This guy is an immature Green Heron, and if not for a last minute hunch, I’d have missed him entirely.  I got up early to grab an hour in the park before heading to the office, and was about to cash in 20 minutes early due to a lack of critters.  But on a whim I stopped at Bullhead Bay, where I found this guy.  Imagine my surprise when he abandoned a downed tree offshore and, instead of heading away, landed in the marsh grass about 12 feet from me!

It’s mornings like that when I mutter a heartfelt thank you to the gods, forget that I haven’t had coffee yet, and get down to the business of being impressed by nature.  I got to watch this guy for almost 20 minutes; for his part, he didn’t seem to care that I was there.  He made a few failed stabs at fish in the water, but mostly just hung out on this chunk of wood, within easy reach of the lens.

In the lowish light, it’s clear that this guy is built for survival – standing motionless on his perch, his coloring blended with the sodden wood perfectly.  Even knowing where he was, the few times I’d look away and then look back, it took me a minute to pick him out again.  Even more impressive, according to some reading I did, Green Herons are known to use tools when they hunt, employing insects and bits of bread to lure fish into range.  How cool is that?

So when normal people are still home in bed, I was standing in the fog, lake water leaking into my hiking boots, within spitting distance of a bird that I’ve never gotten close to before.  It just doesn’t get much better than that (despite having wet feet all morning).  For the curious, here’s the set-up: Canon 7D + 300L f/4 IS @ f/4.5, ISO 250, Av mode, with a 580EX on-camera @ 105mm, -2 FEC.

In this last shot, he’s a bit too far away for the flash to reach (left the DIY beamer at home for repairs).  So he’s a little darker than I’d like – but the setting makes up for it.  Maybe I’m being to artsy-fartsy, but to me, the tree looks like the bare rib bones of some prehistoric beast.

As near as I can tell – and I consulted several web pages and field guides – this is a Carolina Wren, which is somewhat uncommon this far north, although not unheard of.  There were close to a half-dozen in the marsh around me, feisty little guys who spent the morning hopping around in the brush and chasing each other from one rush to another.

It’s even better when the critters are cooperative; these guys got over being afraid pretty darn quick, and weren’t too concerned about my being close.  These are all at f/8, ISO 320, @ 400mm, with only moderate cropping.

It’s always cute to see the little ones sticking their heads out…until they start screaming for lunch!

Thank goodness I had the road completely to myself!  And the critter was still there, a female Belted Kingfisher perched atop a dead tree a short ways into the marsh.

Kingfishers have been on my “want to see” list for a while now, so I was thrilled to get such a good look at one – and come home with good photos!

Well, to be specific, it’s actually a marsh.  But same idea.  And lots of fun – definitely worth the early hour and the short drive across town.

I was lucky!

This is an Eastern Phoebe, and she put on quite a show, hunting insects over the marsh with her fledgling, perching on the boardwalk within easy range of my 120-400.  I spent a good part of the morning moving back and forth along the boardwalk; it’s not common that you get to watch a critter on the hunt like that for so long.

When I did move along down the trail, my luck followed me – the image below is a Green Heron, which is a species that I only saw for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and then just for a moment.  To find one perched like this within lens range was an incredible find – and like the last time, a find that only lasted a moment before it was gone, the heron relocating to a tree on the far side of the marsh.

Here’s a familiar face, and another not so familiar; a Yellow Warbler and a Eastern House Wren, the later of which is a new species for me.

And what would a trip to the Southern Tier be without at least one of the area’s notoriously over-abundant resident White-tailed Deer?  This gal (?) was on the trail and showed no fright as I slowly moved closer.  Close enough that I had to zoom out from 400mm to keep her all in the frame.  You see this all the time up there – the deer just aren’t afraid anymore.

Not my finest day as a naturalist – I’m not sure what either photo is actually of…  I thought the flowers might be a type of swamp lily, but that didn’t match up well.  And my best guess for the bird is a flycatcher.  But without being able to see his wings/tail, it’s hard to tell for sure which one.

This is surely the happiest looking squirrel I have ever seen.  But I guess if my life consisted of eating apples in trees on pretty mornings, I’d be that happy, too!

So it turns out that there are birds to be found at Ricketts.  Quite a few, in fact.  Saturday’s visit was a scouting trip, trying to find out where the best spots are to return to.  And I’ve got several spots on the map marked – some of which I’m quite excited about!The morning started off which the Cedar Waxwings, who I’ve missed seeing since they took off late last fall.  They’re certainly back now, eagerly feeding on berry bushes.  I’ve got to give credit to Mandy, since she found these guys first; while I was off chasing some little songbird, she hung around the bushes long enough for the Waxwings to decide that she was safe, and come in to feed.  Just goes to show that my “search & destroy” technique isn’t always the best.

I shot the last two from the car (finally managing to use it as a successful blind!).  The site is the parking lot for one of the hiking trails, but there was a berry busy there, so it was a busy spot.  There were several Waxwings, as well as this guy, a Gray Catbird.  Shooting from the car, my only complaint is that there’s no easy way to relocate the car for a better angle without scaring the critters.  So I made the best of my parking job, and for the first time, got to hear this guy making calls that sounded vaguely cat-like.

And since it’s duckling season, here’s a shot of some little fluff balls.  They were hard to capture, coming out from under a bridge – between the fog coming off the water, and being mostly in shadow, there wasn’t an easy exposure.  But in the end, I kind of like the foggy look.