Feathered Friends Amongst Oyster Cove

To catch up after my recent osprey update post, here are my ‘other’ birds I captured in the last week and a half. A mixture of some new and some regulars! Several came from my ‘new’ exit route when leaving for work. One of my mornings when leaving, on a whim I decided to drive over by our small community’s marina & tennis courts before heading out, and it was then I saw a red cardinal. He wasn’t too crazy about me even thinking about grabbing my camera and took flight immediately. I’ve not had a chance to capture a cardinal, and red IS m favorite color, so every morning since, I’ve been driving over to that area before heading out. Haven’t seen him since 😦 but I quickly found out the Killdeer are back from last year. This first shot was funny, he stood directly in front of a painted parking line…..or was he just painted on??!! 😉

Killdeer

There was a pair of them so maybe they are the same ones I posted about last year that had a little one (next photo). Hopefully, I’ll see more babies this year and can post to share, they are so cute!

Parent Killdeer keeping eye on the baby - June 20, 2011

Another morning, from the car I was shooting some type of flowering tree by the marina and didn’t realize a red-winged blackbird was sitting within 10 feet of me on the dock. He started singing and I turned and shot a few. I liked this next photo the best!

Red-winged Blackbird

Another morning, one was singing amongst the marshy reeds….

That same morning, the next photos were shot at eye-level from my car as this starling sat and fed on a mounded grass hill.

European Starling

Needless to say, with that much neat activity in the mornings, I did the community ‘loop’ when arriving home a couple evenings. Definitely quieter in the early evening, but I did get a treat and found this next little guy swimming around in the marina. I think he wanted to show off a little…..

Ruddy Duck

From my balcony, I’ve had the regulars continue to visit or fly on by. The American coots had continued to appear in large rafts in the mornings and evenings, but I figured when you’ve seen one big raft of coots, you’ve seen them all! I’ve noticed the last few days it seems the coots have gone except for a few stranglers who have been coming up to the berm to feed. Always eluding me to share, I finally got a shot with the lighting right to show the coot’s pretty red eyes.

American Coot

American Coots

I was surprised to see the little ring-billed grebe had returned. He was all alone again.

Pied-billed Grebe

Of course, the American robin is everywhere, busy getting nesting materials while protecting their territory from the other birds. This fella was taking the high perch on the gutter and keeping an eye below…..and on me while he sang his song.