Three birds and a buck

I didn’t make it to the park today, I am sorry to say, even though the morning looked as beautiful as forecast, at least before the winds came up, the clouds blew in, and the flurries started. Anyway, I do have a couple of pictures in my back pocket that might be able to tide you over.

Here’s one more picture of one of the great horned owls from last Saturday when there were two of them on the southern island, and they were both perched facing away from the east bank. You can see it has turned to face the sun, and it has its eyes closed, or at least the left one.

Here’s one more picture of the osprey from the same morning, which was the last time we saw this magnificent bird. With the sun just starting to peak over the horizon to add a golden glow, it looks like a fantastic picture, until you notice the little branch right in front of its eyes. Cursed branch!

Here’s one more blue heron picture from Sunday morning, when we saw the young buck swim across the river. I already included a good picture of a heron from where the river is wide and slow, so I opted not to also include this one of a heron farther south where the river is narrow and fast.

Finally, here’s a picture from the second sighting of that young buck with the funky antlers near the north end on Monday, which I mentioned on Tuesday. I think you can see why I didn’t use it then, but you can also see that the beaver have been busy there gnawing the bark off of some trunks they fell. I sure am glad to see that!

The forecast for tomorrow morning is even better than for today, and I don’t have to go to school, so I expect I’ll be in the park at sunrise. Maybe I’ll see you there, and let’s hope we’re not the only ones awake this time!