Wayne spotted the first hawk of the day–a very puffed-up Red-shouldered hawk–shortly after 9:00 am as we were heading out to run some errands in town.
A few minutes later, I saw another bird on a distant tree, and when I zoomed waaaaay in, I could see it was a Belted Kingfisher. Cool!
Since it seemed like it was going to be a “bird” day (we saw two more Red-shouldered hawks and a Kestrel as we started towards town on back roads), we decided to detour to Sugar Hollow. Sometimes we’ve seen Bald Eagles at the reservoir, but just the pleasure of seeing the frozen lake made it worth the trip! The Skyline Drive runs along the crest of the mountain above lake.
Look at that amazing color!
While we didn’t see any eagles on this trip, a juvenile female Pileated Woodpecker made an appearance. 🙂
After leaving Sugar Hollow, we continued on our way, took care of things in town, and then decided to take backroads again for the drive home. This route allowed us to visit another local lake.
Beaver Creek reservoir was also frozen, and it was so, so pretty! Unfortunately, when I started taking pictures, I accidentally pushed a “mystery” button on top of the camera (which I’m still learning how to use) and my pictures didn’t turn out. I was finally able to undo whatever it was that I had done, so we took a quick “selfie.” While it’s not a great picture, hey, it shows we were there, and you can see the second frozen lake of the day behind us.
We decided to go for the trifecta and visit Mint Springs, too. By this time, the temperature had climbed to the upper 40s, and after such cold temperatures earlier in the week, it felt wonderful to be outside!
A female Bluebird posed for several shots while we were at the upper lake at Mint Springs.
I got a few distant pictures of a male Bluebird and a Downy Woodpecker, too.
On our way out of the park, we stopped at the lower lake to take some pictures of geese who were resting in the warm sunshine.
I know it’s early in February and winter isn’t done with us yet, but having the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day, beautiful scenery, and beautiful birds triggered a serious case of “Spring Fever”!
Until next time,
Sharon & Wayne