JUST PICTURES OF THE MORNING

The river was in rare form this morning.  The various ducks normally seen were off somewhere else.  The prominent bird was the Canada Goose.  I didn't scrutinize the shorelines as usual because I was busy with the job.  Fishermen were out today.  A warm springtime day does that.  The pictures collected today are nothing more than a reminder of a nice morning spent on the river with most  photos being geese, and there is a new squirrel on the block.  I'll keep the comments at a minimum because the photos speak for themselves.

 Coot

The South end of a great blue heron

Silhouette of a young, bald eagle (shot at great distance)

She is sitting tight - close to the ground as she lays her eggs.  Take note to the tufts of plumage she has plucked from her underside to line the shallow nest that she will deposit her eggs in.

She watches me intently as I drift past in the boat.  She flattens herself close to the ground to appear as part of her surroundings in her attempt to go unnoticed.

 There will be baby geese all over this river soon.

Nothing need be said.  He's a scamp, as all squirrels are.

The following pictures are of a goose that was ducking completely under water as if he was bathing.  He would stand tall and flap his wings very hard to rid them of water and immediately plunge his entire head and neck under water repetitively.  He was a hoot to watch!

Who says animals don't take fun breaks from the survival game?

Big beaver!  Mighty big beaver!

And last but not least is the only eagle nest on this end of the river.  The mom is in the nest.  You can see her head if you look closely.  The dad appeared just after I took a couple pictures of the nest.  This nest is entirely too far away to get good pictures.  I just wanted to verify an adult on the nest.

This nest will be totally hidden by foliage in a couple more weeks.  That's a good thing but, I'm sorry I won't be able to photograph the babies.

The male appears at the nest in the next shots.  You can see his wings as he approaches the nest.

Heavy rain is moving in tonight and is to last a couple days.  Rain puts the stops to the photography for the most part.  I hope you enjoyed some of these shots and I'll see you soon.  Thanks for being there.