[EBB Sightings] Lafayette Reservoir & Shadow Cliffs

It's amazing how much birding one can squeeze into a
weekend when one's wife is out of town.  This morning
I walked around Lafayette Reservoir.  I saw LOTS OF
SMALL BIRDS I CAN'T IDENTIFY, as well as a huge amount
of BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEES around marker # 23.  They
were quite habituated to human activity as one would
expect on a trail (
http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741005 ).  I also
saw a pair of TURKEY parents walking around with their
two turkey nestlings on the auto exit road at the
bottom of the hill in the grassy field.

At Shadow Cliffs this afternoon I saw the WOOD DUCK
and chicks that Akira mentioned this morning.  A WHITE
TAILED KITE was patrolling the southern skies.  A
single OSPREY (
http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741006 ) was
flying around and at one point carrying a twig in his
claws.  If it was for nest-rehab purposes then the
nest is likely in the SE corner of the park near the
rookery.

The rookery at the island in the SE corner is
bustling, probably about a dozen CORMORANT (doubled
crested?) nests, half a dozen GREAT BLUE HERON nests,
and several GREAT EGRET nests.  Chicks are very active
and appear feathered.  There were numerous CANADA
GEESE and some PIED BILLED GREBES nearby.  Wading bird
rookeries never cease to amaze me.  It's hard work
being a bird, especially when grumpy GBH's are
starting fights all the time.  The nests were too far
for me - you probably need a 600mm with 2x converter -
but I got plenty of flight shots.

Cormorant - http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741018

GBH - http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741013
and http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741016

And last but not least, there were at least 15 TURKEY
VULTURES on the ridge between the two bodies of water
(SE corner) enjoying the high winds and thermals,
which I only mention because I lucked out with good
light and close flybys:

http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741007
http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741008
http://www.pbase.com/zeiler/image/43741010

Thanks to Akira for inspiring me to go to Shadow
Cliffs today.

Brian

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