Bills: the good kind.

 It was a late Sunday afternoon.
I needed to get "out and about" before starting another week.

A trip to the Tracy Aviary was suited my mood just perfectly.

Soon I was engrossed in photographing passing "bills".

Love that blue bill!

So many different kinds of birds with so many color variations!

I fell in love with these guys...

Wish they weren't in a cage which interferes with photography, but it did let me experiment with foreground/background focus issues.

 

The golden eagle's yellow "lips" caught my interest.  He was pretty interested in my own lips I think.

The eagles were rehabilitated eagles that can't fly well enough to be on their own.  No photography bothersome caging needed!

An Argentina Cardinal.  Or at least that is what I remember it was.

He was in a walk-in cage.  I love it when I can be eye to eye with the birds.

Wish this waterfowl was pick-up and cuddle-able. 
Doesn't he look soft?
Don't you just love his orange red webbed feet next to the green lettuce?

I liked the reflection on the black bill in this photo. And of course the yellow eye.  Birds have such beautiful eyes!

 

The local birds hung out in the trees around the Aviary.  Wonder if they thought they had it good, or the birds in the Aviary had it good?

Some day I want to see one of these in the wild.

 

The Aviary has just recently opened an area called Owl Forest. 
 The owls are in caged areas making it really hard to get a clear shot through the wires, but sometimes I lucked out.

As I pressed my camera against the cage, this owl started clacking his bill at me in warning.  I left...didn't want him to feel stressed...

 

 

Dinner had recently been served on a very naturalistic looking plate...(smile).

I think the barn owl, above, is the freakiest looking owl, and also the softest looking owl.

Some owls were no bigger than your fist while others were almost as big as your torso. 

Love that red eye!

 

The  bit of down of the black bill...does it tickle?

Love the blue eye...and I read somewhere that the knob on the bill gets bigger during mating season. 

After walking around the entire the Aviary I was starting to get pretty cold.
I went to my car and called my BFF Gail; she had called while I was shooting pictures and I wanted to be able to sit in the car and relax while we caught up.
As we talked the sun changed the sky  and cloud colors to yellow...

And then to purple and coral pink....(Gail likes purple, I like coral pink) so I knew I had to take a picture of the sky for her to see.

Sure wish she and my photography loving blogging buddies could have all been along for this little outing.

Thought of you all, as I usually do, whenever I see beautiful things and take pictures.