Sunday, November 04, 2018

New York Vacation - Day 7

Well, our last day in New York had finally arrived. We went over to the refuge, blue sky above, and we were hopeful we might see some interesting birds.

Looking out over these grasslands, I heard a lot of birds, but didn't see any.

As we drove along the road, we came upon this heron. He had no intention of moving!  We slipped past him as slowly as possible. (The bird wasn't leaving a whole lot of room for us!) Nothing would move this bird out of the way - not even a car. We were in its territory and the rules belonged to the bird.

There were birds in the canal. This Moorhen was undisturbed by our presence.

A Moorhen and a Wood Duck sharing a space. If only humans could get along as well.

A Great Blue Heron stood silent, watching and waiting for just the right moment to splash its head down into the water and come up with some little treat for breakfast.

As we drove around to the other side of the pond, this Great Egret was probably doing the same as its heron cousin. At any moment there would be a head dive! *SPLASH!*

A really bad picture, but it serves as a record for having seen it. Bald Eagles are usually fairly easy to see in this place, but on this trip, they were elusive.

A little Coot swam past us

Rose Mallow

A butterfly in the flowers. I would have liked to have been closer, but at this point of the drive, visitors were not permitted to get out of their vehicles.

An Eastern Kingbird was perched on some branches

Lots of flowers were in bloom below him

Another Moorhen. The reflections were beautiful, thanks to that blue sky above

A nearby Grebe was swimming around 

We went back to find the Ospreys we had seen the day before and this one was already on a post eating a fish

One look at me before it continued eating.  

It was time to go. We didn't see a wide variety of birds on this trip, but still, we saw more than we might have if we had just stayed home. 

 See you next time!