[birding] From late summer to present- some unusual sights

[Paul Rentz]

Retirement should give you more time to do birding. It hasn't seemed to work
that way, so let me back date a couple sightings and move forward to our
recent cold spell.

First, in late August a night heron, a young one according to the experts,
became a fairly regular sighting right near the bridge over McFadden Marsh
on Bruce Road. He allowed us to get very close, resulting in some great
opportunities to photograph him-

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2679/4186515910_e992bbea08_b.jpg 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2527/4186515202_5d3a105aee_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2499/4186516576_40bfd0be21_b.jpg

 

The recent cold weather produced some amazing ice formations near the
McFadden blind-

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2800/4186524800_032e462d12_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2485/4186523948_c14900703b_o.jpg  This one is
huge, but to see the crystals up close is amazing! They look fake.

 

The geese and ducks packed tightly into any opening they could find- and
didn't take kindly to a nutria who was trying to get in-

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/4185769181_f99c6e5934_b.jpg 

 

To see McFadden and the Muddy Creek frozen was a strange sight indeed-

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2584/4185759565_40f3941a44_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4185761159_bacc2d6f07_b.jpg

Curious as to how thick the ice was my attempt with a small rock just made
the ice laugh as it rejected it and sent it skidding down the creek

 

Last week I witnessed a younger eagle take a goose mid-air and the two
crashed to the ground in the field just west of McFadden, looking north. The
young eagle flew off with part of the goose. After a while a red tail hawk
came in and spread its wings over what was left while an adult eagle looked
on.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2576/4188176535_1f3f46cf17_b.jpg leaving with
part of the kill

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/4188939034_a992ac4f52_b.jpg the on
lookers

 

A number of red winged blackbirds were apparently making reservations for
the wetlands west of McFadden- this the end of November?!?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2542/4188179851_4d255a35f7_b.jpg the group

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2770/4188939712_8993e72cac_b.jpg checking out
local supplies

 

Well, it will be interesting to see how things are going after the cold
weather!

 

 

Sincerely.

Paul Rentz

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