An American Robin dressed in his winter coat brings a bit of sunshine to a very grey January day. We usually don’t have quite this level of grey here in Colorado like we had last weekend so I am grateful the sun has returned this week.
May your days be filled with sunshine and may Robins fill your trees.
It seems like every winter we get a short but welcome visit from a pair of Bald Eagles on the stretch of Platte River we frequent on a regular basis. This year was no exception as this one showed up on a snowy January morning. According to reports their mate was spotted just up river.
South Platte River in Denver, CO.
Last weekend was cold and very grey but seeing this American Widgeon hanging out on a rock in Clear Creek brought a little color to the day. Even though I gave these guys a little grief for swiping food from the redheads the other day they sure are something to look at.
If you can’t dive to the bottom of the pond to get a tasty mouthful of greens what’s a dabbling duck like this American Widgeon to do? Simple, steal it form those darn diving ducks like this Redhead. We have watched this behavior many times. The Widgeon follows the diving ducks around on the pond and when they come up they try to steal the divers catch. This time a determined Redhead got away with his mouthful of greens and we all need to eat our greens.
Driving from left to right across the North Cascades.
Remembrances of a road trip now long overdue.
Continuing with what appears to have turned into duck week here on the blog I present the Buffleheads. They make a fine couple don’t they.
They usually seem to keep to the middle of the lakes around here in winter but when it gets cold and the lakes freeze over they move the the nearby creeks where we get a closer look at these amazing little ducks.
From allaboutbird..https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bufflehead/id
“Buffleheads are a buoyant, large-headed duck that abruptly vanishes and resurfaces as it feeds, the tiny Bufflehead spends winters bobbing in bays, estuaries, reservoirs, and lakes. Males are striking black-and white from a distance. A closer look at the head shows glossy green and purple setting off the striking white patch. Females are a subdued gray-brown with a neat white patch on the cheek. Bufflehead nest in old woodpecker holes, particularly those made by Northern Flickers, in the forests of northern North America.”
The male Hooded Mergansers were out in force last Sunday afternoon cursing the pond and showing off to whoever was in the area and in this case the most interested observer was a male Redhead duck, not a female Merganser.
Each winter we await the arrival of the waterfowl which overwinter on the creeks in our vicinity. One of the duck species I always love to see on the creek is the diminutive Green Winged Teal which are the smallest dabbling ducks in North America. This male caught our eye the other day allowed us a few quick photographs before making his way downstream.
Oh it’s still winter, but even on an early January afternoon you can feel spring inching ever closer. The shadows cast from the trees are still long. There is still plenty of snow on the ground yet change is in the air on this January afternoon.
A tiny Yellow Rumped Warbler found the bull kelp a perfect perch for hunting sand flies and other small insects on the beach. This girl would quickly dart down form the kelp to snag a small meal and quickly return to her perch. Seeing her sitting on the head of the bull kelp made us realize just how small she was. We watched a documentary about songbirds the other night called The Messenger. Here is a link to the website http://songbirdsos.com
It is a very timely reminder about what a world without song birds would be like.
nature has no boss 
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