Not Joking!
This post is not an April Fool’s Day joke! This all really happened…
I arrived at Silvio with a sky filled with clouds. The forecast was for the sun to pop through shortly after sunrise. The temp was right around 32 degrees. I started the loop going clockwise like I usually do. I kept wondering how far I would get before the puddles would be too deep - well, it didn’t take long at all. I have good waterproof boots but the depth of the first puddles would have been too much even for my boots- so I turned around to try the loop counter clockwise. As soon as I turned around I kept hearing Phoebes - such a beautiful sign of Spring. I also heard a Pileated woodpecker but couldn’t spot him. I kept going. Of course I kept looking for owls everywhere… with no luck - no surprise as they are likely in their nesting cavities sitting on eggs. On and on I went with no sightings… I arrived at the area where I always stop to look to see if the Screech Owl is in his hole - he was not there today. Not far beyond his tree there is a huge tree that bends over part of the Fort River below. Calling it a river is being generous but that is the name of it. In this huge tree there is a huge hole that I always stop to look at. I am always hoping to find someone resting in there. The hole is so perfectly located - it gets the sun’s first rays. Well, just as I was trying to find the best place to set up my camera and look through it I saw some movement in the hole! I thought to myself - are you kidding me? I have looked hundreds of times at this hole with zero luck but today my luck was going to change…. I quickly picked up my camera because my spot was not good and made my way to a better spot. This is what I saw at first…
It is because I have looked at the hole so many times (dead center in this shot) that I could see a glimpse of someone resting in there! I looked behind me to see that the sun was trying to push through the clouds. I settled in to wait for the sun and to see if I could get lucky with someone waking up in that hole…
About 30 min later…… it all started to happen! Look who woke up!
Well, good morning little one!
And then there were two!! How cute are these two youngsters?
This one pushed the other one aside and started grooming and sticking out her tongue! I have no idea if they are males or females… I am just going to say that they are sisters. :)
All of a sudden I caught something flying in up and to my left. I still can’t believe this happened… A female Wood Duck landed! Wood ducks nest in tree cavities and I have been fortunate to see then two other times in trees but it just blows me away to see a duck in a tree! I knew that I could not move even an inch as they are incredibly skittish so I just spun my camera around and fired off this shot ….
Next I heard the male calling and I looked up, across the river, and to my right, and there he was calling her!
And in a flash they both continued on… absolutely incredible!
I quickly looked back at our raccoon friends and this one was putting on a show!
The other pushed forward again and was continuing to groom and stick out her tongue!
Next thing that happened… Up and to my left - in the general area of where the female Wood Duck had landed earlier, I heard the beautiful sound of a Red-bellied Woodpecker and just spotted him in time to get these next 3 shots off!
As if all of this was not enough… out of nowhere two ducks came flying in through the woods and splash landed right in front of me on the river! I have been seeing on e-bird that birders have been very excited to see occasional sightings of Redheaded ducks in our area - which is not typical at all. When I read that on e-bird I looked them up and understood why the birders were so excited - spectacular birds. I knew in a second that I was in the presence of two male Redheads - Wowzer! They are such a striking bird - just stunning! I could not have asked for better lighting - everything lined up for the few seconds that I saw them… such a gift!
The colors and markings are so striking…they are a medium-sized duck and as you can see they have a large bill.
After this incredible show I looked back up and the raccoons had gone further down into the hole - their show was over for now - wow.
It was time for me to pack up and just as I was starting back this gorgeous Phoebe was perched and backlit right along my path.
I saw a flash of color down and to my right - a spectacular Fox Sparrow!
Just as I was rounding the last curve in the loop a Phoebe decided to give me one more shot for the morning. I still can’t believe all of this happened this morning. As one of our nieces likes to say… that is some kind of Lorraine Magic!