If you had seen this bird eight months ago would you recognize it today? 12/12/23
(Edit July 19, 2024: This is Appy’s other queued bucket from last winter with the note “Friday filler. Schedule as needed” so I am publishing it today. OD)
THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, SOIL, PLANTS, WATERS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS.
WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU IN YOUR OWN PART OF THE WORLD, AND TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.
What is Friday Sequence?
Friday Sequence is intended to be an end-of-the-work-week feature which is a photographic challenge displaying more insight than can be captured in a single image.
12/16/23
I nearly always know exactly what I’m going out looking for. Of course I don’t always find it. So I also watch for other things. Sometimes I don’t find anything. Sometimes I just get lucky. This turned out to be one of those lucky days.
Celebrating the end of my firewood duties for this year turned into a day trip over to John Redmond Reservoir. I was looking for Eagles. Hours of searching produced nothing. I was about to leave when I saw two pair of long large wings flapping in the distance. They came closer but turned south while still far out across the lake. Looking through the long lens I could tell they were both immature Eagles, but that’s all I could tell. They were heading for the Otter Creek wetlands area. I lost sight of them as they disappeared into the distance. Otter Creek was on my way home, so I had nothing to lose. There are a lot of trees lining the near edge of the lake below the dam road so I searched among those as I made my way along the dam. Eagles know how to hide so I drove very slowly (too slow to suit most traffic going across that dam road), but the December trees all looked bleak and empty. All of a sudden, when I least expected it, an Eagle flew down into the one tree nearest the dam. As I approached it turned to look right at me. I immediately felt a sense that I knew this bird. I wasn’t positive but it looked to me like my favorite Eagle from last year. I had named it White Wings.
I had been so fortunate last year to get numerous extensive photo sessions with White Wings. You might recall some of these photos I posted of him last year.
Perched in a snag just a few miles from my place about this same time a year ago. Compare this photo to the lead photo. Almost a year in difference between the two shots.
White Wings winging it over the water at Redmond Res. 3/9/23. If he has a fish you can’t see it in this shot.
White Wings flying over John Redmond Reservoir 3/9/22. This image is a work in progress. I replaced the depressing sky you see in the preceding photo with a sky photo I took while sitting my my pond. I still have some blending to do. The interesting behavioral thing about this pic is that the bird is carrying his fish on TOP of his tail. That seems like risky business to me. I have another shot of him with the fish under his tail, which is the norm.
White Wings under attack from a murder of crows on Contour Rd about 10 miles south of John Redmond Reservoir. Contour Rd becomes Contour Rd at its junction with St Louis Rd. Between St Louis Rd and the Wagon Trail it is Coyote Rd. Road names in Kansas can be confusing. 2/28/23. I tried to dissuade the Crows without alarming my Eagle. It worked! Then White Wings flew in circles over my head, sometimes coming down very low for a closer look, He seemed to be understanding and thankful for my interference.
My last look of White Wings in the Spring of ‘23 as he headed out in a southwesterly direction toward wherever he would spend the next six months. I was about a mile short on my way for a load of water. He had circled over my head for a lengthy conversation before he disappeared. Of course most of the conversation was in my imagination… But I did get some pics of him chirping at me.
The pics above were chosen because some of them are near pose matches to what you are about to see of him from this day. I just call him “him”, but I don’t really know the actual gender of the bird. It will be a him to me until I learn otherwise.
TODAY, 12/12/23! This is what I call a minor miracle, or an Appy Miracle. It is almost never the case I can maintain focus on a bird when there are trees or tree limbs between me and the bird.
This closer look convinced me that this is indeed White Wings. If true it’s like two minor miracles in the same package. Knock yourself out
Satisfied that I got what I came after, and more, I proceeded southward along the backroads hoping, but not expecting, to see something else to top off an exciting day. As I drove by a small pond some raggedy looking metal rising from the top of a culvert pipe used as the overflow release through the pond dam caught my eye. I thought to myself how careless it was of them to leave such a dangerous projection. Something made me stop, turn around, and go back to investigate. Sure glad I did because what I discovered is that the projection wasn’t raggedy, rusty, metal at all. Okay, here we go on the...
FRIDAY SEQUENCE
“You’re back again? Drat.” If you have never been stink-eyed by an owl you have never been stink-eyed. So, NOW you and I will have been officially STINK-EYED! OFFICIAL STINK-EYE .
THAT is a serious Great Horned Owl stink eye! 12/12/23
I noticed him perk his tail to release the pasty waste. Lightening the load is a frequent pre-flight strategy. This bird is about to launch! Click the + to Decipher the pellet buffet here I only identified a couple dried up oak leaves. See if you can make heads and/or tails of what this Great Horned Owl had eaten. Just ignore the yogurt squeeze...
A second later the bird was in full flight and provided this money shot view. HOOT
Not sure if the bird was flying too fast or I was moving the camera too fast while tracking but this one sure could have been better. At first I had this one in my scrap pile but I decided if your eyes are as bad as mine it might pass. :)
The thing about flyers is they are usually going away from you. So if at all possible get ready while they are perched because your best shots will probably happen just after it takes off. Be mindful of the load lightening move as the bird is almost certainly preparing to launch.
It didn’t take long for this owl to disappear behind some trees. END OF SEQUENCE, and of a stellar day in the field, camera in hand.
So that’s the name of this tune, HOOT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE. I know who you are. You’re who is about to hoot up a storm in the comment section below!