A Long Walk

Foliage, November 25/L Herlevi 2015

Good wildlife-sighting day, took almost three hours to walk all the way around the lake.  Sunny and cold.  Right off the bat, as I'm getting close to the water, a bird shoots out and flies low over the soccer fields, chasing gulls, but not catching any.  I hope for a fly by, and am eventually rewarded as it flies up into a nearby tree, closely followed by a group of crows.  I look up and take a few pictures, to try to get a better look, I hear a voice ask if anyone knows what it is.  When I turn to look, a small crowd has gathered to look up.  Best guess of a man standing nearby: peregrine.  (Pretty sure that's the case.)  Nice first sighting of the day.

Peregrine Falcon, November 25/L Herlevi 2015

On the lake are a pair of Western Grebes (I think), one swimming and one floating asleep; American Coots, American Wigeons, Common Mergansers, Cormorants, gulls, crows, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneye (a lone male), Buffleheads, a large Great Blue Heron, N. Shovelers, Gadwalls, Pied-billed Grebes, (and a smaller looking Grebe that I always assumed was a Pied-billed, though seeing them close together, I'm questioning that, a smaller, darker, more streamlined body...looks more like a Least Grebe, but those don't live here, so I don't know.)  Later, an eagle circling slowly, in small circles above the golf course, then as I started north again, two medium-sized raccoons lumped across the trail and into the underbrush by the water.  Shortly after that, a Bald Eagle at the very top of a sequoia.

The pictures of the raccoon and eagle aren't particularly good.  Here's a plump squirrel, and some tree branches.  (Part of why it took so long to walk was that the light was gorgeous and I kept stopping to admire how hit shone through the trees.)  Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunlight through birch branches, November 25/L Herlevi 2015

Winter ready, November 25/L Herlevi 2015

Branches, November 25/L Herlevi 2015