A Great Weekend at Peace Valley Nature Center

     On Friday (4/11/14) I went to Peace Valley Nature Center to try and see the Red-necked and Horned Grebes.  After looking around for a while, we pulled up in another parking lot only to see an adult Common Loon in breeding plumage swimming in front of us.  I jump out of the car and immediately start taking pictures.  After a while, he starts heading down the lake.

Common Loon

Common Loon

 

 

 

     The next day, I go back for a longer period of time to see if it, or any of the grebes, are still there.  Sadly, I did not see any of them.  However, after walking around for almost two hours and getting my first of the year Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, I see that there was an American Bittern seen by the bridge that day.  I head down hoping to see one behind some brush a ways away, but see a group of people looking down at something only about five feet away.  I walk up and they say that there is an American Bittern right there.  However, they have scared it down behind the heavy brush.  After waiting for about twenty minutes for it to come out, it finally does.  As I watch it for over an hour waiting for my mom and two of my aunts to get there and see it, it comes right out into the open.  They get there just in time to see it right out in the open.

American Bittern

American Bittern

American Bittern out in the open