December at Deer Creek

Here I am ready for whatever might happen.  My sister and I decided the weather was good and thought we better get out for one more drive before 2012!  

We decided to head to Deer Creek, one of our favorites.
The water level is down for the winter.

We stopped at the Osprey nest and it is about to fall over.  I hope they fix it before they return.

We discovered this hawk.

I think it might be a Red-tailed Hawk...not sure have to do some more research...He was huge (or she)

We also saw a couple of Northern Harriers too...

This beautiful Belted Kingfisher was just as interested in us as we were in her.

We saw hundreds of Sea Gulls.  They seemed to like being up by the Damn.

This tree had all it's roots showing.  The water had washed all the dirt away.

Here was a bunch of Hedge apples laying on the ground.

This row of trees had Ivy growing up them. It was pretty to see with the sun shining on them.

This milk weed pod caught my attention right away.  They are laying there just waiting for the right time to fly away....

This was unusual...We think it might be a cocoon of some kind. It was too high in the tree for me to inspect it.

As always, we ran out of daylight and had to go home.....