A Little bit of this-A Little bit of that

I've done very little birding these past few days due in part to one of the worst colds I have had in what seems to be years. I did meet up w/ Alan at the bike path on both Sunday and Monday hoping to see the reported Black Vulture. Sunday would be a no show but I did get a pretty good shot of this Double-crested Cormorant flying above.
I would go out bright and early Monday too thinking a little fresh air would do wonders for me and this time I would meet Alan up at the mall because we figured we would be better off there because it gives you a wider view point. Once again, we would see no Black Vulture, but did see other birds which was nice after being in bed all day Sunday unable to do much birding of any kind.
We would scan the skies for any signs of vultures and wouldn't see any for quite some time until we saw two Turkey Vultures including the one above. While it is disappointing we didn't get any Black Vultures, we haven't given up hope. Marc, one of the readers of my blog had mentioned seeing a Black Vulture a few weeks back in about the area Bart had seen it so I am guessing it is the same one which is a good sign indeed. Hoping we get it this week or weekend and will keep out eyes open for it.
After reading the reports from Beth, Nancy and John on the two Great-blue Heron nests at St Philips I decided to stop over there briefly to check it out for myself. I would see the two nests with one directly above the other and there would be two sets of two Great-blues in both nests so it will be interesting to see and hope for nest success because I would love to get pictures of their young.

Photo by Emily Eaton

And speaking of young, I dragged myself into work today feeling as lousy as I did solely because of the Peregrine Falcon banding that was supposed to take place today. The Department of Fish and Wildlife had to cancel it though due to how large the young falcons are which would increase the risk of them falling off of the platform in a panic as Fish and Wildlife tried to capture them for banding. While I am disappointed, I am glad they decided to do it in interest of the chicks. Other news would be Emily sending me an email saying there are FOUR CHICKS up there instead of the three I had reported last week! She also sent me this picture with two of them together. Notice how tiny the one in back is. Emily says there are at least two smaller ones so we are hoping they are both males because it would be really nice to have two males and two females this year. I will be going up to the nesting platform site myself (not on the site itself but looking at it out from a window in an office) for pictures after work on Thursday with Emily so be on the lookout for them

Take care all.