Mother's Day at Ottawa Wildlife Refuge

 So I decided to take my mom to the Ottawa Wildlife Preserve today.  It was a pretty nice day but I wasn't counting on the number of people there.  But I still got to see quite a bit.

First up was an eagle sitting in a tree.  I could tell there was something there when I saw the group of people in the area.

He was looking around.  Such a regal looking creature.

I kind of like this look.

A red winged blackbird on the ground.

I think this might be a false map turtle.  It seems too big to be a painted turtle.  At any rate, he's been around a while.

A painted turtle.

I think this is a blue and white swallow.

At any rate, it is a pretty cool looking bird.

I like this angle.

A yellow finch.  I will have to admit, the smaller birds are more difficult to get pictures of because the like to fly between the branches.

A pair of blue and white swallows.

A cormorant just swimming around.

An egret.

Another egret.

As I was leaving the park, I saw this hawk flying around.

I'm not sure what kind of hawk it was.

But it looked pretty cool.

Another Stop at Shiawassee

 I decided to head back up to Shiawassee.  I wanted to see the pelicans again.

First thing I saw was a yellow finch.

These are pretty cool looking birds.

An egret posing for me.

An egret fishing.

I like the hint of great around their eyes.

One more.

I think this was a juvenile heron.

A tundra swan.

An egret.

Conspiracy egret.

A heron.

A pair of pelicans.

Another heron.

A pod of pelicans.

The pair of pelicans from an earlier picture.

Another heron.

A hawk.

A hawk looking me.

About ready to take off.

And he flies away.

A map turtle.

Another heron.

A closeup.

A juvenile bald eagle.

More pelicans.

The same juvenile eagle.

He takes off.

 And lands on another pole.

A Stop for Pelicans

So I slowly make it to last weekend.  I decided to head up to Shiawassee National Wildlife Reserve because I saw some pictures of pelicans and they are neat looking birds.

First up is conspiracy heron.

I think he was also fishing heron.  It's actually pretty neat to watch them when they fish.  They scan the water and when they see something, they dart in.

I kind of liked the reflection too.

An egret on a post.

He's looking around.

Back to fishing.

The first pelican I could see.  Unfortunately, he was too close to the shore and the weeds were getting in the way.

And then I saw this one landing.  I really like this picture.

A group of pelicans.

A more elegant landing in the water.

Flying around.  For some reason, it reminds me of a DC-3.

He was circling around.

I kind of like this picture.

I saw a bunch of butterflies flying around but they never really stopped until this one.

He gave me a nice pose.

And another one.

A cormorant flying by.

I like the way this one is framed.

An egret fishing.

I think he was trying to get a better view.

Another angle of him.

An eastern king bird.

It was almost like he was modeling for me.

and the light was perfect.

He was looking at me.

One more.  This is a beautiful bird.

A fawn.

The fawn's mother.

She stuck around long enough and then bolted when the fawn left.

 And a crappy picture from an uncooperative kingfisher.