Wild Bird Wednesday

The Sandhill Cranes have returned ... We saw a group fly in on our way home from the airport after the Thailand trip ... it seemed early, but apparently not ....

This youngster ( I am assuming because he is unhitched and is still gray which means he hasn't done the mud thing with a mate yet :) is walking in an area where I generally see a pair that has been coming back here for a long time.  It is possible that he is a first year that has returned to his original home. And, what a beautiful specimen :)

He was as curious about us as we were him ... kept coming closer which I was loving.  Eventually he turned and went the other way so we left.  Further down the road we spotted the pair that I had referred to, searching for left overs in a corn field.  More on them later :)

Andrea

Wild Bird Wednesday

 

 

This is a hard time of the year to come across birds to take pictures of.  This little character will be here year round.  It is a juvenile Ring-Billed Gull.  I spotted him loitering in the McDonalds  parking lot, clearly hoping for a handout ... french fries, no doubt.  The juveniles are very pretty ... their mottling is brown against the white background with the black on their tail feathers and the tip of their beaks. 

 

 

 

 

This pair of Sandhill Cranes is probably long gone.  We spotted them in a yard not far from our house about two weeks ago. 

 

 

 I have seen groups of Sandhills flying overhead on their migration to warmer climates for several weeks. To me it seems late but strangely we also have Great Blue Herons on the lake.  Hopefully they will all be gone  soon because they certainly won't be able to survive our winters.  

 

I plan is to be able to get out and find some more interesting birds that will be here for the winter ... Meanwhile, hope the birding is good in your neck of the woods :)

 

Happy WBW!

Wild Bird Wednesday

Wild Bird Wednesday 35

 I am off to Platte River Valley in Nebraska to wrangle some Sandhill Cranes ...

See you next week :)
Andrea