In the midst of a barrage of serious storms in Northern California that lasted weeks and my first real tango with shingles, a sunny day happened and I could not resist getting out of town to try to find some flowers and birds.
However, because of the damn shingles, which is painful and exhausting, I couldn't do anything very strenuous. So I opted to drive to Oakland and check out the gardens at Lake Merritt. More on those another day.
Today, I must focus on birds! Because I love some of these pictures and the birds were so close and amazing and plentiful!
So, this picture of the friendly cormorant is blurry. But I had to include it because you can see his beautiful, bright, green eye! And the pattern in his feathers is very cool too.
Another blurry photo. This one is a female bufflehead duck. The only one I've gotten so far.
This Great Egret enjoyed posing for photos. He's quite brilliant with his wispy breeding plumage. And his little pigeon sidekick.
And Oh. My. Goodness. This is a Black-crowned Night Heron! I was told by a fellow birder that they are "quite common". I could have done without the slightly disparaging tone, but I guess my excitement was distasteful to her. Too bad.
These are two kinds of geese that look somewhat similar. The one in the back is a Toulouse Goose (it rhymes!) and the one in the front is an African Goose.
These next phots are also of a Black-crowned Night Heron, but a juvenile this time. Completely different look. You may also notice that this little guy is missing a leg. Very sad. But it didn't seem to be bothering him. I observed him on several different surfaces, including the top of one of the buildings so he seems to get around okay.
After I followed the night heron to the pond, the poser egret followed. For which I am very grateful because he is amazing!
Grooming is very important. :-)
Fuzzy head alert!
This friendly Canadian wanted his picture taken too.
This is no longer the pond. We have returned to Lake Merritt proper to find, to our great delight, some American Coots (back) and Greater Scaup (foreground).
Hey, I'm trying to sleep here!
And this screaming seagull is not helping! "Mine!!"
Ah. May. Zing.
And here we have water off of a female Mallard's back. Her feathers are so gorgeous!
Another great egret! :-)
And another.
This is on my drive home and these pictures are TERRIBLE! But it's the only time I've gotten any shots of White-tailed Kites so I had to include them. My mission next winter is to rectify my failing in this matter.
xoxo
