Day Off

So what happens when you have a day off of school and no shows scheduled?  If it were up to the kids, they'd just want to play video games all day.  If it were up to the parents, they'd want to go bird watching.
We didn't want our kids wasting all day playing video games, even if Nichole had a friend over.  She and her friend got to play on the Wii for a little while then we all hopped in the van and headed up to Antelope Island.  The whole way, Jeremy and I were hoping that the weather wouldn't be too bad.  It was supposed to be somewhat rainy and snowy today.  There was quite a bit of rain and a tiny bit of snow on the way there and on the way back but while we were there, it wasn't too bad.  We are so glad we didn't just turn around and go home.  It was great.
We saw deer, bison, coyotes, and a bunch of birds.

Still working on identifying some of them and we didn't get pictures, just video, of northern harriers, but here are some we did identify (in no particular order):

 red-winged blackbirds

 chukars

 white-crowned sparrows

 

 magpie

 red-tailed hawk

  American kestrels

 I think these are American tree sparrows

*Update:  I changed my mind.  I do not think these are actually American tree sparrows.  I believe they are also white-crowned sparrows, like the birds in some of the above pictures.  These are immature white-crowned sparrows, which is why they have more reddish markings instead of the black on the head.*

 

Some of the still pictures didn't turn out- we also saw northern shovelers, mallards, other ducks, goldeneyes, California gulls, and crows or ravens.

Some of the kids and I even did some hiking.

It was a good day.