Ferruginous hawk, Says phoebe,Pelican (20140427) An eventful day at Carburn Park.

With Spring springing all of the Sunday walks over the next couple of weeks should show us new birds every trip. Today was a terrific day with some first-of-the-year birds and even a first-ever bird for me.  We started with the local owls as the chick is now too big for the nest, and mom was around to make certain that all was kept safe. Our first of the year birds was a small flock of yellow rumped warblers.

I thought that this Magpie was showing its colour in the morning sun. I don't usually pst these birds, but the colour on this bird is great.

Next was a reaction set of shots that I took as a raptor swung by overhead. As it turns out it is my first ever ferruginous hawk. There was a lot of debate between this and a light morph redtail, but it has been confirmed as a ferruginous!

This next bird was another reaction shot of a flying merganser, I am pretty pleased with the result considering I shot it with the 2.0 TC on.

After a couple of years of only getting blurry, distant images of these birds I thought I would post another couple shots of a rubycrowned kinglet. The first is a head on shot.

Now a shot from behind showing the colour that these little fellows interesting:)

Next up was our first of the year american pelican, resting comfortably on a gravel bar. This is a male as we spotted his beak "horn" from a more distant vantage point.

Our next FOTY birds was this Say's Phoebe. I was surprised to find one of these birds within the city. I usually find them well outside the city and much later in the year.

At the "end of the trail" we found some Franklins feeding with a pair of mallards.

I thought that this was a decent shot of the drake. I probably won't post another of these for awhile.

With the beautiful light we had, even the hen looked pretty good in the viewfinder.

I will finish this post with another Franklins image as it was just too good to exclude.

With the nice light and warmer weather I am headed over to see if the frogs are awake and ready to sing some more. I am hoping to get some better images.
Turbo