2009/04/12

A better Easter than expected

I was thinking about dividing this post up into two parts since I got too many pictures to share, but I don't like backing up posts so just bare with me and enjoy my Easter Saturday with me.

Cloudy and rainy weather. The rain stopped in the afternoon and was quite nice afterwards.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
As I approached the slough, several Wigeons flew up - exposing this lonely Killdeer by itself.

I found the Northern Shrike again today. But no good photos to share as I was looking at the Bumblebees nearby.

Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii). It was quite difficult getting the auto-focus to focus on the Bumblebee properly. Such a shame since they were quite close to me today.

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus)
While going back to a spot where I saw hummingbirds earlier, I saw this American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) hunting in the ditch. It made two small successful catches while I was looking at it.

Heading back, I saw this gruesome scene - a dead gull with a part of its body and head connecteed only by its guts. Yuck.

In the fields beside the community garden, they sheltered these small spiders that hid when I walked across the grasses.

The day was getting clearer when I was heading home.

A miniature giant forest of Common horsetails, Equisetum arvense. Imagine hundreds of millions years ago, when similar plants such as these were hundreds of feet tall. Amazing!

Trying to photograph an American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) through the branches again.

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Meanwhile, a Black-capped Chickadee provided a much easier subject to photograph.

My hummingbird photo of the day. One of these days, I will/am bound to get a good shot of them.

Water droplets
I thought it was quite pretty for these rain droplets to be collected by the Lupine leaves.

Water droplets
View from above.

A worn-out, old-looking Bald Eagle.

Cherry blossoms are finally in full blooms. The blue sky appeared for a bit so I thought it was nice to capture the moment.

Cherry blossom
Sakura and my bike.

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Right where I was photographing the flowers, a female Northern Flicker was digging in people's lawns.

Turned out it was hunting for food. Neat!

Cherry blossom
Beautiful Cherry Blossoms to end today's post. Hope you enjoy it.
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3 comments:

Cicero Sings said...

Looks like you had a most successful, very pleasing day, a day to lift one's spirits! Happy Easter.

Susannah Anderson said...

Beautiful photos! That bittern is incredible! Mostly, in photos (I have never seen one in real life) they blend in to the background so well, they disappear. Yours turned out so well! I keep going back to look at them.

And, is that a yellow-shafted flicker?

We're thinking we're going to drive over to Richmond again soon, see what we find in Terra Nova, or along the dike. Your photos are inspiring us!

PSYL said...

Thank you, Cicero Sings. Hope your Easter was just as pleasant as mine.

Thanks, Wanderin' Weeta, I hope you will see as much as my daily observations when you come - otherwise, I'd feel bad if you go away empty-handed. Good luck. I am not completely sure if that's a Yellow- or Red-shafted Flicker. I didn't get a chance to see its feather colors when it flew away. But it does look like a Yellow-shafted.

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