Birding

Yesterday, Kelly and I got up super early to do some hiking and birding.

First we went to Bluestem Prairie Open Space. We saw lots of water fowl, rabbits and a number of small birds. We couldn’t get a good look at any of the birds. We then stopped off at Prospect Lake in Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. Here we saw lots of duck, geese, and gulls (as well as the ever present crows and pigeons). This shot here is of an American Wigeon. We both thought they sound like asthmatic squeaky toys.

I'm really new at birding. I'm finding it to be a lot of fun: hike around, listen and look for birds, try to snap an artful picture, peruse the guidebook, do some research on the web, etc. I started a check list for the birds I've seen and identified since I've started this hobby. I'm up to 20 birds - including the 5 I was able to identify this weekend. I’ve seen at least 10 members of other species that I’ve been unable to identify.