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| Hooded Merganser at South Lake |
It was cold and windy and about time for lunch, so I wasn't going to stop, but when I glanced over at South Lake as I was riding past it I spotted a female hooded merganser and couldn't resist checking her out. No male ever showed up, and the female kept quite busy diving for food and catching at least one fish while I was there.
At one point I was watching the merganser through my zoom lens when I must have somehow spotted movement with my peripheral vision. I turned to look, and four raccoons were checking out some disturbed ground where a heavy motor vehicle of some kind had dug it up. For a split second I thought they were pigs rooting up the earth. Finding nothing of interest, they tried to cross MLK Drive but were stymied by a concrete lane divider which they could not climb over, but they soon figured out how to go around it.
I got another chance to photograph a common yellowthroat, but I still haven't gotten a clean shot, so I guess I'll be stopping by there again soon to keep trying.
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| A great blue heron joins a black-crowned night heron in the same tree at North Lake. |
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| Composite of a kingfisher perching and diving toward the lake. |
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| The South Lake environment provided some excellent water reflections. |
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| This lady didn't seem to react at all to a family of raccoons crossing her path. |
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| They finally got across MLK Drive and headed into the brush between MLK and Lincoln Way. I was hoping they were going to bed down in the brush and not attempt to cross four busy lanes of traffic on Lincoln. |
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| She caught this small fish at one point and made several attempts to position it just right before she could swallow it. |
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| Still trying to get a clean shot.... |
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| Several yellow-rumped warblers were hawking from tree branches around the lake. |
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| The yellowthroat, quite far away and heavily cropped. |
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