Amy released a pair of owls at the Nursery Tank on Saturday night. These were young owls who had been either injured or abandoned. Amy hopes that these owls will stay in the park, hopefully near the Nursery Tank.
This is Nick, the male owl.
Holly, the female owl is bigger, though I didn’t get a shot of her spreading her wings.
Holly was reluctant to leave. Amy had to try a few times to get her to go.
This shot was taken a moment or two before she flew away.
I saw this duck and two of its friends close to where I had parked. Amy tells me that the ducks are all Mallards except for the white ones. She says that those are barnyard ducks / Mallard hybrids.
I then walked around the Fountain Lake looking for more birds to photograph, but did not see many until I found this one hanging out by herself.
I continued around the lake, not seeing any birds. It turned out that many of them were gathered around this guy who was feeding them.
Good catch!
Amy has identified this white bird as a Great Egret.
This one wasn’t really flying – it was just sort of hopping around. It’s a shame that it wasn’t in better focus. Amy says it’s a Grackle.
Amy tells me that the large bird is a Canada Goose. The small one is a Red-winged Blackbird.
More ducks…
Bob took these photos at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum during the Bye – Bye Buzzards event.
These are Turkey Vultures…
Amy Burnett has identified the birds below as follows…
Harris Hawk:
Peregrine Falcon:
American Kestrels. The male, on the left, has more blue than the female on the right.
Red-Tailed Hawk, both photos, below. (Amy says she is not certain about the last one, but I think it’s just another shot of the same bird in the photo immediately below.)
Bob sent me some photos of the birds that he has in and around his house. He asked me to edit them and post them here.
A hummingbird built her nest just outside of Bob’s house.
Hungry little birds were born…
Next up is Daffy, whom Bob has had for many years. Bob tells me that she’s named after the daffodil, a yellow and white flower. She is a Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, also known as a Yellow-crested Cockatoo. She weighs 285 grams or a bit over half a pound.
She talks too! She says “hello” when the phone rings and “goodbye” when someone is leaving.
She’s very affectionate, to Bob anyway…
But, sometimes, she gives him the cold shoulder:
Daffy is often lonely during the day without Bob, so he got her a companion, whom he named Daisy, an Umbrella Cockatoo that weighs in at 500 grams or about 1.1 pounds.
Bob is slowly trying to get the birds acquainted with each other, moving their cages slightly closer together each day. Daisy has been sticking her leg out in between the bars of her cage so that she can wave at Daffy. Daffy did not respond well to this at first, but is, perhaps, slowly warming to Daisy.
Daisy talks too. On her first day in the house, Daisy said “Oh, it’s okay.” in response to some of Daffy’s cries. But she has said other things too, leading Bob to conclude that her previous owner just wasn’t able to tolerate a noisy bird. (Bob got her, via his bird doctor, from an avian homeless shelter.)
