Sunday, November 20, 2011

Event Update: Goodwin Marsh SOS

Today was one of those days that I just was NOT feeling the love, but it's been 4 weeks since our last SOS so we had already decided we WERE going to do it today, no matter what. The skies were threatening, we were both tired, but we both soldiered on and were totally rewarded for our efforts. So, if you didn't choose to GOYB today, here is the awesome stuff you missed (click photos to enlarge):

 We started off the walk with a red-shouldered hawk. This is the first time I've ever photographed one where you can tell why they have their name.
The colors were spectacular out there today.
 Not just the clouds and vegetation, but there was even a rainbow!
Deer, dear.
 One of my favorite birds, the shrike.
 When we first got there, we were surprised that there was not one single bird on the roost. We haven't done Goddwin in a while though, so we figured they just moved on. Then, when we were walking back, we saw this flock and followed them...
 Apparently, this is where they are hanging out now, right across from the parking lot. There were more little blues here than either Heather or I had ever seen before.
This was our find of the day. There was a pair of nesting great horned owls! And, I think that might be a swallow tail kite in the background. This was at the very end of our walk, so it was pretty dark, I hope to go back when it's just a tad lighter and see if I can get a better shot of the pair.

Keep an eye on our events calendar, the critter watching is getting really interesting, you never know what you are going to see, but I guarantee you won't see anything this cool if you don't GOYB!