The last weekend, a cold front arrived, giving us a break from the hot weather. After completing chores around the yard, I headed down to the Platte River, at Reynold’s Landing. Overcast skies provided some great lighting and maybe there would be some interesting birds along the river. Soon after arriving, I found this Cormorant diving for fish.
Cormorant Fishing In South Platte River.
I don’t know whether the bird found any fish, and soon took flight. On second thoughts, maybe my presence disturbed its fishing routine.
Cormorant, South Platte River, Time To Leave.
Upstream, I noticed a Great Blue Heron wading along the far bank. The heron did not stay for long; probably disturbed by some visitors with their dog closer to the its location.
Great Blue Heron, South Platte River.
Walking along the river bank, several House Wrens were rummaging through the bushes and calling. I made my way towards their sounds. Here I found 3 immature wrens. Also, there was an adult close by, maybe a parent, that I captured in this image.
House Wren, Near South Platte River.
In the bushes, and along the river banks, there were plenty of birds singing and calling out across both river banks. However, most of the birds were hidden from view.
On a day off from work, I headed to the “Lair Of The Bear” open space park during the late afternoon. I heard many birds calling from bushes and trees around the park. The birds were difficult to see, being hidden by the fresh leaves of spring. After meandering along the trails for a couple of hours, I stopped close to Bear Creak, that runs through the park. Just as I was about to move on, I noticed these three little American Dippers on the rocks along the creek.
Three Juvenile American Dippers.
These juvenile birds were just a few weeks old. Moving along the creek, I found a better location to make some more images. American Dippers frequent the rivers and creeks where the live, feed and breed. One of the dippers moved to another rock, leaving these two.
American Dippers, Lair Of The Bear.
Soon, another one moved on, leaving this little guy on the rock.
Juvenile American Dipper, Lair Of The Bear.
Adult birds have a very distinctive behavior; they bob periodically as they work along the creek. These little juveniles must have practicing this behavior, because they were bobbing almost continuously! Still images do not show this behavior, so I captured a few video clips that show these cute little birds. Here is a short 50 sec video that I created.
The month of May had some really interesting events. One of my favorite bands, Nightwish, performed in Denver as part of their North American tour. While waiting for the show to start, I noticed several shadows of audience members cast by the stage lighting.
Shadows, Waiting For The Show.
The show started with an explosion of light.
Nightwish, The Show Starts.
I made couple of images of Nightwish during the evening. Here is Floor Jansen letting loose with her fabulous vocals.
Nightwish, The Show.
This May, we also had a late snow storm. During my evening walk, I found these garden flowers weighed down by the heavy wet snow.
Garden Flowers, In May Snow Storm.
In the park, close to our home, the basketball court was wet, but too warm to accumulate a layer of show. The grass in the background had managed to retain some snow after a whole day of snow.
Basketball Court In Snow Storm, Neighborhood Park.
The heavy wet snow caused a lot of damage in the metro area with broken tree limbs. The arborists had a really busy week cleaning up the mess. We had one broken tree branch that we cleaned up in a couple of hours.
Finally, for Memorial Day, we visited a friend. While chatting after our meal, I noticed the aspen leaves pressed against the frosted glass wall of her patio. So I made several images that hinted at the shape of the leaves.
Last week, I made another trip to Westerly Creek. During the previous visit, it was really windy, so a lot of birds had hunkered down for the day. When I got to the junction with the Sand Creek, I did not see many birds, so I made this image of the reeds along the Sand Creek.
Sand Creek, Reed Reflections.
After a few minutes, I noticed an egret appear from behind a curve in the creek, so I approached the spot via another trail. No egret — another couple, with their dog, had approached the creek on the opposite bank and had disturbed the bird, so it flew off.. So I turned back. The egret had left and flew downstream. Soon I noticed the Snowy Egret had moved to the rocks above the waterfall. What fabulous lacy plumes on the birds head and tail!
Snowy Egret, Westerly Creek Waterfall.
There was a commotion taking place between a couple of Night Herons; but I failed to get any decent images. By this time the egret had moved to another location to resume hunting for food.
Snowy Egret, Westerly Creek.
I made several images at this location, including this one with the egret’s reflection in the water.
Snowy Egret, Westerly Creek, No 2.
There were three Night Herons close to this location. Here is one heron at the water’s edge, waiting for an opportunity to catch a fish.
Night Heron, At Water’s Edge.
Here is the second Night Heron further upstream on the rocks.
Night Heron, On The Rocks.
The Snowy Egret also moved near to the heron. The Snowy Egret can be identified from other egrets by the yellow slippers (it’s feet) which are really distinctive in this image.
Snowy Egret, On The Rocks.
After leaving the area of the creek, I encountered a Western Kingbird. When I arrived at Westerly Creek, this kingbird flew off soon after parking the truck. When returning to the truck, I made this image as it was perched on a street sign.
Western Kingbird On Street Sign.
The trip to this location ended up be a fun experience.
Yesterday, on Mother’s Day, Angela decided that we should go to Reynold’s Landing to do some late afternoon birding along the South Platte River. Leaving the parking lot for the river walk, we encountered an American Robin, calling from the trail-side.
American Robin, Reynold’s Landing.
We continued our way south along the woodland trail. We could hear the calls of many birds, but could not see them. While stopping along the trail, I heard some rustling in the undergrowth. There was some movement and a little face appeared. Looking through the camera lens, I found this rabbit munching some grass.
Rabbit, In Undergrowth, Reynold’s Landing.
Soon it was time to turn back, but by a different trail. Angela spotted this pair of Mallard’s perched on the tree stump belonging to a fallen tree.
Mallard Pair, On Tree Stump.
While walking along the riverside, I noticed two pairs of Wood Ducks paddling across the river. We made our way downstream until we reached one pair. These ducks are extremely timid, so we were lucky to see two pairs!
Wood Duck Pair, South Platte.
This pair chose to stay close to the far bank, reasonably close to us; the second pair continued to swim away downstream. The male duck has really distinctive markings with a long crest on the back of his head. The female would be really well camouflaged and has a really distinctive eye-ring or eye-patch.
Wood Duck Pair, South Platte, No 2.
Heading back towards the parking lot, we encountered this pair of Northern Flickers near the top of a tree that was just starting to bud.
Northern Flicker Pair, In Tree.
Adjacent to the parking lot, another male Flicker was calling from a tree branch.
Northern Flicker Male, On Branch.
Located close to the parking lot is a pool where I had spotted a Great Blue Heron during a bike ride a week or so prior. We headed towards the pond. In the distance, we could see the Heron, stationery at the side of the pond. I made my way closer to the bird, making sure that I did not disturb the heron. So I chose to shoot through the bushes along the shore.
Great Blue Heron, Reynold’s Landing Pond.
I continued to watch and wait. Soon, the heron started stalking some prey in the water.
Great Blue Heron, Stalking.
Caught it. The heron caught a sizeable fish, maybe some 8 inches in length.
Great Blue Heron, Caught It.
The heron proceeded to swallow the fish. Soon here turned around and resumed the waiting game.
On Sunday, we headed out to check out the bird life at Cherry Creek State Park. We chose to start at the Pelican Point area of the shore. While walking along the shore, we passed several Coot, until we arrived at the point where a creek joined the lake. In the distance a pair of Avocet were dozing in the water. After a few minutes, they came ashore towards us.
Avocet Pair, Looking Up.
I noticed that one bird had turned its head to the sky. The second bird repeated the same move. Were they checking for predators? After a few minutes they waded across the water and started to feed.
Avocet, Feeding, Cherry Creek State Park.
Several minutes later they flew along the creek, landing in front of us.
Avocet, Walking, No 1.
The vegetation along the shore created a much better background than the open water near the center of the lake. Here both resumed walked along the shore with a nicer background.
Avocet, Walking, No 2.
One bird continued to wade in front of us, feeding in the water.
Avocet, Wading, No 1.
In this image, I was lucky to capture an image as a water droplet fell from the Avocet’s bill.
Avocet With Water Droplet.
Here is the last image that I made while the Avocet was feeding.
Avocet, Feeding, No 2.
Soon after we left the park, heading home for a bite to eat.
There was a group of four Lesser Yellowlegs wading and feeding in the creek. In this image, an occasional gust of wind did manage to ruffle some feathers in this bird.
Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek, No 1.
Lesser Yellowlegs, Wind-Ruffled, Westerly Creek.
While I was on the bridge overlooking the creek, the birds approached closer. Good news.
Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek, No 2.
I made several images from the bridge. Later, crossing the bridge, I made my way to the far bank and approached the riverside. After waiting for several minutes, a pair of Yellowlegs made their way closer.
Pair Of Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek.
This was a much better location, because reflections from the vegetation along the river bank created nice background for the images.
Lesser Yellowlegs Pair, Westerly Creek.
In this image, one bird had his bill opened as it approached me.
Lesser Yellowlegs, Westerly Creek, No 3.
It was really great to see the birds on a really windy day.
This month I made another trip to the South Platte River to make some test images close to the end of the day at a weekend.
Bufflehead Duck Pair, South Platte River, No 1.
I was pleased to capture both these images of a pair of Bufflehead Ducks. They allowed be to get a little closer. In this second image, they made a turn to head back downstream.
Bufflehead Duck Pair, South Platte River, No 2.
I found a group of Gadwall swimming in the river, and captured this image.
Gadwall, South Platte River.
Close to the parking lot, I found a mating pair of Ring-Neck Ducks. In this image, the rocks and far river bank, made some striking reflections. The male was swimming through reflected pools of color, with a stream of water dribbling from his bill.
Male Ring-Necked Duck, South Platte River.
For all the above images, I was testing my zoom lens with a tele-converter. I was really impressed with the quality of the images, where most of the images were under overcast skies.
