Charlie's Pond

The first time we visited Charlie's Pond, we didn't see anything...we were very disappointed. We decided to try it again and it is now one of our favorite places to visit.



These Tree Swallows building their nest.



Letting me get a picture before he had to go back to work.

This is a Wilson's Snipe (I think).  They were so hard to see.  They blended into the ground and unless they moved, you couldn't see them.

This Horned Lark has friends everywhere. This is another bird that blends into the ground and missed.

Herons like Charlies Pond too.

Have seen them there several times.

This Chipping Sparrow was caught on the camera just a couple of weeks ago.

He was singing his heart out for us.

This odd couple, we have seen together several times. He is a Mallard, but don't know what she is.?

I think this is a Lesser Yellowlegs.  Saw this one and friends the first part of April 2011.

We have seen Vultures there too....

This little guy kept poking his head out of his hole in the groud.  Just found out that he is a Thirteen-lined Gound Squirrel.  We ran into a nice man taking pictures of him, who told us about him.

There are frogs... One day when visiting the peepers were so loud.

This isn't a very good picture of a Killdeer.

These Red-winged Blackbirds posed for me to take their picture.  There are a lot of them and Robins at Charlie's Pond.
But the most exciting sighting we had, was the Sandhill Cranes.  They were there the end of February.  We saw them on the 27th.  An amazing sight!

This is a Northern Harrier.  We have seen him several times skimming over the ground for supper.

I think this is a Savannah Sparrow.

 

There are beautiful Pheasants out there too.  We saw about 7 last night.  It is such fun to see them running thru the field.  They are fast runners and the male is so colorful.

This is an Eastern Meadowlark.  I am sorry the pictures aren't the best but he was fast and blended into the corn field. 

I hope you have enjoyed this visit to Charlie's Pond.

New sighting.....this week.....the American Bittern

We were so lucky to spot him, as you can see by the picture on the left.  He really blended into the area.  He froze and didn't more a feather.  He did sway a bit which he was imitating the blowing grass around him.  This was really a treat for us.

Here he has extended his head up to blend into the grasses more.