Stopping to stretch my legs at a highway rest stop, I heard the familiar honking of geese overhead. Looking up I caught the team as they flew by. Another sign of spring’s return. 😊

Cormorants and gulls found the same outcropping to enjoy some sun on an early October day.

I featured this green heron a few days ago as it came in for a landing. Here’s a parting shot. 😏

I watched as the green heron searched the shoreline for something to eat. Without success it flew off only to  come in for a landing a short time later.

These American Black Ducks had the right idea.

On this sunny February day, with the temperature above zero, it’s easier to imagine a scene like this before too long. 😊

I had not expected to see the wood duck on the path.  I took this with a long lens and clipped a bit of its wing but enjoyed the bird’s relaxed pose.

These geese took their time navigating through the dense reeds. There were no other birds in sight, just this calm pair.

I wish I had been closer to the egret and company but the photo did capture the quiet mood of the afternoon at the lake.

Ring-billed gulls are very intense looking birds.

I enjoy seeing ring-billed gulls on the water, although we often see them in city parking lots and public parks scavenging for food. I liked this photogenic group; note the mottled bird on the left, it’s a juvenile.  These gulls take three years to reach full maturity.

I took this in early August at a local reserve. The young wood duck had recently emerged from the water with its siblings. The young are quite fearless but its mother was close by.

The woodpecker had been drilling away at the tree for some time when he suddenly looked up, perhaps taking a break from all that hammering.

I like these large ducks, close relatives of mallards. They’re often seen swimming together and also tend to be a little less vocal 😏

We tend to see more goldfinch in the late summer and early fall as flowers dry and form seed heads, their food of choice. This male looks like he’s beginning to moult.

On a recent drive heading to a new birding area, we stopped when we saw this pond close to a suburban development. The water was teeming with several egrets, cormorants and a lot of other water birds.  We never did make it to our original destination.