Monday, March 12, 2012

Spring Is In the Air

I went walking through the Dykeman Wetlands Park this morning, and it surely was lively! The birds were certainly about and singing, although they were out of camera range. I heard plenty of Song Sparrows, Cardinals, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Robins. I heard (and saw) an Eastern Phoebe who would fly to the next tree as soon as I got too close. I heard several Red-bellied Woodpeckers and at least one Northern Flicker. Oh yeah, and one Carolina Wren (all the rest are hanging out where I work, in the garden center of the local Lowe's. Seriously!).

But the main drama of the morning was a very noisy juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk, who was yelling away and creating a fuss amongst the local Crows. I saw it fly back and forth over the swamp several times, trying to get away from the Crows, but I never had a chance to get a good shot, even in flight. The hawk was making such a ruckus (Red-shouldereds are notorious for being particularly obnoxious with their yelling) that it woke up a Great Horned Owl, who hooted in protest several times - the owlish version of "Hey, pipe down! Can't a fella get a decent day's sleep?"

The only photos I got that passed muster were these of the emerging Spring wildflowers. The banks of the southernmost duck pond were carpeted in Corn Speedwell (top) and Chickweed (bottom).



After I got home, I went looking in the Android app market and found a sound recorder app for my smartphone, so the next time I go over to the wetlands I'll be able to bring you a sample of the symphony going on over there.

© 2012 by A. Roy Hilbinger

3 comments:

  1. Very colorful shots... almost as colorful as your story about the hawk and the owl!

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  2. Lovely flower shots & great description of the activity. I think the soundtrack idea is a good one!

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  3. Beautiful photographs Roy - the pin-sharpness of the individual flowers again the background blur is down to masterful focusing. Roll on Spring.

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