74:365 Birds at the park

Anna: The birds at the park were once again quite co-operative today. :-D

I had been walking past this building, which has a dock in front of it. I went onto the dock to see if I might spot our resident turtle in the water again, when this goose suddenly flew out of the water and went straight for my head! It then swooped up to the roof and, moments later, I saw its head pop over the edge, watching me. This is one of several pictures I got of it as I continued on my way. It kept watching me the whole time.

Maybe it was mad I didn't feed it, like some other people had been. *L* I happened to be walking behind a couple with a bag of bread pieces they were tossing out (and yes, there are signs all over saying not to feed the birds), so when I went my, I had geese coming right up to me, waiting for their hand out.



There was a pair of mallards feeding right along the edge of the water; the path here is actually part of the edge, with a concrete barrier to prevent erosion. I don't know what was in the mud in that spot, but they really didn't want to leave it, allowing me to come much closer than usual to get this picture of the female. She was very shy, and kept hiding along the concrete edge while the male kept close watch on me.









I don't know what these birds are - it's the first time I've seen them at this park, though I've seen them elsewhere over the years.

This bird isn't about to fly away, nor is it trying to land. Every now and then it would suddenly start flapping its wings and lift itself out of the water, then let itself drop again. After seeing that a few times, I zoomed in, focused and just waited until it did it again. I love it when my subjects are so helpful! :-D

updated: Thanks, Sharon, for letting me know that these are Laughing Gulls.





My friend. the Yellowlegs, was back, and this time it was a lot more comfortable with me being there. This isn't the clearest of pictures, as it was moving its head as I took it, but I thought the water in its open bill was neat.












Here, it let me come even closer, but I didn't try to go any farther.

It was a bit of a challenge taking pictures today - one of those days where it's sunny one minute, cloudy the next, so I was frequently adjusting the settings on my camera. I think they still worked out rather well.











Philippe: I was nice and comfie on the park bench, and moving just didn't appeal to me. This guy was mooching for all he was worth, so he figured posing for a shot was a fair trade. The word 'gull' is so poetic; nothing like the name we gave them in the military.. (Sh##hawks).