Fifteen minutes by the water

Spent fifteen minutes sitting by the water at the boat launch today....as I approached a pair of Common Merganser had swum by....seemed strange that a male would still be in the area but then had to remember it is only the middle of May...

as you can see it was a cool, cloudy day and at first it seemed there was nothing around but then...

a pair of Canada Geese headed onto this submerged log...

then these two flew down to get a drink....I think it is probably 'mom' Red-wing Blackbird with a youngster as they nest really early.

apologies for the quality of this photo...but speaking of 'mom' or for that matter 'dad' this Bushtit was one of a pair very busy....probably with a nest-full of young ones not too far away.

meanwhile there were several Barn Swallows gathering mouthfuls of mud and nesting materials.

Spotted Towhee were very busy too but not co-operative about having their picture taken so this was the best I could do.

this pair of Eurasian Collared Dove were trying to get brave enough to come down for a drink and finally did so, just in time for someone to walk by and send them flying off again....but considering we'd (my dog and I) had only been there a few minutes, it was a pretty productive bird visit.