Centennial Lake — 2016 — The 21st Century Matriarch

My short walk at Centennial Park last week included several bird sightings. I was most excited about a green heron that flew into a tree not far from where I was walking. I didn’t know what it was until I managed to zoom in enough with my camera. It is surprising how well camouflaged the birds are in the foliage. It flew down to the water’s edge from the tree and I didn’t see it again until it flew away across the water.

There was a mourning dove enjoying the morning sun on a park bench. When I walked closer it flew down to the shore…then squeakily away to the island in the lake.

There were birds in some foliage near the shore with berries. One flew out and perched on the top of a sign. I think it was a mockingbird. It proceeded to fluff its feathers – looking rather comical as it preened.

Way across the lake – a great white egret was fishing in the shallows. This picture is about at the limit for the zoom on my camera but I like to take pictures of these graceful birds. There were two great blue herons that flew low over the lake while I was there…but I wasn’t fast enough to get a picture of either one.

Earlier this week I made a ‘field trip’ to Centennial Park. It was chilly but sunny – I wore a hoodie rather than a coat. There were parts of the lake that still had ice. The Canadian Geese were active – sometimes sedate

And sometimes honking loudly (not the tongue!).

But most fun to watch was how the geese climbed onto the slushy ice from the water. Their strategy is to push themselves up on the ice as far as they can, roll to one side to get a few more inches onto the ice – far enough to have their legs on the ice so that they can standup and immediately take a step forward then preen to get the ice out of their feathers. The second bird used the same strategy then added a huge wing flap and shake at the end before strutting off. Enjoy the geese climbing onto the ice in the slide show below!