Birding at Fort Buenaventura with WAS!

We went on a birding walk today at Fort Buenaventura with the Wasatch Audubon Society (WAS)…  We saw a wonderful variety of birds!

Hope you enjoy this little trip!

We saw a lot of Robins and Starlings.  The fellow was so cooperative that I had to take his pictureI have to admit that this was quite a thrill!  I’ve seen lots of Great Horned Owls, and Owlets in the Hay Barn, but this is the first time I’ve seen them nest raised!  And what cute little babes they are!  Mama was quite pretty too!

And I think this may be a female American Goldfinch or a Lesser Goldfinch?  Feel free to let me know if you have a better identification!

A male Downy Woodpecker…

I wasn’t able to get a good picture of his lady friend, but we did see her as well!

This is a White-breasted Nuthatch…  Quite rare to see around here!

And here’s a new bird for my collection!  It’s a Brown Creeper!  This little guy moves fast!  I was lucky to get any shot of him!  (Sorry it’s a meh photo!)

We also saw several Song Sparrows, a rapidly disappearing Kingfisher, some species of hawk, a Northern flickr, and some Mallards. ,

Thanks for visiting!

Birds galore and a turtle to boot! It must be spring!!!

I have been sadly lacking when it’s come to posting here on my blog.  Although I have been busy quilting away!  And birding.  Which I seem to find myself doing more and more lately!  Any excuse, right?!  LOL!  Here are some pictures I’ve taken over the last few weeks.  I was thrilled to find a new bird for my collection (pictures) yesterday at a local park!

I’ll start with them first!

These are two female and male Hooded Mergansers I took pictures of yesterday at a local park.  I went back today because none of my pictures came out worth a darn!  Today’s were much better…

This was a few weeks ago out at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  The little black and white duck like birds are Common Goldeneyes.

These are Northern Pintails in flight.  I love the mountains here!

This is a Horned Lark.  I love his horns…  They look like a bad toupee.

Starlings picking on a Bison…

It’s sleepy time out at the Fielding Garr Ranch.  This Great Horned Owl wishes he weren’t so photogenic!

This cute little Song Sparrow sings it’s little heart out…

Yesterday at Kaysville Ponds…

Spring must be here!  I spotted my first turtle out sunning himself!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Juvenile Eagles and a little Downy Woodpecker…

On Monday, my son and I took a drive to the bird refuge…  Unfortunately, it’s frozen almost solid and so the Tundra Swans have left and continued on to California.  (According to the gal working in the Visitors Center…)  We did see a lot of Harriers and Hawks, but no Eagles.  However, on the drive there, we were a little distracted by this site…

There are 9 juvenile Bald Eagles in this picture!  My son and I counted 41 that day!!!  (The adults are hiding out somewhere else, we only saw a couple of them…)

We drove back today and went for a little walk through the woods…  There were a lot fewer than on Monday, but this is what we saw.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Some people can tell the difference whether the Juveniles are First,  Second, or Third year Juveniles.  They don’t get their white heads or tails until they’re 4 years old.  I’m not that skilled, although I see a scruff of white at the base of this guys neck so I’m guessing almost adult!

 

Taking flight…

Juvenile Bald Eagle in flight…

Gosh they are majestic!  Did I mention that already?!  LOL!

Check out that wingspan!

And as I’m focusing on Eagles, my bird nerd son (our whole family wears that term proudly!) spots this little guy!

And he isn’t even cropped!  What a view!  A little male Downy Woodpecker.  He’s so cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bird Nerd on board…

 

 

 

More Bald Eagles and Mr. Bobcat…

We took a nice drive yesterday up to one of our favorite places for viewing Bald Eagles during the winter…

I cropped this one quite a bit… 

They were on the opposite side of the dam, just sitting there…  And then along came

An unwanted visitor…

Both of the Bald Eagles gave this Magpie the “stink eye” when he got too close!

And look who we caught chowing down on roadkill venison!  That’s right, Mr. (or Mrs.) Bobcat!  We call him “Bob”.

I wish he’d sit still long enough for me to get a decent portrait!  (And without sticks in front of him too.  I know, I’m picky!)

Thanks for visiting!!!

Playing Hooky…

Instead of doing chores like I had planned, I was distracted by the beautiful clouds this morning…  I cut my jogging route short by about 2 miles and headed out to Antelope Island.  Fair warning, this is a photo heavy post!  (What else you would expect from me anyway?  LOL!)

These grasses are beautiful, but one of the Volunteers here tell me they’re quite pervasive and squeezing out the cattail population…  The birds don’t like the seeds from these grasses so it doesn’t attract them like the cattails once did.

In my opinion, there is no place more beautiful to capture a great sky shot!  The colors changed so dramatically from one moment to the rest…

It was cold and chilly, but the view was worth it.

The buffalo didn’t have a care in the world.

  Except for…

pesky European Starlings!  A whole flock flew in and tried to land on one buffalo.  He wasn’t having any part of it!

On the other side of the island, a lone coyote wandered around looking for treats.

A flock of Northern Shovelers huddled together in the cool water.  They took flight as I stopped for a picture.

And this is the first time that I’ve seen Snow Geese!  They are so graceful in flight.

Thanks for visiting Antelope Island with me…  It is a fabulous State Park here in Northern Utah!

The Tundra Swans are back!

We drove out to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and got some good pictures of the Tundra Swans flying back…  Such beautiful birds!

“The Flight Swandron”  My son named this picture…  LOL!

Another shot…

Coming in for a landing!  Thanks for visiting the Tundra Swans with me!

Another couple of finishes…

The members of Layton Quilt Guild made extra blocks in a swap to donate for the Clearfield Senior Center.

They graciously allow us to meet there every month.

I volunteered to quilt it…  I love working with these bright happy fabrics!

Here’s a close up of the quilting so you can see the motifs I quilted on it…  Leaf feathers in the outside border as well.

And another little project I finished…  I used the faux piping binding taught by Deonn at quiltscapes found here: http://www.quiltscapesqs.com

If you click on the button on the right sidebar for “Riley Blake” it will take you to her tutorials!  I love this method as it is sewn on by machine and looks so professional!

And I needed some ornaments for an ornament swap in MQTS flickr group.  This pattern is one of Deonn’s tutorials as well!  (She is an uber creative gal and so fun in person!)  XOXO Deonn!

Thanks for visiting!

Back to the Birds…

I haven’t posted a bird blog in awhile, but I haven’t stopped stalking them or taking their pictures…  (It’s a good thing it’s not illegal!)

Hehehe…

Bear with me as this post is extremely picture heavy!

Caught this Sand Hill Crane in Wyoming on the way to Lyman’s Quilt Store.  That pretty red color on his shoulders is stain from rolling in the mud!

This is an Osprey at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge…

Check out that mouthful of fish!  Yes, he did manage to swallow it whole…  Great Blue Heron at the BRMBR (Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge)

Snowy Egret in flight at the BRMBR…

Great Blue Heron fluffing his feathers…

Juvenile Night Heron in flight…  These guys are very shy and hard to get a picture of!A female Broad Tailed Hummingbird in my front yard…  🙂

Western Grebe and babies out for a ride! BRMBR (I love this about Grebes!  They’ll even dive with the babies on their backs…)

And isn’t this a handsome fellow?  Caught him up in the Ogden Valley this weekend!  Great Horned Owl…

And he’s off…!

Red Breasted Nuthatch.  Got this little guy this weekend too…  First Nuthatch!  He’s a cutie!

And my first Red-naped Sapsucker!  Two new species this weekend!  Score!

Thanks for visiting!  Your favorite Bird Nerd…

A Couple of Goodies for RQG’s Raffle Basket…

 Roy Quilt Guild is making a “bird” themed basket to raffle off for Utah Quilt Guild’s Quilt Festival in September…  These are a couple of little things I got to go in the basket.  I made 2 of the quilt tops several years ago for a swap and never finished the second one.  Finally getting around to it for the  basket!A little Hummingbird feeder and Quilt!  I think they’ll be cute in the basket…

Thanks for stopping by!

At the family reunion…

So many birds, so little time!!!

We saw numerous birds at our Family Reunion in Eastern Utah!!!  A birding bonanza if you will…

This young robin hung out near our group camp site…

This Northern Flickr was feeding it’s baby near the young robin!!!  Awesome!

On our walk around the lake at Palisades State Park…

Scrub Jay

Red-tail Hawk taking off!

Bullock’s Oriole

These are the most colorful birds I’ve seen!

Cowbird baby in nest with Brewers Blackbird clutch.

Cowbirds don’t raise their own young.  Instead, they lay an egg in another birds nest for them to care for…

Unfortunately the smaller birds in the nest often don’t get enough food to survive.

Mountain Bluebird on Father’s Day!  He’s the daddy!

Thanks for joining me at my Family Reunion!!!  LOL!  (I know, not a single family member in site!)