Lessons from Dad! 05-08,09-2011

Saturday morning I received a call from my dad who was in town seeing if I wanted to go birding with him. We went our for an hour or so and had a good time, we were out for just a short time and as I was watching him I learned a lot that can apply for wildlife watching or anything else. Usually when I go out, not always, I am very fast paced, I look around don’t see anything and move on. While I was with my dad he slowed me down he stopped me in a few places and really observed when he was out looking. I have seen Canadian Geese a hundred times this year and did not think much of them when I saw them. On the other my dad pointed out some geese and noticed that she was nesting on goslings which soon got up and waddled around. If you are out and about enjoy yourself take time to observe and learn something, make it a goal to not move on until you have seen something new, because something new is out there.

I took this in to practice yesterday I was out looking for a great Gray Owl, hooting for it and quite a few Great Horned Owls respond. Some ended up being really close so I went and was able to take some decent pictures of them. After they had flown off I wandered around a little bit and notice a nest with a giant fir ball in it. After observing for a few minutes I saw that they were two Great Horned Owl Chicks. Had I seen the owls, and then just left I would have missed the owl chicks not only this time but in the future as I revisit this area.

Great Horned Owl, 05-08-2011, Rexburg, ID, Canon 60D, 500mm.

Great Horned Owl Chicks, 05-08-2011, Rexburg, ID, Canon 60D, 500mm.

As I was looking at the owl chicks I also noticed this osprey in the tree, knowing that the owl chicks were not going anywhere I took a second to snap a few shots. I am glad I did for a couple of reasons 1 I have never been close enough to an osprey to recognize details.Like the eyes they seem huge  it is almost like it was raised by owls I would guess this helps in seeing into the water.

Osprey, 05-08-2011, Rexburg, ID, Canon 60D, 500mm.

Osprey, 05-08-2011, Rexburg, ID, Canon 60D, 500mm.

At the end of the day I saw this Western Grebe letting the current take it down stream. It is to bad that my abilities did not allow me to capture what this scene really looked like as the sunset.

Western Grebe, 05-08-2011, Rexburg, ID, Canon 60D, 500mm.

My neighboring owls 4-6-2011

I have been watching and listening a couple owls behind my house for about a month and they were finally in the open enough to get a couple pictures.  They put on quite the show for me tonight as they flew back and forth across the road and called constantly back and forth to each other.

Patience pays off 04-01-2011

Today was another day in Madison and Fremont Counties out to Warm Slough over to Beaver Dick Park, and back out to Salem. It was nice to see more than just birds out, I saw 3 moose today but none were in a good place for pictures as well as a few other mammals.

The four pictures of the Bald Eagle below took some patience but it paid off, these our four of many that I took as the Eagle left its perch.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

Bald Eagle, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D.

I have seen Red-winged Blackbirds all over the place close to where I live outside of Rexburg, ID I have seen flocks of hundreds of them flying around. But this is how they are usually seen just one at a time hanging out in his territory.

Red-winged Blackbird, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

One, two, then three, that is how many Muskrats were swimming around. One of them did not notice me as he swam around but the other two did and were under the water and gone in a second. Waiting on this one to get close enough for a decent shot took some time, at one point I thought it was gone then it turned around and came pretty close to where I  was at.

Muskrat, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

While I was taking pictures of the Muskrat a goose flew in and landed in the water. It didn’t take much time for it to notice I was there and it took off. I had to lighten the image up because of how dark it was since it was a quick shot that I was not prepared for.

Canada Goose, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

I have heard and seen a few Great Horned Owls in the last few weeks but I was actually able to get a decent shot with some daylight. I must say that the owls eyes are my favorite feature they are almost haunting.

Great Horned Owl, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

More to a Mallard than just its head, the mallard is quite a beautiful bird. I have been trying to get a good picture of one in flight and this is the best I have done so far. When the mallard is flying so much more detail and color is visible in both the male and female.

Mallard, 04-01-2011, Canon 60D

To end the day when I got home we had this little cotton tail waiting for in the driveway.