Many thanks to those who attended the wildlife and nature photography presentation I got the chance to give this past weekend. I really appreciated the opportunity to meet you and would enjoy hearing what you thought about presentation.
My plan had been to take a short walk before speaking to grab a few quick shots to show how easy it is to get decent images of the short color season. Unfortunately I was running late and didn't get a chance to use them at the presentation.So if you don't mind I will share my "one hour walk" through the woods around the Fish Pond with you here.
Until next time, take an hour for yourself to get outside and enjoy Mother Nature's last blast.Have a great one!
Kevin
After a run of great weather the chill of fall is beginning to settle in. The trees are starting to turn and once again the birds around the pond seem to be very busy preparing for the inevitable coming of winter.
Large numbers of songbirds seem to be passing through. Smaller groups make their way around the waters edge leap-frogging each other as they feed and harass larger birds. They never seem to sit still for more than a second or two so they are very difficult to photograph. Drives me nuts trying to focus on them when they briefly land in the tangles of cedar branches near my photo blind.
No matter how much time I spend at the pond the Kingfishers always seem to be one of my favorite aimals to watch. Their plumage and inability to remain quiet for long make them easy to find and they are always busy doing something.
The male that calls the pond home was around a lot today and while he seemed to be accustomed to the rain showers that were passing through didn’t appear to enjoy them. The large moth, some sort of underwing variety, that fell into the water during one downpour certainly didn't like them. 
Of course the thing he really didn’t like was the young Kingfisher that took up a perch in one of the trees across the pond. When it first showed up the older bird got so loud I would have sworn that someone was plucking out his tail feathers. All the noise didn’t seem to affect the younger bird though. It stayed put for fifteen or twenty minutes before disappearing into the woods.
In one of my previous posts I asked if anyone knew what had made the hole in the picture above. Since I know the suspense has been killing many of you (wink, wink) ....
It is indeed a great season to be outside. There is nothing like a hour or so of quiet time in the great outdoors to help relieve a little stress.
The first splashes of color in the trees are a bright and cheerful reminder that summer will soon be at an end. The shorter days and cooler overnight temperatures have sent life at the Fish Pond into the feeding mode as the animals begin to prepare for winter.
The Great Blue Herons are certainly out in full force. There is always at least one to be found somewhere near the pond. There were three that spent time at the pond today. The first arrived shortly after I did and it took it only a few moments for it to find a potential lunch. It made a great stab between the branches of a submerged tree to grab the large trout but pulling it through the tangle of sticks proved to be much more difficult than catching it was.
Unfortunately the arrival of a second bird meant the delay in getting the meal into its mouth meant it was not going to be able to enjoy the fruits of its labors.
While I’m not sure if the first was an immature bird or a female the new arrival definitely appeared to be a male. After driving the first heron to the far shore of the pond he spent several minutes strutting his stuff around the area near the inlet stream and letting everyone know just who’s hunting spot it was.
The third arrived while the ruckus between the first two was taking place and it quietly perched on a branch overlooking the scene. All of the strutting and puffing up his feathers must have made the intended point. The first bird opted to leave and as much as the third wanted to jump in and have lunch it didn’t.
Number three must have decided to try to get to the disputed fish by flying into the woods to the upper portion of the pond’s inlet stream. Perhaps it thought it could sneak in from the back side if the new king of the pond let his guard down.
The king wasn’t going to give an inch though. Defending his hunting spot was even more important to him than eating. He moved back and forth along the shore keeping the challenger at bay. After watching them squabble along the bank and up into the stream for almost an hour and a half they both flew up the stream and off through the woods arguing over the hunting spot that they both seemed to have forgotten about.
There has been a new bird around for the last couple of weeks. I believe it is a Solitary Sandpiper and this is the second time in the last three years I have been able to photograph one here at, or near the pond. My bird books are all older editions and they do not show my area as being within the normal breeding area for this bird so maybe I’m just lucky and have been fortunate enough to see a couple who are migrating.
Even if they are just migrating through the area they are still fun to see and photograph. Seeing new animals and plants is always a treat. They bring out the excitement that you can only get when you make a new discovery and to me the best part of spending time outdoors are the almost unending number if new things to find and learn about.
Well, I’m back. After not having the time to make regular visits over the course of the summer I finally got a chance to get out and shoot for a while. Fortunately the Fish Pond is still a popular place for a wide variety of plants and wildlife.
It was incredibly relaxing to be able to sit quietly enjoying the sound of the pond’s inlet stream and the wind as it shuffled through the leaves. Watching the wide variety of birds that depend on the pond to get ready for winter is always interesting and there were a lot of them there during this visit. So many in fact that I will save the narrative for my next post and just share a few quick comments and some of the photos from the day.
After several minutes of watching the ducks this young Bald Eagle must have decided try for an easier lunch somewhere else.
The natural soil conditions and lots of recent rain have brought the open areas around the pond to life with wild flowers.
One of the local Great Blue Herons couldn't resist going after this large trout but when it proved to big and slippery he opted for a smaller snack. 
Even when they are molting the Wood Ducks are some of the prettiest birds on the pond.
The bees were busy taking advantage of the selection of late summer and early fall flowers.
Until my next post don’t forget to spend a little quiet time outside!
While the changes between spring and summer may not be as dramatic as other seasonal shifts they certainly seem to have snuck up on me this year. Young ones are arriving and changes in attitudes and behaviours are taking place all around the Fish Pond.
The striking colors of the Wood Duck drakes have begun to fade and will soon be gone completely. Even the Bright green head feathers of the local Mallards don’t seem as vibrant as they did only a week or so ago.
Since both male and female Kingfisher seem comfortable venturing out over the pond at the same time I am guessing that they now have young. They make almost continuous trips to hunt for enough food to feed their growing little ones.
They are still one of my favorites to watch as they fly from tree to tree stopping to hover occasionally when they spot a small fish or as they splash into the water for a quick bath to clean up and refresh themselves.
My original guess that the eagles who fish here at the pond might not have successfully hatched any young this year was wrong. They did manage to raise one little one and it has finally found its way to the pond. It arrived as I was setting up and the only shots I managed to get of it were a few blurry ones as it made a hasty departure to avoid the crows that were harassing it. These persistant pests did not bother it for long though.
I have never seen both of the mature eagles at the pond together before so you can imagine how excited I was when they both suddenly appeared. They came in quickly from my left chasing the noisy crows back into trees. I was really amazed when they both landed on the same perch directly up and across from my photo blind.
They spent about ten minutes there before taking off in the direction of the younger eagle that I could see circling over the trees in the distance. The best part of this group encounter is that I can now say with out doubt that they are both sporting similar leg bands. All I have to do now is get the alphanumeric codes off of them. Easy right?
After being fortunate enough to have these brief few moments with the eagles I was surprised again to have a close encounter with what is probably the smallest bird that occasionally visits the pond.
This hummingbird spent several minutes among the shadows of the tree that makes up part of my photo blind. It was so close I had a hard time focussing on it.
Fortunately a couple of hours is all it takes to find a weeks worth of wonder in the big world around you!
Lazy, hazy spring days at the Fish Pond. That’s certainly what it seemed like today as there was not much happening. Kingfishers passing back and forth, a few ducks and a seagull that stopped in for a quick bite were about all that I saw.
One Mallard Drake showed up shortly after my arrival. He was heading straight at me as he skidded to a stop on the water’s surface. As soon as he slowed to the point that his feet could paddle successfully he turned sharply to his right and swam away from his splashdown point.
He nervously swam up and down the length of the pond paralleling the bank that was off to my right looking for any sign of other ducks but he stayed well away from it. Occasionally he would perk his head up as if he thought he had seen something in the over hanging trees. He would swim quickly towards whatever it was only to return to his regular route when it turned out to be nothing.
Quacking anxiously he maintained his back and forth pattern for more than twenty minutes. He didn’t seem to relax until a pair of wood ducks appeared from out of the brush. As soon as they showed up he climbed up onto a fallen tree settled in for a short rest.
One of the reasons for the lack of activity today was probably the layer of white fluff that had fallen from the Cottonwood trees. Until the wind picked up and pushed it all to one side it blanketed almost the entire surface of the pond.
It certainly drove the Wood Ducks crazy when they tried to feed in it and made at least one Grackle very unhappy. He must have thought it was snow and seemed very surprised when he went right through it and got a little wet. If I didn’t know better I’d say he was rather embarrassed about the whole thing.
That was about the all that happened. Except for the large number of mosquitoes that kept my hands pretty busy it was fairly uneventful.
I did make one new discovery. The picture below is what I found. I’m curious to know if anyone can guess what it is, or more precisely, whose it is, hmmm…
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