Monday, March 8, 2010

Wafterfowl returning.

Yesterday after my church meetings and before the weekly family gathering (all of our local kids and their families come to our home for Sunday dinner), I was able to visit the Burton area looking for birds.  The waterfowl have started migrating through as I saw hundreds of geese, ducks and swans.

This was rather funny for me as a European Starling flew right in the path of flock of Trumpeter swans.  No, this was not planned - I only discovered it when I got home and was looking at the pictures.


The swans were absolutely beautiful.  Here I was taking pictures of a pair of swan when they flew between me and the sun filtering through the thin clouds.



Many of the swans had reddish-orange stains on the bodies and necks.



Other interesting pictures I captured of birds include a flock of Common Mergansers.  How many do you see?



A Red-tailed hawk.



A pair of Collared doves.


A even a pair of Killdeer feeding on some mud flats.


A great way to spend a couple of hours in the wilds of Idaho.

20 comments:

Sunny said...

Your bird pictures never cease to amaze me, they are truly spectacular. The little Starling looks like he's leading the way, too funny!
Sunny :)

Monts said...

Hi Bill great set of pics again, and I guess the Starling is scarce over there so look after it as they are in serious decline over here.Are the Collared Doves a common species for you? They started here in the Mid 1950's and are now very common.Yes we also have seen the start of the Spring migration with the arrival of Northern Wheatears, Skylarks and there's also been a report of a couple of Sandwich Terns.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Ah Spring! Thanks for sharing part of your perfect Sunday.

We had some Florida birds in our yard yesterday -- but not your photography skills.

Susan Ellis said...

So nice to see returning birds! and the shot of the swans in sunlight is stunning!! Well done!

Unknown said...

Your bird pictures are awesome. I have never seen a swan flying. They are very beautiful from any angle. If Monts wants some starlings we can ship him several thousand. They are considered a trash bird here and are a real nuisance.

Rachael said...

amazing! the swans are BEAUTIFUL! :)

sunnymama said...

Oh the swans are very beautiful. Great shots of all the birds. :)

Shirleyanne said...

Hello Bill, Beautiful swan photos!
Absolutely stunning.
Your Sundays sound really enjoyable!

Take care

Leenie said...

It is so great to see the migrating swans arrive. Your swans and sun photo is a winner. So is the red-tailed hawk shot. When does the crowd show up at Market Lake?

troutbirder said...

Neat collection. We have seen few returnees so far. They gotta be coming soon, especially raptors and waterfowl.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Oh what fun seeing that Starling leading the swans, too cute. Those swan photographs are wonderful. Your having so many for Sunday dinner, what a nice thing to do Bill~

D said...

Bill, I love the swan photo with the filtered sun... quite painterly; the Collared doves are so unique, and the colors of the Red-tailed... beautiful.

DaveABirding said...

Jusat caught up a few back posts, those are some great Long-eared Owl flight shots! Enjoy the beginings of migration.

kayerj said...

the swans are stunning!

We get together every sunday too, it's kind of nice :)

me ann my camera said...

Your photos are so very beautiful! I love the Swans. You are most fortunate in your location for viewing these birds. I see 10 mergansers in your picture.. Hopefully I will have a sighting of my own of this species of my own. They return to our river each year. Thank you for your comments on my blog. Your header photo is breath taking in its beauty!Ann

happyone said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. Your blog has beautiful photos!
The flying swans are fantastic. I don't think I've ever seen swans flying. Great capture!!

Gabriella said...

Oh Bill

You're really dear. I'm taking, I'm taking...
You know these pictures of swans are fantastic.

See you monday

Have a nice day

Gabriella

Jacqui said...

Enjoyed this post too - how nice to see a starling - their name in Scottish Gaelic is druid.

Flo de Sendai said...

Hi, I really like your bird photos, especialy the flying swans, do you know what sort of swan they are ? They look different from the one we have here: the Whooper Swan...

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Bill: Beautiful captures of all the birds, the swans are so special. I see 5 mergansers, the other ones are the reflection. The ones that come to Ohio are all black.