Sunday, August 28, 2011

A Surprising Bit of Birding at Grenada Park

When I went to Grenada Park this week, which is by all accounts a pretty non-descript, unremarkable piece of land, I was not expecting much in way of birding. I should have remembered our experience on Camelback Mountain, but at least this time around I had the camera handy. Grenada Park has two small ponds, so I was expecting the usual suspects of geese and mallards. I was quickly surprised to see a Lesser Scaup (*misidentified at the time) among the crowd (well before the Fall) as well as a handsome Double-Crested Cormorant and a stately Coot.
I then heard the familiar screeching of the Rosy-Faced Lovebirds, who seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see them. The fun continued as I proceeded towards the uphill pond, and passed a lone Killdeer sentry at a safe distance along the way.
An odd bulk in an otherwise ordinary
conifer tree caught my attention, and further examination revealed a finely decorated Green Heron failing in his camouflage, but also not seeming to mind the attention too much. I served as this Heron's paparazzi for a while, and even managed to get a couple good in-flight photos, as well as some interesting close-ups of his funny heron feet, which I had never been able or bothered to observe before. I don't know that Grenada Park will hold much more until the weather relaxes a bit, but it provided yet another nice birding jaunt that far exceeded expectations.

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