It's late April and the burrowing owls are back. I'm glad to see them again. So far the two adults are just standing on the ground near a prairie dog hole or perched on a convenient fence post. Hopefully there will be some owlets pretty soon.

Pygmy nuthatches nest early in the season, several weeks before other cavity nesting birds. They are very fast and very acrobatic, often hanging upside down on the side of a tree as they search for bugs. I am always impressed how fast birds can find bugs.

I like seeing avocets, graceful shorebirds with orange necks and long blue legs. In late June, the chicks appear. Just like its parents, it searches for food by probing around in the shallow water with its long beak. I just knelt on the shoreline and waited for the chick to come to me, and after a while it got very close. Following several hours of constant feeding, it walked up on the shore and sat down. Its legs fold backward like that because what appears to be its knees are actually its ankles.

This snowy egret was in the same area, not far from the avocet. Although more common in coastal states, there are some in Colorado too.

Snowy egrets stalk their prey in shallow water, sometimes moving slowly and stealthfully through the water and other times splashing and hopping about. When something looks good, they slam their head into the water and grab it. It's not clear what this egret nabbed from the pond but it must be edible.

There was a red-shafted flicker nest in this old ponderosa pine tree. There were three chicks, two males with their characteristic red cheeks and one female. These chicks were very polite to each other. In other nests, the chicks fought each other to be in the hole opening, and squawked periodically for food. These ones took turns peering out and didn't make any noise. At this point they were nearly full grown already. They grow fast on a diet of regurgitated ants.

I found two mountain bluebird nests in good locations for photos but unfortunately both nests ultimately failed. I saw typical incubation behavior--the male sitting on nearby branches, waiting, and the female spending most of her time in the nest hole. I managed to get a couple photos of the male during this time. This pattern is usually followed by intense feeding activity as both parents bring bugs to the nest. In this case, both nest sites were just abandoned.

I have seen wild turkeys several times this year in Rocky Mtn National Park. They spend most of the time foraging in tall grass, and only occasionally stick their heads up for a quick photo. By September the babies (called poults) have grown quite a bit and look almost as ugly as the adults. They had better watch out--Thanksgiving is coming.