This Leap Day we got our first look at a Great Horned Owl who has, it is said, taken over a Red-tailed Hawk’s nest at Bear Creek Lake Park:
Great Horned Owl
Speaking of Red-tailed Hawks, we got a great look at one just after we left the park:
Red-tailed Hawk
This afternoon we took the dog for a walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt. It was brilliantly sunny. The temperature was a bit above freezing, but the breeze was quite cold. We saw the Bufflehead pair again.
Buffleheads
Male Bufflehead (male Mallard in background)
We took the dog for a walk in the Bear Creek Greenbelt both in the morning and in the late afternoon. Tiny pellets of snow were falling in the morning and the light was flat. An inch or so of snow fell, and by the afternoon it had melted and the sun came back out.
A pair of Buffleheads (Mallard in the background)
While I was trying to get a shot of the Buffleheads (and waiting for them to come closer), a muskrat swam by me, just a few feet away.
Muskrat
Belted Kingfisher on its favorite branch over the pond north of Bear Creek
Black-capped Chickadee
This morning was very mild, and much of the ice was gone from Bear Creek. Other than Hooded Mergansers, no migratory birds were present.
Belted Kingfisher
Female Mallard on the snowy bank of Bear Creek
We received about an inch of snow overnight. The temperature was 8 degrees this morning and it shaped up to be a brilliantly sunny day with the highs getting close to freezing.
As usual, Bear Creek is teeming with Mallards. We also saw a few Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers, and muskrats.
Common Goldeneye (female)
Hooded Merganser pair
Hooded Merganser (male)
At one point, a Hooded Merganser pair were heading downstream, the male ahead, and another male Hooded Merganser was heading upstream. The lone male raised its hood and extended its neck. The other male lowered its hood and seemed to flatten itself as much as it could:
Two male Hooded Mergansers
This morning I walked about eleven miles at Waterton Canyon. Although it’s famous for its bighorn sheep, the only non-human mammal I saw was a mule deer, which didn’t exactly pose for me:
Mule deer (female)
Luckily, the birds were much more obliging. I saw several Black-capped Chickadees, several Common Goldeneyes, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, one Common Merganser, one Red-tailed Hawk soaring overhead, a few Dark-eyed Juncos, Magpies, and Robins, one Belted Kingfisher (female), and a couple of Townsend’s Solitaires (I heard several more).
Common Merganser (male)
Common Goldeneye (male)
Common Goldeneye (female)
Female Common Goldeneye getting airborne
Several fly fishermen were out on the river. Just after I passed one, I saw something brown moving energetically in the water. Fish? Some kind of aquatic rodent? It hauled itself up onto a rock: an American Dipper, the first one I’ve spotted!
American Dipper
Just a few minutes later, a Townsend’s Solitaire flew down from a treetop and alighted on a large rock on at the river’s edge. It stayed a couple of minutes, looking all around, then flew down into a protected pool to drink water.
Townsend’s Solitaire
On the walk down to the south side of Bear Creek this morning, we passed this iced-up stream:
There’s a watery alcove to the north of Bear Creek where American Wigeons have been hanging out lately:
American Wigeons
This morning we walked in the snow along the south side of Bear Creek. It was 23 degrees at the outset, with bright sun. We saw the usual dozens of Mallards, a number of Canada Geese, several Ring-necked ducks, several Hooded Mergansers, a Bufflehead pair, and a female Common Goldeneye.
Ring-necked Ducks catching some ZZZs
Mallards with a male Ring-necked Duck in their slipstream
Manky Mallard
Red-winged Blackbird
A couple of couples in the Bear Creek Greenbelt this afternoon:
Ring-necked Ducks
Common Goldeneye (male)
Common Goldeneye (female)
In the Bear Creek Greenbelt on this sunny but cold (just under freezing) afternoon, we saw some of our visiting waterfowl, including Hooded Mergansers, Ring-necked Decks, American Wigeons, and a Common Goldeneye. And we saw some regulars, including Canada Geese, Mallards (plus a Manky Mallard, brown with a white bib), Gadwalls, muskrats, a Belted Kingfisher, and a Great Blue Heron.
Muskrat
Ring-necked Duck (male)
Ring-necked Duck (female) with two males in the background
American Wigeon (male)
A Gadwall pair
Great Blue Heron