It’s been a Week of Great Bird Encounters

I’m feeling a little like a bird whisperer or something. It’s been a Week of Great Bird Encounters, some I would never ever expect.

I told you guys in a past post that the blue heron fly the second they detect you are around. Which is always long before I get to see them. The other day I got extremely lucky though. I had spotted an egret in the river, and as I got closer I noticed two blue herons. If you follow me on Facebook, you saw this story the other day about the Heron, and the otter. It was a fun encounter, and totally unexpected. The best part was the heron was in no hurry to go anywhere, and just flew, hopped down the river. Giving me great opportunity for photos.

One morning I was out walking with Torrey through the desert. I saw a hawk sitting on a saguaro, kinda far off. I took Torrey back to the RV and grabbed my camera. I then walked out to where he was. At first, he just kind of ignored me, then he thought I was ruining his chance for breakfast I think, because he started squawking at me.

He then jumped up, so he could turn around. This was quite the thing to see actually.

He hung out for a little bit more, then took off. Flying butt shots are not my favorite, but that’s what he gave me.

He didn’t go far, and landed on another saguaro. I followed him, he squawked at me, and flew away.

I also saw this little hummer balancing on a thin branch that morning.

One morning we went to a spot on the river that is so pretty. It was later, so we weren’t expecting too much. I saw something in the reeds on the shore, and this bird flew. I was 100% unprepared for a bird to fly, so this is marginal quality. It was a green heron, a new bird for me.

This is him on the shore. Again, a marginal photo but you get the idea of what they look like.

Yesterday, I was at the river with a small band of horses. They had crossed and wandered off, so I sat down to see if they would come back my way. There is an osprey in that area, and he flew right over me, giving me the eye I think. Don’t ever think they don’t see you. LOL

Sadly, it was cloudy so rather a dark photo.

 

Then, this happened. Kingfishers are amazing little birds, but boy are they flighty. I can never, ever get a photo of them. Apparently me sitting on the ground didn’t bother this guy though because he was on a cable that wasn’t extremely far away. He flew into the river, which of course I didn’t get a shot of, then went back to the cable and proceeded to preen. Again, it was a cloudy day and that made it really hard to get shots. That and the distance. But, these photos give you a pretty good idea of what I watched.

And finally, a Harris hawk from yesterday afternoon as we were going to the store.

Phew, that’s a lot of birds in one post. I hope you enjoyed it.

Almost forgot this newest creation, Breezy. Prints now available.