It is that time of year - Spring! Birds are nesting and raising babies all around. There are three sets of parents we've been watching: Great Horned Owls, American Dippers and Northern Flickers.
The first photo here is a parent Great Horned Owl. This was taken a few weeks ago. We were at the nest again tonight and the babies (two) are peeking through this keyhole just like this parents. Saw both parents tonight too. Very cool.
Next up is a photo of the other parent roosting on a nearby branch. He gave quite a preening show! Lots of scratching and feather maintenance. Dave got a lot of nice shots of him.
The third photo shows the owl working on his talons. He has some big and dangerous feet!
And the fourth photo something one doesn't see often - American Dipper sex! Currently, there is one chick in the nest. We watched the parent bird forage (under water!) for lots of little worms and stuff for the very hungry baby. Adorable stuff.
The next photo is another of the parent owl. Beautiful birds.
And finally, you see the Flicker working on his nest. We saw the nest hole again tonight - no parents could be seen. Maybe they are deep in the nest? Who knows. Hopefully on one of our return visits we'll see some heads poking out from the hole.
I came back this morning and added five more photos - four of the silly Dipper and one more of the Flicker. All beautiful!
Aww, we miss the Ouzels... we were lucky, having Dippers as a "backyard" bird and hearing their sweet song. Found this interesting article about them: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/featured_birds/default.cfm?bird=American_Dipper
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Aww, we miss the Ouzels... we were lucky, having Dippers as a "backyard" bird and hearing their sweet song. Found this interesting article about them: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/featured_birds/default.cfm?bird=American_Dipper
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