My Past Week Of Feathered Friends
I have a bit of information to pass on about our pair of osprey. Today, just before 7 am two osprey were perched on Lippincott’s channel marker when I left. I got home at 3 pm and didn’t see any osprey; at 3:45 pm I sighted one leaving the marker and headed west & away from me. No sightings rest of day/evening until 7:10 when I found a single osprey on the channel marker, followed by the second at 7:15pm. They stayed until dark. In that direction I keep mentioning that is west/away from me both now and previous day’s posts is on the other side of Lippincott marina where three nest platforms were erected late last summer but not occupied. I have been watching when passing them down Rt 18 all week and can see from a distance the last two days one and/or two osprey sitting on the center one. Today I was told that it does appear a pair has been on that platform a lot today. Has Oliver and Olivia relocated to an available brand new, clean digs instead of returning to a messy nest that they were spooked from last year and left over a month earlier than migration time? It could be possible. We will have to wait and see I suppose. Guess we couldn’t blame them though, huh?! I’ll keep ya posted!
With all the week’s drama, I still photographed some of our other feathered friends to share. We’ll start off with a raft of American coots who visited several evenings, feeding til dark, including tonight of which I took more photos but they won’t make this post. I do have a few to share that shows what they do when feeding. The first shows how they spread out as they busily eat.
American Coots feeding
If they are spooked by a noise, an oncoming bird, even a non-threatening gull, they quickly become a tight unit.
American Coots rafting up tightly for safety
American Coots rafting up tightly for safety
And then they spread back out, feed, and raft tight again. Kind of neat to watch them. 🙂 A couple more from another day…..
American Coots
American Coots
Marshy Creek, off to my left, continued all week to fill each evening as last week with canvasbacks, scaup, and ruddy ducks feeding and chattering. (Far left in the next shot is where the three new osprey nest platforms were erected)
Marshy Creek filled with canvasbacks, scaup, and ruddy ducks
Canvasback in flight towards sunset
Double-crested Cormorant
I just had to stop one morning close to the office at “Walmart Pond”, a water management pond created from the land developing around it, where I surprisingly often see & photograph waterfowl. That morning, the sun was rising and shining on a couple of Canada geese. They were quite obliging and posed in the reflecting water.
Canada Geese
Canada Goose
Canada Goose
Canada Geese
There is also a single bufflehead who is at the other end of the pond most afternoons. I decided to drive around a sort-of developed road and found out it came out to the other side, and perfect for getting closer to him. He did a little showing off for me for my extra effort to get to him! I’ve wondered why he’s alone all the time. Usually there’s at least two.
Bufflehead
Bufflehead
Bufflehead
Not a hop-skip-and-jump from this little pond, from my car I spotted a bird that looked different and pulled over to photograph him. He didn’t like me and didn’t stay, I was lucky to snap off three of him perched before he took off. I didn’t know until I edited the shots and identified him that it was an American kestral. My first one to see!
American Kestral
I got this as he took off. My shot actually caught him in my bottom corner frame so I just cropped the surround left & upper space. Not a very clear shot but I liked seeing the way his feather coloring striped his wing.
American Kestral
Here’s some fun action shots of a gull who caught a large fish but could not fly off without dropping it over and over again.
Gull with his catch
Coming to the realization he wasn’t going to make it, he swam to the edge of our rock berm with his catch. His buddies were waiting.
We know what gulls do when there’s food……attack to grab!
I wasn’t sure which gull got the fish this time but he was able to get lift-off with the heavy fish.
And then off he went, with his noisy buddies following…..
With him only to drop it! It was chaos after that, with one finally getting possession in the water and just floated while eating it.
Finally, early one morning a week ago, we had a pair of mallards below me on the ground, inspecting the bushes in search for probably a nesting sight. I took just a few and let them be. Maybe we’ll be lucky to have baby ducklings soon!
Female Mallard
With that I’ll end. I’ll keep tabs on the osprey and post as I can. Have a great week!
Another nice series, Donna. We have a lot of Kestrels in my area, and they are just as flighty here, too! Only rarely will one let me get off more than a couple shots. Great job capturing the seagull catch-and-release program.
Thanks Ken! I sure was tickled when I ID’d it. Now I’ll be watching for more around there. 🙂
Wow, what an exciting week you had. The Canadian Geese pictures are fantastic and I love the Coot and Gull sequences. I’ve been photographing birds for awhile now and never have met a Kestrel that will let you get close no matter how quiet and Ninja like you are, so you did wonderful for your first encounter! Thanks for sharing. Tom
Thanks Tom, he was definitely flighty and went to the next tree on my left but as I slowly moved my car, he flew to the one on my passenger side, and I thought he’s pretty smart! 🙂
I hate to admit it, but it’s not sounding good for Olivia and Oliver to return to their old nest. I wouldn’t think it would be too long before another pair claims it though, perhaps one of their offspring and mate.
The other shots are great!
Fingers crossed, hoping so! Mother Nature is definitely in charge. 🙂
Great shots, the name Coots makes me smile for some reason..:-)
Me too, lol…
I love to see all of your wildlife your able to capture. Lucky you!! Very cool shots and thank you!
Thank you Joleen, the wildlife are definitely enjoyable and you can’t help but feel happy watching them, I love it and am very thankful!
you have alot of beautiful birds.. ; )