Just a few shots of birds by the lake for this #featheredfriday
Here is the first sighting of a red-winged blackbird by the lake this year. His wings aren't fully colorful yet and all he has to eat are semi-frozen rose hips.
Here is one from last year with his full colors during peak mating season.
Here is one during fall after they've raised their young. The red starts fading away and they prepare to go south for the winter.
Here is a fledgling that is now on its own. Now it has to find insects on its own and establish a territory of its own before migrating south.
Another usual suspect by the lake is the Great Egret. I always try and see if its an egret or a blue heron morph. The trick to differentiate them is the Great Blue Heron morphs have yellow legs and a thicker beak. Black legs mean this is a Great Egret also the pokey tail feathers give it away.
These mourning doves are almost as common as house sparrows by the lake. Every now and then I'll take a picture of one to try and get my camera settings correct.
A bit of a rare sighting for this lake was a pair of swans. They didn't stick around too long and probably ended up making a nest in a more secluded lake somewhere else.
One of my favorites for around here are the American Goldfinches. I always notice them too late and they fly away into the leaves.
Spring is going to bring lots of these indigo buntings around. The males are quite loud and tend to broadcast from the highest branch they can. This makes it difficult to get a nice close-up shot of them. The females are even harder to find and get a shot of. I probably have mistaken a few of them for sparrows.
That's all for now, hopefully now that the cold snap is over I'll be seeing more of these guys.