Thursday, April 24, 2014

Blue Water, Blue Sky, and Beautiful (?) Bird Faces

Today was perfectly sunny and decently warm. Even with the strong winds, it was a lovely day for a visit to the shore at Silver Sands State Park!

I often admire the water when I visit this beach, but I especially loved the teal-aqua-pale-blue color scheme during this afternoon's low tide. These colors were just amazing:
 

The sky was also awesome, with amazingly intricate (cirrus?) clouds making frost-like patterns overhead. Without my camera's wide angle lens, my phone took the best sky pictures:
 

One more. I love those barbed clouds on the left in this picture:


In the field/brushy area of the park, I noticed a hole in a tree right next to the path. I don't remember seeing this hole here before, and it's in such an obvious place (which I've walked by many, many times).... Could this be someone's newly constructed home?
 

Hey, are those pointy tail feathers in there?
 

Ah! A moustachioed male Northern Flicker! Hello, handsome:
 

I'm very impressed by the chisel-work on this cavity! I hope this guy and his mate keep going with what is presumably their nesting project, although I have to wonder why they chose such an exposed spot, right next to a path that will have more and more people and dogs on it in the coming months. Well, best of luck, birds! I'll try not to crowd you, at least, when I'm visiting again.

I'm getting practically used to seeing Wild Turkeys at this park, but that doesn't make an encounter with them any less exciting. A trio of turkeys (perhaps the same trio I saw in this spot a few weeks ago?) crossed the road in front of my car as I was leaving, and I took the opportunity for some portraits:


Are these some amazing faces or what? The light shining through this next bird's skin is particularly cool (and weird):
 

What a bird!


We're supposed to get a frost tonight, so the cold weather isn't completely gone yet. But early spring still brings plenty to see, and it's exciting to think of all the creatures and plants that will be showing up soon!

No comments:

Post a Comment