An Amazing Day at Ottawa

 It was a pretty quiet day on the river today.  I saw that the drive was open at Ottawa in Ohio, so I decided to head down there.

First up is a Canada goose and her baby.

An egret.

Another egret.

I'm not sure what kind of duck this is but it looks kind of cool.

I had to get a few pictures of it.

I like this one the most.

One more.

A puddle duck that looks like he's throwing up a salad.

Another puddle duck.

I think this is a muskrat.

they have such cool looking red eyes.

Another.

Close up of a Canada goose.

I thought this duck looked kind of like a vulture.  Turns out it's called a gallinule.  It used to be called a moorhen.

And egret, I love these birds.

A pair of painted turtles.

A heron.

As he was looking for food.

I love these birds too.

Another heron.

I went over to Magee next.  I saw that the eagle family was in the nest.  The younger eagle looked like he was practicing how to fly.

Dad was just kind of watching over.

Mom brought fish for dinner but I wasn't able to catch her flying over.

Nearby, there was a group of people taking pictures of something.  turns out it was a fox but I wasn't able to get any pictures of him.  It's really no surprise because he looked scared at all the people.

This is a blue-gray gnatcatcher.  He was not a fun bird to try to get a picture of.  This was probably the best of the bunch.

This eagle was at Ottawa.  I think there are 5 or 6 eagle pairs that live in the area now.  Frankly it is amazing.

It was starting to get windy.

The sky was getting grayer, so I decided to head home.

Whereupon I Catch a Snowy Owl

 After catching the Alpena, I decided to head up to Fish Point.  I was hoping to catch some pelicans since one of my Facebook pictures from a year ago had them.  I ended up catching something better.

I ended up catching something better.

I had given up on catching a snowy owl this year.

I thought they had returned to the north country.

As we were entering the park, my mom pointed out that this guy was just sitting there.

I went back to get some pictures of him.  I was kind of surprised he stayed there.  I kept my distance and just stayed in the car.  I didn't want to spook him.

Usually when I see the snowy owls, they are up in the telephone poles and I am not able to get a good picture.

This one was just standing there and in good light to boot.

So I just kept taking pictures.

I will have to say, these are amazing birds.

I love the size of those talons.

That beak is pretty impressive too.

It seems like they are well adapted to their normal environment.

I just hope he is okay.

I decided to wander through the rest of the park for a bit.

I also wanted to get some pictures of puddle ducks.

They usually flee into the reeds when I arrive.

This one stuck around.

I love the red eyes.

Then I saw this muskrat.

A Canada goose.

Surprisingly, he wasn't hissing.

I think this is a ring-necked duck.

I think this is a redhead.

But he flew away.

A seagull.

A ring-necked duck couple.

So I went back to the owl.

Surprisingly, he stuck around.

And seemingly posed for me.

So I kept taking pictures.

He was looking around.

It was pretty cool.

It almost looked like he was laughing.

I think I like this one.

Before he flew off.