We have recently enjoyed a brief but wonderful visit from our youngest grandson, Kevin. He has two real claims to fame that would seem to be impossible to exist in the same person. He had vascular surgery at six weeks and he played on his University's national championship rugby team! Here's a shot of him and Durelle.
It was taken at Poogan's Porch where they had lunch after a Cindy-guided tour of the city.
During his visit we had a spate of unusual avian activity in the back yard. Here's a shot of our eagle acting like a duck.
He didn't land in the water. He landed on the shore and waded in. He does not have webbed feet, so this is a very unusual position for him. He stayed around for quite a while, wandering around the bank of the retention pond.
When he left, I tried to get a shot of him in flight. With a moving eagle, a moving camera and a slight delay in the auto-focus, success is unlikely. I'll show you one, anyway, if only to demonstrate the difficulty.
As I was putting the camera down and walking away, there was an explosion of feathers and water almost under my feet. I whipped around, aimed the camera in the general direction of an osprey who had just dive-bombed a fish. The shot was quick and reflexive, but the result was almost a good wildlife picture....Just luck.
A retention pond would not be expected to generate all the wildlife activity that we have. The real attraction and habitat is the hundreds of acres of the Goose Creek reservoir and its surrounding marshes that abuts our lot. We are fortunate to have it.
