It is quite striking when a large raptor flies right past you. This doesn't happen very often, believe me.

An eagle can sit there for hours, seemingly doing nothing. Then suddenly it raises its wings and gives one mightly flap.

And off it goes...

Gliding down gives this unusual view.

"Prairie dog — it's what's for dinner" if you're a bald eagle.

The eagle took the prairie dog away somewhere for dinner. The prairie dog does not look happy at all.

As spring approaches, the eagles prepare their nest by bringing new sticks and soft grass.

The pair mates many times. To do so, the two eagles basically press their butts together. The male is on top, not holding onto anything, flapping his wings to maintain balance. The female twists her tail out of the way--it is visible sticking out to the left. It's all over in 15 seconds.

While I was watching the eagles, this lovely ferruginous hawk flew by and landed in this tree. After a while, it took off.

Away we go....

This little screech owl liked to snooze in this tree hole. This time it was wide awake, watching a squirrel.

This broken tree had two sleepy screech owls roosting in it.

A pair of owls peering out from their tree home.

An avocet is an elegant shorebird with tan head and upturned bill.

Time for its morning bath.

They wade through shallow water where they forage for tasty morsels, briefly posing for a photo.

Here's one in flight.

Perfect landing.

The pelican comes in for a landing on a lake like a water skier.

Then it paddled over to this floating hunk of wood, and hopped up onto it.

Hang on -- another pelican came too and they had a squabble.

Killdeer are a very common shorebird, even so they look nice.

This is the very rare one-legged killdeer. Actually it is just resting one leg. Many birds do this.

At dusk, mama owl flew back to her nest to feed her owlets.