David and I had an awesome time at Wings and Wildflowers. Had a lot of fantastic people come out to my classes, which made it super special. This morning, we showed up a little early for our class, so I got out to take some pictures. The birds were super obliging. Best shots ever of Red Shouldered Hawk and Purple Galinules. Click to enlarge:
Tricolor Heron looking particularly trikey this morning.
This Red-shoulderd Hawk was SUCH an awesome little poser.
He looked very dramatic in this shot, like he was thinking something particularly deep.
Love his big old feet.
This is a teen age Purple Gallinule.
There were a boatload of young Purple Gallinules out there this morning.
An adult Purple Gallinule.
Another baby.
A Common Gallinule. Still has the candy corn face, but with a red shield, not blue, and he is mostly black, not purple.
Three teenage Purple Gallinules came up on the bridge to talk to us. Look at the size of these feet! They are just too cool.
One of the teen baby Purple Gallinules being mooned by his siblings.
A cool thing that I noticed about Gallinules a while back. When they are chicks, they are black with a similar candy corn face like their parents. Then as they get older, the get into this "awkward" stage where their colors are muted, then they go back to the same color as the adults. Weird.
Make sure you click to enlarge this one and look at the feathers on his chest - they look like lace.
Playing on the wires on the bridge.
Just looking pretty.
I laughed at this pose - he looks like he's getting ready to run a 5k.
An adult Purple Gallinule. I totally understand why this is my buddy Pat's favorite bird.
Such a nice little poser.
More poses.
On the way back to teach our class there was another Red-Shouldered Hawk sitting on one of the park buildings.
Are you looking' at ME?
Not the best quality picture, but one of the few where you can tell why they are called "Red-Shouldered" Hawks.
And one more.
I had a really great weekend, and was so honored to be asked to present at the festival. I was so happy to see so many people come to my presentation, but was even more happy to see the people who returned to tell me that they were able to recognize birds after attending my class the first time! It means the world to me to hear that, and I want to offer my heart-felt thanks to everyone who came out to listen to my talks! Hope to see you all next year.
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