Saturday, April 29, 2006

A Bit of Birding

I got to enjoy a short birding trip today on the way driving home from my wife's folks. We stopped by Horseshoe Lake in Loveland and found a decent variety of shorebirds. Among them was a pair of American Avocets that were wading the shallows in full breeding plumage. A few moments later they were engaged in a remarkable courtship display including rubbing up against each other and "running on water." I managed to get a couple of photos of the display from quite a distance, too bad I wasn't closer, but here they are (the female has shorter, more up-curved bill):







Also on the lake were the always goofy and punkish looking American White Pelicans doing some cooperative fishing:







Finally as the light was getting even worse we came across this nice grouping featuring a Greater Yellowlegs:



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So getting lens lust for a nice big 600mm yet? ;)

Michael said...

Lee, I already had lens lust for a nice 600mm F4 long before I even had a digi. : )

Anonymous said...

I agree, those pelicans do look like punks. What the hell is their problem? You show a nice variety of personality in your photos.

Anonymous said...

I've always thought that the kingfisher is the punk. Maybe he went to bed with his hair wet.