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Grabbed an hour on Sunday morning to check out the birds around the Longwood detention pond on Huffmeister Road. I was particularly keen to see how the nesting Bald Eagles were getting on.
A Double-crested Cormorant was looking very regal on a perch out in the water. Or was it looking very lonely?
If it was lonely, it wasn't for long, as seven more Cormorants soon flew in.
The fence by the side of the trail was hopping with Field Sparrows. I think I've seen more of these sparrows this winter than in all my previous winters here together.
The only other sparrow I got a good look at as a soitary Lincoln's Sparrow skulking in the bushes.
The resident Great Blue Heron looked splendid in the morning light.
It moved to the other side of the pond when an angler got too close.
When another fisherman turned up, it flew back to its original location.
As I approached the best viewpoint for the Eagles' nest, one of the nesting pair flew past overhead, much too high to photograph.
A couple of minutes later, the Eagle flew by again, this time much lower. Only it had now morphed into a juvenile Crested Caracara.
The Eagles' current nest is in a much less visible site than their old one, which blew down in November. So this is the best photo I could get.
Although the photo shows the two adult birds, I also briefly saw the head of a young bird.So it looks like this pair is once more enjoying a productive breeding season. In each previous year they have successfully raised two young. It will be interesting to see whether they have two young in the nest again this time.
Back near the parking area, a Northern Mockingbird was singing like crazy and doing his jump-up-and-flutter-down display.
A few feet away a European Starling was watching the Mockingbird's antics.
As usual at this location, my final sighting was of a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a utility pole by the road.
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This weekend I had only a couple of hours free for birding and so I spent the time checking out three sites in our neighborhood.
The first place I visited was the Little Cypress Creek Preserve on Telge Road. I was hoping for migrating birds but, unfortunately, all I saw were residents, like this Red-bellied Woodpecker.
As I was leaving, I noticed a movement in a nearby tree. One of the resident Red-shouldered Hawks.
I managed to approach the tree from a different angle to get a slightly better look.
Next up was a walk around the Longwood retention pond on Hufmeister Road. My main aim was to see if I could spot one of the Bald Eagles that nest there each winter.
One of the eagles was present way over on the far side of the pond.
There were other raptors, though.
A Red-shouldered Hawk perched for a while.
Several Broad-winged Hawks (my first of 2015) circled overhead.
They were joined by a couple of Turkey Vultures.
Far back near the road, a Red-tailed Hawk posed on a utility pole.
A Great Egret was enjoying the morning sun from the top of a tree.
Down near the water's edge a Tricolored Heron was hanging out with a Snowy Egret.
The mud flats had attracted a bunch of Killdeer as well as a Solitary Sandpiper (below).
Out on the water, eight Pied-billed Grebes were cruising around with half-a-dozen American Coots. They all fled as I approached!
My final birds were several Northern Mockingbirds.
One of these was lacking most of the top section of its beak. It was still singing away, though.
On my way home I made a brief stop at our small neighborhood pond, where I found a Green Heron preening in the morning sunlight.
It was totally unconcerned by my presence and even let me take this head shot.
Not a bad bird with which to end my mini birding trip!
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It hasn't been too busy bird-wise since I got back from our Junction trip. Common Nighthawks occasionally fly over the parking lots. Our Western Kingbirds must be nesting because they are not very visible or audible at present. As usual, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks turn up all over the campus.
I'm hoping that later in the summer I'll see Whistling Ducks bringing their ducklings to the retention ponds. In the meantime I'll have to make do with the Mallard who is giving her brood swimming lessons there.
Meanwhile we have seen the return of the Black Vulture that likes admiring itself in the Library windows.
At home our resident birds are all raising young. I haven't yet managed to get photos of most of the juveniles - including Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers - but a couple of young Northern Cardinals haven't been so elusive.
Our House Finches seem to have just one baby.
It has been so busy at the feeders that birds sometimes have to line up on the shed roof waiting their turn, like this Tufted Titmice.
Down at the Longwood retention pond the two young Bald Eagles have fledged. However, one was still hanging around the nest.
An adult lurked nearby to keep an eye on the youngster.
I'm not sure whether all the calling was aimed at me or the eaglet or something else. It was impressively loud, though.
At the weekend I'll go back to the pond to see if I can get a look at the other adult and the older juvenile.
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I was hoping that I'd be able to use my time off work during spring break to do some serious birding but it hasn't worked out that way - at least so far. Spring cleaning and yard work have taken up almost all of my time, and bad weather has stopped me from birding the rest of the time.
I did manage to get out for an hour yesterday, because I wanted to release into the "wild" a baby cottonmouth that I'd come across while cleaning out the garage. I set it free at the Longwood retention pond on Huffmeister, and while I was there I did a quick walk along two sides of the pond.
The usual wading birds were there: Great Blue Heron (below), Little Blue Heron, Great and Snowy Egret, Greater Yellowlegs and Wilson's Snipe.
Several Double-crested Cormorants were busy fishing.
You can just make out the beginnings of crests on both sides of this Cormorant's head.
I was surprised to see that some 35 American White Pelicans were hanging around and preening. I seem to be seeing a lot more White Pelicans than usual this winter.
For some reason, one group reminded me of Degas' paintings of ballet dancers.
One of the resident adult Bald Eagles was perched high in the trees.
His mate was on the nest. There was definitely one eaglet with her in the nest and I'm pretty sure there were two. However, the position of the nest makes it difficult to see into, so I won't be sure how many eaglets there are until they have grown larger.
The eagles seemed unconcerned that a Red-tailed Hawk was lurking in a tree not far from the nest.
Most birds mob Red-tailed Hawks whenever the latter are in their vicinity of their nests. I suppose that the Bald Eagles assume that this Red-tailed has more sense than to approach their nest.
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