Birding Adventures

The Herons at the Fox River Rookery, in Montgomery are growing up.
The males and females have been doing a great job.  

It does not appear that any of them have fledged yet, but I am sure it will be soon.

Great Egret
As I will driving along Orchard Road, I saw an area that looked like there were several egrets. It was now or never, so I checked it out.  I am so glad I did.  This is an Egret in breeding plumage.  Those feathers are beautiful.

There was a small stream, and the Herons and Egrets were a bit territorial. There are two Herons and one Egret.

This is what I could see from the other side of the pond.
All of the birds are in breeding homage.

Then in Batavia, I had to stop and check on our resident eagles.
I am believing that is Dad watching out for the two young ones.
The young eagles have not fledged yet, but are close.  They are trying out those huge wings.

The parents when not feeding the young stay close to the nest.

This is their nest, The power even the young ones have in those wings.

Stopped at another forest Preserve and came upon these two Northern Flickers.

Monarch Butterfly

Spiderwort

A dragonfly

Chipmunk was nice enough to stay still while I photographed him.
It was a beautiful day to out and about.  I enjoyed the walk and seeing birds.
Hope you have a lovely day.
Mary

Yorkville Dam

I have been wanting to stop by the Yorkville Dam in Yorkville to see if any new birds for me had shown up.
Much to my surprise, there were five Trumpeter Swans.  There four adults and one juvenile.
All were feeding on the river. At first we thought they were lumps of ice, as we could not see any heads. This is a new bird for me to add to m list.

Here is the juvenile swan.  He still has gray feathers.  They will keep this plumage through their first winter.

Saw another Bald Eagle.
It is always a treat to see them. I keep working on taking good pictures.

Tree full of Rock Pigeons

A little further down the Fox River in Plano, is the Farnsworth House.
It sits along side the river.  In the Spring there is always the fear it will be flooded  There is a frame under the house to  keep it above the water.  

A good day on the Fox River, Oswego

Juvenile Eagle
Today I saw 7 Bald Eagles

Merganser, male and Canada Goose
There were thousands of Canada Geese on the river.

Herring Gull, and Ring-billed Gull, and at least one I don't know.

Male Merganser.  There were several males and females in a couple of different places.

Common Golden-eye.  It was interesting to watch as they floated on the river, diving for food.

Saw this Heron land on the branch.

These two were just sitting on the bank of the river.

Female Merganser.

There were lots of mallards on the river.

Geese in flight.
There were flocks of geese all along the river.

Juvenile Bald Eagle.

This one looks like it is almost an adult.

Another juvenile Bald Eagle

And another juvenile Bald Eagle.
I spent hours along the Fox River today.  Also went down to one of the parks on the other side of Oswego.  Will do a post all about those birds.  It was fun taking the time to just watch them.
Mary

You just never know what you will see!

One of the farms we passed on Route 6 had these cute goats.  They were all willing to pose for us.

Llama's and Shetland ponies were on the same farm. 

We stopped at the lock and dam and found this group feeding on the ice.

There are always gulls flying around.

No one was willing to give me a frontal view.

From a distance it can be hard to describe what the bird is you see.
Okay, these turned out to be geese.

Some eagles are willing to pose for you.

Hawks are plentiful.

Looks like this opossum is just coming out of hibernation.
Now to identify each of these birds.
I will update as I find out.  

Eagle Trip

For our anniversary we had decided to take an over-nighter to the Quad Cities.  This includes Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in Illinois, on the Mississippi.
We were not disappointed in seeing eagles.
It was amazing.

In the past we had found a few spots to observe birds and we were not disappointed.
Here you can see the eagle pyramid. 

I have a new camera, that I am trying out. Still have a lot to learn, but did have fun using it.

Saw mallards and domestic mallards.

Deer

What an education this trip was.
We were able to see the different phases the eagle go through before becoming full adults.

An adult and a juvenile that were feasting on something on the ground.

Here are a couple more juveniles.

The trees were full of eagles.

This looked like one shaggy bird!

And eventually become this!

This was a partial scene on Rock Island.

Another view on Rock Island.

How about this adult with two juveniles.

He was just landing.

We saw this pack of coyotes on Rock Island.

It was amazing to see all these beautiful, powerful birds.
A few more pictures tomorrow.

I have to admit, since I have started this adventure of birding, I have learned a lot, and have lots more to go.  When you see the birds that come to your feeder, you see relatively small birds. They nest, have their babies, and the babies become big and it does not take a long to become an adult.
The big birds is a different story.  I did not realize it takes several years for them to grow and reach adulthood.
All birds have to learn to take care and feed themselves. The small birds become adults much faster  then the big ones.  We have had two pair of cardinals that have stuck with us this winter.  On our trip home yesterday, I did see some blackbirds at a distance.  Don't know what type.
It appears the migration has started.  The eagles we have been seeing along the Fox River, are becoming fewer. So are the Canadian Geese.
Mary