A couple Sundays ago (starting to notice a pattern of posts being made weeks after the outing?) most of the kids were away at friends between church services so I headed to Grass Lake for a couple hours.
My first stop was an Osprey nest which a pair of raptors has built on top of a hydro pole right at the corner of Brant Waterloo Road and Shouldice Side Road, just south of Grass Lake. The funny thing is, some generous souls had built a nest platform just a couple poles down the road. The Osprey pair must not have approved, and built one on a narrow double plank wire support instead. When I arrived, one was on the nest fussing around with the nesting material...
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| Osprey |
...while the other one was keeping watch from a tree across the open field.
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
The Sandhill Cranes did not disappoint, and arrived shortly after I did. It had been reported that their first nest attempt had been flooded out, but I soon found their new nest location in the middle of a thick clump of bulrushes within a mild view of the road. Last year they had nested in a more secluded location, but not at all sheltered from view. I was able to skirt down to the bottom of a bank and to the water's edge and when they raised their heads to look about, provided this view.
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Sandhill Crane pair on nest.
(note the second bird's head below) |
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| Sandhill Crane |
It's a mystery as to what gets the birds going, but with no notice or apparent cause, they will both stand up and begin their very loud, trumpeting raucous with great flourish.
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| Sandhill Cranes calling |
It was also fun to meet Dave V there unexpectedly, and it was nice to share a unique spot down by the water compared to the view his friends had. Did they see the results of the great location yet Dave?
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| Sandhill Cranes claiming their patch? |
On the way out, another couple had found a Northern Water Snake which had made its way up the bank, a good ways from the water. It posed for a long while which was helpful given I only had my large lens with me. The sky was quickly darkening with heavy clouds which were soon to let loose some rain, so the lighting was hard to get a shot with enough depth of field to show much of the snake's markings.
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| Northern Water Snake |
As I headed home, I did the usual, "one more stop" as I spotted a Horned Lark winging back and forth between the grassy field and the fence posts guarding the antenna field to the west. I got off the first shots with a messy background and a single piece of grass in the way, and when I moved to change the background, I got one picture of the bird turning it's back in preparation to flee. But the last shot nicely shows the "horns" it is named for.
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| Horned Lark |
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| Horned Lark |
I hope to return here soon to see both the Osprey and Sandhill Cranes sitting on nests full of eggs.
Keep enjoying HIS handiwork!
