Sunday Birding

I felt a strong need to see birds Sunday, birds that weren't on my front deck, so I grabbed the camera and drove to Dave's creek.   No mergansers and no dipper.   Now what?   Tern Lake is still iced over and barely starting to show water around the edges.

Quartz Creek!   Maybe there are some early ducks there.   I drove to Cooper Landing and searched.   Nothing.

Okay, the Kenai River bridge always has something.

And it did.   Swans and mergansers, a scaup, and what I think is a juvenile goldeneye.

The closest of four trumpeter swans.

I think this is a juvenile goldeneye, but whether a common or Barrow's,. I can't tell.

 I noticed some movement way downstream and it turned out to be four eagles fighting over what must be a fish.   These eagles were too far away for my lens, so the photos are highly cropped and pretty fuzzy.

On the way back to my vehicle, I came across some Sasquatch tracks.   I laid a glove on the snow for size comparison.

 

From there, I was off to the best place to see eagles, where Cooper Creek flows into the Kenai River, and I was not disappointed. 

But before I stopped at Cooper Creek, I took a walk through the forest to see if I could find some birds.    At one point, it was necessary that I find a girl bush and while I was attending to business, I had a feeling I was being watched....

 This female spruce grouse was frozen like a statue.    I think they feel they are so well camouflaged that if they hold still you won't see them. 

As I was making my way back to the truck, I found evidence of a very ambition beaver.   Apparently it thought it could dam up the Kenai River.

And then, a first!   I've seen eagles taking baths before, but never in the Kenai River!    I watched this process for more than a half hour.

The eagle stood in shallow water, then jumped into deeper water where it splashed around.   Then, it was back to shallow water for a spell, then back into deeper water.

 

At long last, it went back to a nice log to dry off in the warm sunshine.

There were several eagles around that area.   Four were upstream fighting over food, and otghers were in flight.   Time to practice birds in flight!

And, as is my luck, in my best, most crisp shot, the eagle's head was hidden by its wings.