What else did we see at the rookery?

Some of their time is spent just hanging around the nest, preening, admiring each other's breeding plumage, and ...

"What are YOU looking at?"

what we saw at the rookery

Some of the herons were already on their nests -- laying?

Others seemed to have no nest.

Most were busy still building by flying in ...

... twigs, ...

... branches, ...

... and small trees?!

Some just like to fly ...

... and ...

... check up on their mates.

Some of their time is spent just hanging around the nest and ...
(check our next post)

rookery

Due to that malady known as work, plus a morning at the dentist, I still have not edited Monday's pictures from the rookery. However, Mike, who was with Les and me, sent me the following:

Yours truly taking aim.

"Les, look at all the big birds!"

Rookery Blues

Rookery because of the herons --

Blues because of the herons, i.e., Great Blue.

After reading the several MOU postings and looking at Liz Stanley's photos, I finally got out to North Mississippi Regional Park with Les & Mike.

Behold the rookery!
I shot 2 gigs worth of photos, but, before I share them with you I have to first edit & process this morning's pictures from Sherwood Forest.

That's my granddaughter -- Robin Hood.

detour from birding

This afternoon I was detoured from birding by my grandson's qualifying for a second round in the Pinewood Derby. That's his car in the middle.

It was fun to see him excited!

After getting home I did get a shot of this Fox Sparrow outside my window.

hummingbird nest

Check out this bird-cam. Sign in as: guest & password: guest.
Thank you Cathy Gagliardi!
Read more about exotic hummingbirds on Mel's blog
and see how our hummingbird migration is progressing in the U.S. here.

after the storm

(click on pictures to enlarge them)
Since the sun had come out Monday morning, Joel & I decided to go to Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge even though it was still below freezing -- as you can see from this fluffed up House Sparrow outside my window.

When we arrived at the auto-tour road at Big Stone, we found the gate locked. As we turned around our car, a worker showed up and told us that they would open in a few days. That didn't do us much good since we had to leave the following morning.

As we drove around the refuge on various gravel & paved roads we spotted numerous ducks (too far to photograph), a Bald Eagle high in the air, and several hawks (again too far away). We did come upon these Ring-billed Gulls working a field.

I did not use a map to figure out where we were and before long we were back in Millbank. (I don't know how we did that since I didn't remember crossing the river.) The South Dakota gulls had found some water, even though it was surrounded by snow and ice.

In this field I spotted a Killdeer. Can you find it? Every time I took my eye away from the viewfinder it was quite an effort to locate it again.

Disappointed by the lack of photo opportunities, back at the Abbey I went for a walk around one of the ponds and was greeted by this bunny.

Most of the pond surface was covered by ice; by late afternoon, much of the snow had melted.

I'm not that good at identifying ducks; a female Lesser Scaup, maybe?

I know that generally we are not supposed to shoot into the sun, but I couldn't resist the sparkles in the water.

American Tree Sparrow

and a pair of Dark-eyed Juncos

I'm anxious to get back to Big Stone when there is more open water and, especially, more birds within the range of my lens. (These pictures were taken with Canon's f4 300mm & f5.6 400mm lenses. On some I added the 1.4x converter.)

South Dakota snow

This was the view out of my window at Blue Cloud Abbey late Sunday afternoon.

The weather did not look promising.

Monday morning the sun came out and our disposition improved. Look for some pictures of birds, etc. that we managed to get.

4+ inches

That's how much snow we got last night. One of the workers at the Abbey said that the road between here & Millbank was glare ice this morning. But, the sun is out! -- with expected highs in the mid-40s. If the sun does its work, we may still try to get to Big Stone refuge this afternoon.

snowed out

I was planning to do some birding & picture taking after church & lunch today -- but, I was snowed out. It started snowing about 1 p.m., the temp. was at 32, and a strong breeze was blowing. After a little reading, I decided that the best use of my time would be a nap. Tomorrow, even if the weather is crummy, one of my friends, Joel, and I are planning to drive to Big Stone anyway. I'll keep you posted.

Big Stone, etc.

I'm taking a few days off for R&R at Blue Cloud Abbey near Marvin, SD. While there, I plan to visit the Big Stone Wildlife Refuge and expect to find quite a few birds; look for some posts next Wednesday.

save our boreal birds

sign the petition

equipment update

Craig, of Craig's Birds, was kind enough to respond to my request to describe his latest equipment upgrade to a Canon 40D and Canon's 100-400mm zoom. I'm sure I will be giving the 40D serious consideration soon. Read Craig's comments here.

What Spring?

I saw it was going to be a clear sky at sunrise this morning so I decided to check up on Springbrook to see if matters had improved since last week (see last Wednesday's and Thursday's posts). Well, they haven't! Lots of snow on the ground -- lots of ice on the ponds. When, oh when, will it warm up?!

"I always wake up at the crack of ice."
-- Joe E. Lewis

"How long do you set the microwave for frozen worms?"

"If it doesn't warm up, my honey ain't ever coming up from Texas!"

"Come on in! -- the ice is fine."

"You know it's cold when you can see your honks!"

"Keep breathing."
-- Sophie Tucker

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water."
-- Carl Reiner

win a book

Send in a picture of a flying bird and win a book -- The Life of the Skies Giveaway.

too busy

I know -- if you're too busy to go birding, you are too busy.

. . . but, at least I can enjoy the sunshine & snow from my window.