and they said the office told them there were 119 Tundra Swans in the area. I have no idea where the other 116 were today :-)
They weren't doing much and I can't crop the photos much.

In the same area, there was a young eagle on the ground with some sort of prey. He jumped around a lot, was in and out of the water and generally doing battle with whatever it was.

My photos are so distant, I'm lucky to even tell it's an eagle :-)

I'm including most of these just to show how he was flapping and moving around.

We were trying to guess its age by the amount of white under the wings, but I have no idea. Definitely not an adult because the head was dark.

Looking around

In the water

Lifting whatever it is

Back down. We thought maybe it was too heavy for him to carry.

Flashing his white again

Got something in the talons

He finally flew away to the trees without it. The helpful people we talked to said there are 5 eagles in the area. More photos tomorrow of other stuff.....geese, ducks, turkeys.

The ususal cast of characters.....

It has been well over a week since we've seen sunshine :-(

When it isn't actually raining, it is just dreary and depressing out there. So I stay home catching a few shots of the home birds now and then. Mrs. Red-Bellied Woodpecker getting some suet.
A shot of the gap in the red on her head indicating she is female.

She was really chowing down on the suet. I must have bought the right kind.

Her mate out back on the post. Fully red in the head.

I finally bought some niger seed when I saw it on sale one day and these Goldfinches are showing the appreciation by gobbling it all up.

The female Downy....no red at all on the head.

Hammering away at the new suet blocks.

And the Titmice have been my most regular visitors....there are 4 of them, I think.

Just sitting.

I do wish the clouds would break up a bit and let some sunshine through. Everything is very wet and sloppy and lots of seed mess in the yard and drive to be cleaned up. I'm hoping to get out of town for a day or two and maybe see some new scenery.

Squirrel Sunday.....

"Star" found something new to try....Me: ("What are you doing, Star?")
("Ah.....isn't that dish just a little small for you?")
Star: "Nope....just right!"

( "I should have known better than to put it so close to the tree. Looks like you're practicing for a new Olympic sport....the balance cup.")

"I'd win if there was such a sport!"

( "I put those sunflower seeds there for the birds....but you knew that, didn't you?")

"Finders keepers!"

("Be careful....you might slip")

"I'm very sure footed....I'm a SQUIRREL!"

"Bet you wish you could do this!"

(Not, really, Star......I'm not impressed.")

"Oooops!....I meant to do that!"

(snicker)

(That's a good idea....use the branch and this way you have a handy tail holder!")

"Whatever.."

("Are you about done eating all the seeds?")

"How about filling this thing up again? It's not very big?"

("You've had enough, Star....we've all had enough.")