Hazy Day

I scurried out for a walk yesterday morning, in spite of the lowering clouds.  I guess I thought that if I could just get out into the woods in time, the rain would hold off just for me, and I could get in a full walk.  No such luck.

When I arrived at Pigeon Creek Park, everything seemed gray and still.  Then I got out of the car.  Something about the overcast sky gave a luminosity to the changing leaves, and everything green seemed to glow with a faint inner light.

The air was filled with chirps, trills and chips.  There were sparrows, cardinals, goldfinches, red-winged blackbirds, and even crows and jays.

I spent some time trying to I.D. a new bird I heard among the dead and dying cup plants, that towered over me like a forest in their own right, but again - no luck there.  I taped the sound in hopes of identifying it later, when I got back home.

A squirrel kept running up and down the path, like a mad man.  I wondered what he was up to, but figured it had to do with seeds and nuts.

The goldfinches were as secretive as ever, dashing about in their perfect camouflaged suits.

The goldfinch is right in the center of this photo, in the angle of the center forked branches.

A black-capped chickadee came a little closer.

The woods were glooomy.

A couple of frogs who were pond-side gave me a start as they leaped away from my advancing footsteps.  I guess they were as scared of me as I was of their sudden movement in the bushy grass..

Coming out of the woods and onto the river, I took a look at the the arched shore, hoping for new waterfowl, or any waterfowl to photograph.  Not much was stirring but a couple of pairs of mallards - far down the beach.

I knew the killdeer were out there too, but I just couldn't see them.

I went out to the first point, walking into grey nothingness.  The water was the same color as the sky.  Rain began to fall.  A nuthatch tapped quietly on the tree nearest me, seeking insects under the bark.

As I turned back to the sandy shoreline, a sandpiper just couldn't stand it anymore, and burst from its cover in the marshy grasses - a blur of brown and white.

Another bird flew across my field of view, and landed on a bare branch - a northern flicker.  I love the splash of red they wear on the napes of their necks!

It was then that I heard a faint call.  It sounded like it came from out over the water.  I wasn't sure what kind of a call it was - and no birds were in sight.

The sky was bare, so I scanned the shoreline, looking for possible herons and egrets.  It didn't sound like a heron's grumpy croaking, but I don't know what kind of sound they make when they are happy or interacting with loved ones.  So I looked - but saw nothing.

After some time, I heard the call again, muffled and faint.  Then saw a big bird in the sky - making a beeline for the tree tops.  It was so far away, I couldn't tell what it was, even when I zoomed in on it with my camera.

A couple of minutes later, I heard more calling and saw two birds racing away from the tree tops.

At first I thought it might be a smaller bird mobbing a crow away from its nest, or a crow chasing a hawk.  I even wondered if it were a hawk and a vulture having a squabble, but the calls didn't match any of these birds.  That's when I guessed these might be eagles.  Eagles have that distinctive ratcheting kind of call.

It wasn't until I got home and zoomed way in on the photos that I was able to see the white heads and realized that yes, this was a pair of bald eagles.

Are  they nesting on that point off Pigeon Creek Park?  Have they just arrived from the north, or do they live here year round?

 Or, are these the ALCOA eagles, Liberty and Justice?  The plant is about a mile downriver, near the tower and smokestack pictured here:

I'll probably never know.  But here's a link to the ALCOA eagle website for your reading pleasure.  You can also get to their eagle cam from here:
 http://www.alcoa.com/locations/usa_davenport/en/info_page/eaglecam.asp

Bucket List Gold

Ever since I started this blog, I have been wanting to get a bright photo of an American Goldfinch.  I have photographed goldfinches before, but they were in their duller, non-breeding plumage at that time.  Read that post here:  http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/2012/10/charmed-im-sure.html .

Today the lure of gold drew me out.  I headed out to a certain park of which I know, where there is exceptional goldfinch habitat (read:  seeds, Seeds, SEEDS!).

I parked my car, and got out.  I put the camera strap around my neck and took off the lens cap.  I was ready to go hunt down some goldfinches when - surprise, surprise - one came to me!

This fellow (it's a male) landed at the top of a tree right off the parking lot!  I wasn't even sure what it was when I aimed my camera that way, but to my delight, the zoom function brought into view this bright fellow:

Weighing about 1/2 an ounce, this goldfinch doesn't even weigh down this flimsy tree top.

My smile was wider than the my display screen, which showed his lovely black and gold.  What do you know?  Sometimes it's that easy.

This goldfinch didn't stick around long.  He had territory to defend, women to woo, and seeds to eat.  But I was thrilled with my capture and went on to enjoy a long ramble, knowing I had the goods on my memory card.

Charmed, I'm Sure

Hyperion and I went out to Lost Grove Lake and had a good long walk around the lake, and the creek feeding into it.  It was my first time there, and I loved it!  The wind was blowing, and made beautiful variations of sound as it blew through the pines, the tall grasses, and the corn fields.  Before long the sun came out strong enough to make me remove my knit hat and tie my coat around my waist.

One of the most charming things we saw there were these beautiful little American Goldfinches.

They were down on the mud flats, which have appeared due to the drought, and were drinking water from some of the many deep footprints punctuating the shoreline.

These, I will have you know, are the very first goldfinches that I have ever photographed in the wild.  I spent some time this summer sitting near my neighbor's sunflower bed, hoping to capture one of these finches with my camera, but had no success.  But here were a pair, totally unexpected - a little gift for my heart.

In a field above the lake, there were hundreds of sunflower plants, brown and bowed, but ready to weather the brutalities of winter, each one a pantry chock full of seeds for these little finches.

The goldfinch is an especially beautiful bird, with the male's displaying bright yellow plumage during the mating season. They seem to be happy, inquisitive birds, and a group of them together is known as a "charm".  Maybe that's why I always feel it is a sign of good luck when I see them zipping up and down our road as I drive into town on errands.

This bird is sometimes known as the eastern goldfinch, and the wild canary.  It is also the state bird of Iowa.