Blake In Action
Last week started out and continued with wind, cold, and lots or rain. Lots. Waterfowl was at a minimum around Oyster Cove, shelter became an absolute necessity and was sought elsewhere. In the distance, the honking of geese and the cooing of the tundra swan could be heard from CBEC across Marshy Creek. But that was it….
And then the sun arose and shone on Saturday. It was my day to decorate for Christmas. A quick glance outside around 9:30 a.m. after dragging everything out, and lo & behold I spotted Blake, our Great Blue Heron, down on the berm during an extreme low tide. Blake hung around for a couple of hours, fishing with huge success in the shallow waters. I saw him catch eight small fish in just a few minutes that had gotten caught up in small pools of water that formed within the rocks. It was easy-pickin’ for him! Although it was hard to not spend the entire time just watching him, I did steal a few moments here and there and captured many awesome shots. So many so, it was hard to select just a few to share, sorry. 🙂 So here’s Blake in action!
Blake, of course, kept his eye on his surroundings. To his right, a neighbor was approaching and Blake took notice.
Realizing they were coming right towards his area, he took off and turned to his left, flying low across the lawn in front of me. The following sequence shows well his massive wings. He was beautiful when he flew on by!
Blake returned a few minutes later and was back on the hunt for fish. A bit later I took another quick break and I got the next two shots.
Not sure what that was all about, he then continued to hunt and eat. As I decorated our Christmas tree, I could see Blake through the window; I decided to try the next shot through the tree to get a little creative and give Blake a little bit of a festive look.
Saturday afternoon, Blake had disappeared, and we had mallards all around our osprey nest. I was taking a break with camera in hand, when all the mallards took off quickly at once.
I’ve learned that sometimes when that happens, I’ve seen an eagle appear, which of course frightens the ducks! And indeed this young bald eagle passed on by high in the sky.
He didn’t bother the ducks, and continued on over to Kent Island. The mallards circled back around and landed back where they were.
What an awesome Saturday it was for photo ops! I had a great time that day!
Sunday was no different, we had Canadian geese….
and of course the mallards. A couple solo shots…
I saw no sign of Blake all day, but a gull enjoyed the warm sun rays while perching for quite a while on our osprey nest.
I can imagine our osprey nest had more activity around it since we had another sunny, calm day today. I didn’t arrive home until sunset and I could hear the waterfowl calling in the distance as I watched the final light dipping in the horizon. It’s usually the clouds that create interesting sunsets as this one did, and with the calm/no winds, the reflections were astonishing. The next four photos were taken over a 25 minute period. It was a beautiful moment in time to end a great day!
As we wind down to the final two weeks before the holidays, everyone please be safe out there in the hustle-bustle! And in your busy travels, thank you for taking the time to stop by to visit our Oyster Cove osprey nest surroundings with Blake and I!
