Partyin' With The Redheads!

Who's that hiding back there?

Holy cats! We actually had weather without snow or sleet on a day that me and The Doodles didn't have to work!!! Can you believe it? Wowzers.  As you can see in these photos, the sky has a color not seen often along the shores of Lake Erie...blue. I almost forgot what it looked like.

We had plans to go to one of our favorite parks to look for water fowl and raptors and miscellaneous migrants. Apparently so did everyone else on the western edge of Cuyahoga county! When we arrived, the parking lot was packed with nary a slot for Davie and The Doodles. Crushed we were. Totally bummed out dudes and dudettes. So we twisted WRBLRZ around and headed for home taking the roads less traveled...and discovered a new park!

We were told of this area by a park ranger last year, but never found it. He said it's seldom visited by birders but worth a visit. Kopf Family Reservation is a newer branch of the Lorain County Metropark system. It's an unusual park, starting behind the Avon Public Library and running through a number of residential areas. A great mix of hardwood trees and creek makes it perfect habitat for a number of species of birds and people.

On this day it was packed with hot redheads! Woo-hoo! And The Doodles let me stare! What a pal! I think this was by far the largest number of Red-headed Woodpeckers(what did you think?) that we have ever seen in one area. These photos are of individuals that sat still long enough for me to get a shot off, butt not necessarily in focus. We also had a Red-tailed Hawk fly through and ruffle a few feathers!

This is definitely a place to revisit when those warbly things start buzzing through...

It was amazing watching these flashes of color zipping back and forth through the woods!

Surprisingly empty considering it's surrounded by homes. A good thing for birders!

 I'll never tire of looking at these guys!

 Quietude...and a babbling brook.

 We had Red-heads in our yard until the European Starlings took over all of their nest cavities.

 This guy kept zooming back and forth in front of me making airplane sounds and screaming "I have a red head too!"

Yes you do, but you also have a red belly. Silly bird...

 He was distracted by that Red-bellied Woodpecker...

 We still have quite a few Dark-eyed Juncos around.

 "QUIT STARING!"

Every knows that Tufted Titmouseseses are always calling for "Peter" whoever he is.

The Tufties in this hood were also making a call that sounded like "whip-poor-will."

I never heard them do that before. 

Anyone else out there know about that?

 This is number six of the ones I managed to catch a clear sight of.

I could really use a lens that shoots through trees!

 This is a White-tailed Deer doing its mad bull getting ready to charge impersonation.

It didn't scare me. Much.

 We met a few folks along the trail telling us of owls that nest in this area and catch squirrels.

We didn't see any signs of owls, but we did spot this large nest of sticks!

 Yep, them owlies love to eat them squirrelies!

Fatten up little buddy!

 "WHAT?!!"