Robin Having a Meal

Turtle

We spotted a turtle poking his head up. We all are really looking forward to spending more time outside this Spring.

However, we also have fond memories of snorkeling among the sea turtles in the Caribbean. We won't be snorkeling in Lake Nelson.

Technically, a turtle is not a member of the bird family and doesn't belong on this blog. We like turtles though. So does our daughter Lynn. Below is another turtle picture from UCLA's botanical garden just for her.

Lesser Scaup

Mike spotted a white duck early this morning, found the binoculars and saw the male lesser scaup. (Actually, Mike woke Chris up who told him where the binocular were- he can't find anything himself.) He tried the new duck alert to get Chris out of bed, but it didn't really work and he had to go out in the rain himself to see it. He got some grainy pictures at dawn. Later in the day, when the rain stopped, Chris got much better photos and the female came by too.

Grebe

This is the pied-billed grebe. We haven't seen one since last fall. The grebe sightting is where Mike first coined the "new duck" alert, calling Chris to come see something unusual. This looks small for a grebe. We think we saw a larger one last night, but didn't get a good picture. According to our books, the ring around the bill means it is in the breeding stage. It's so small that Chris thought it was a baby mallard when she first spotted it following behind a mallard this afternoon.

Brown Creeper

Now, this little bird I didn't think I would ever be able to get a picture of. First, they are very well camouflaged against the trees, and, second, they move really fast, almost insect like, up the trees. I was very happy to even get this finally.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

This woodpecker just made my day. While out in the yard stalking the Scaups, I was very close to the suet feeder. I recently put a new kind of suet in which claims to be catnip for woodpeckers. Well, this one seems to love it, and I love its expression which seems to be a smile conveying, "Thanks, Chris. I love it!"

American Robin: Spring is really here

We have an abundance of Robins, so while trying to shoot today's Scaups Chris got this one.