Owls, redtails, Swans (20140404) A springtime like run after work

Well folks it is starting to look like spring might actually make an appearance here in Alberta. Jamie swung by and picked my up after he got off work. While waiting for him I snapped this shot of our quarter moon.

We swung by where Lincl and I had spotted some Mountain Bluebirds the day before, but had no luck. On our way back to the highway we grabbed a couple of images of this Redtail.

I dropped by a GHO nest to share the location with Jamie, this is the first time that this little sweetheart has been on the blog.

Just up the road we spotted this Western Meadowlark. It is a very long shot but it is a decent evidence shot.

We visited another GHO nest on my route and looked in on this young lady. No other heads/bodies are visible yet.

We also grabbed a quick shot of this Redtail not very far away.

Less than a mile from out second GHO nest is where we find my latest addition to the GHO trail. This nest is very close to the road so it is easy to get a great shot.

Then as we are driving along a stretch where I was saying to Jamie, "one year we are going to find a GHO nest here!", he pipes up with: "there's one!". We will keep an eye on this one (number 10 on the year so far) but it is so far off the road and in quite a dense piece of woods we probably won't get many images here.

As we were getting ready to leave we spied Dad, and he put himself out where we could get a couple of shots. This one is of him keeping an eye on a RLH that took a couple of passes at him overhead.

Sometimes you have to feel sorry for the little critters that all of these raptors are after for their dinner. Here is a Richardson's Groundsquirrel. I expect he is doing himself no favours by hanging out in the wide open.

We finished up the day with a small group of swans heading north looking for water.

We found one more GHO on the way home, but it would not hold for us. Overall a very busy evening with a lot of targets for us to capture. More to come tomorrow.
Turbo