consworld

At six thirty this morning the sun lit up lions head for a few minutes before the clouds closed in again.  It’s been cloudy the rest of the day and is snowing again tonight as I write this.

Lower Lake Ranch, snow

Birds, Lower Lake Ranch

Birds, Lower Lake Ranch

It’s nesting season for the Canada Geese recently arrived at Lower Lake Ranch. Photographed in last week’s snowfall.

Birds, Lower Lake Ranch

Two images, same bird, taken minutes apart but they look seasons apart. Conifers form a springy green background for the bird on the fence while the pond ice background gives the second image the feel of winter. 

Though ice still covers the ponds this week, the Canada geese, six of them,  have returned to Lower Lake Ranch to stake nesting claims at the fishing ponds. The one below hid from me in the tall grass the same evening I photographed the robin.  Same buck fence in the background but how different the color due to a passing cloud and  my angle of view which excludes the conifers in this one.  

I caught a glimpse at great distance of a blue heron on the creek the same day I made these photographs so know they’ve come back to us as well. If the high winds of the past week ever slow down I’ll get out to make more photographs of our spring birds.

Birds, Lower Lake Ranch, spring

Summer’s finally here and so are ducklings. My first sighting of the tiny yellow and brown swimmers was on an early morning walk around the lakes at Lower Lake Ranch.

Clouds overhead reflect white in the dark water while low morning sunlight traveled up the valley to light this straggler.

The reflections changed as I moved around the lake. Light changed, too, cloudy one moment, a bit of bright sun the next.

Birds, Lower Lake Ranch

Goose with goslings, one of the images I’m printing for bookmarks this year.

Birds, Lower Lake Ranch

Lower Lake Ranch, beaver

goslings nibbling grass by the lake

This morning at Lower Lake Ranch I found the Canada goose still sitting on the nest I’ve been watching. Then, I wandered around looking for something else to photograph and found a family of geese with six goslings near the creek. The parents didn’t want me close to the kids but I managed to get a few images without troubling them too much as they moved between the creek and lake. There are three pairs of adult Canada geese staying at the ranch ponds this spring.  I wonder how many goslings will be there tomorrow.

My field guide for N. American birds says they nest in Alaska and Canada. But then I checked the breeding map and saw an area along the southern and central Rockies in the U.S. marked as a breeding area for them as well. They must like it here as much as I do.
 

 

cute baby on the creek bank

Birds, I and the bird, Lower Lake Ranch