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January

I took no photos of birds in January. I saw nothing new to inspire me and it was cold. However, present were the grackle, redwing blackbirds, mottled ducks, cormorant, loggerhead shrike, seagulls, sandhill crane, mockingbird, warbler, etc.

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February

2-9-2025: Greater Yellowlegs (above)- I think Greater Yellowlegs are the smallest wading bird that behaves like the bigger wading birds. They are usually alone and not with a mate of their own species, but fish all day along with similar wading birds. That is what the egrets and heron do. The smaller sandpipers travel in flocks and behave differently.

2-21-2025: These Common Tern, above, are new this year. They dive bomb for fish. They are like seagull birds, and we have seagulls that are new this year too. I think something is bringing the shore birds 20-miles inland.

2-24-2025- A new lone Sandhill Crane. I think it was left out of the mating process and the pairs are nesting. It is smart and eats peanuts well. It is like my buddy. This photo was 10-feet away with 600-mm lens, so I got this closeup.

2-25-2025- We had a long rain overnight and the lake rose about a foot. Then, all of a sudden, the wide diversity of wading birds returned. Above are two wood storks (new this year), with the little blue and tricolor herons, and the snowy egret. Also in the lake were a cormorant, greater yellow leg, and sandpiper. The common terns, new this year, were dive bombing.