Geese – Snow and Blue
This past busy Saturday, I still opted to carry my cameras and was treated to two quick photo ops. In the morning, on the farm at the corner of Rolling Bridge Road and Rt. 301 in the Centreville area, my intent was I hoped to find a flock of Snow Geese that have been there numerous times the past couple months, always when I didn’t have my cameras. Saturday was a bright, sunny morning and the Snow Geese were there. 🙂 This is a returning location every winter for them, the problem is you just don’t know when they will be there. Although our snow is now all but gone with our two days of a ‘heat wave’ (40’s-50’s), we still hadn’t thawed as yet so to me the snow was a plus.
That’s a lot of snow geese!
I never left my truck for any of my photos. I turned onto Rolling Bridge Road from Rt. 301 and drove on by them, then turned around and came up with them on my side. For those that know the area, the truck in the next photo is on Rt. 301. You can see how close they were to the dual highway.
Trucker cruising down Rt. 301
My post title also mentioned Blue Geese. Although rarer on the East Coast, you will usually find a few Blue Geese in the mix. I had to look up again the difference and here’s word for word, courtesy of http://www.beautyofbirds.com.
The Snow Goose has two color plumage morphs, white (snow) or gray/blue (blue), thus the common description as “snows” and “blues.” These white- and blue-morph birds interbreed and the offspring may be of either morph. These two colors of geese were once thought to be separate species; since they interbreed and are found together throughout their ranges, they are now considered two color phases of the same species. The color phases are genetically controlled. The dark phase results from a single dominant gene and the white phase is homozygous recessive. When choosing a mate, young birds will most often select a mate that resembles their parents’ coloring. If the birds were hatched into a mixed pair, they will mate with either color phase.
Here’s an adult Blue Goose alongside a juvenile White Goose.
Adult Blue Goose & Juvenile White Goose surrounded by adult white geese
More in flight….
And dropping in!
Well worth the five minutes I stopped there!
When I came back by at the end of the day, they were gone. See? You never know when they’re there…but I still looked just in case.
Tomorrow I’ll post my second unexpected photo op treat of the day! 🙂
Hooded Mergansers
Yesterday morning, I spotted a pair of Hooded Mergansers at the base of our Osprey nest platform. I’ve photographed the Common Merganser and Red-breasted Merganser, but never got the opportunity with this merganser….until now. And that gives me another new lifer! 🙂
Hooded Mergansers
I captured this last flight photo as they flew off into the morning’s sunrise.
A day can’t be too bad when you get another bird lifer! 🙂
This Morning’s Sunrise & Moonset
We awoke to 5.5 inches of fresh snow. Had I known, I’d have gotten up earlier this morning. When I opened my verticals, I saw the full moon setting over Kent Island. It was already losing it’s brightness with the sun rising quickly. Those are Canvasbacks, Ruddy Ducks, Mallards, Redheads, Scaup, and Buffleheads sleeping in the channel.
Full Moon Setting over Kent Narrows & Kent Island – March 5, 2015
Here’s the sunrise occurring at the same time over Marshy Creek.
Sunrise over Marshy Creek
Now a couple hours later, the ducks have increased in number and are closer to the ice and me.
Canvasbacks, Redheads, Scaup, Ruddys, Buffleheads, Mallards
I decided to stay right here and work from home. Got plenty of paperwork to do. Just how am I going to get any of it done when I can see all those ducks and the Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches & Song Sparrows visiting my balcony six feet from me, all from where I am sitting? I am sure the Eagles will be checking out the ducks too…..
You can bet my camera is right beside me. 🙂
Icy Kent Narrows Opened by Cutter
My posts on the Kent Narrows and ice-overs we’ve been experiencing received a lot of interest so I thought I’d share an update from what I’ve seen.
Back on the morning of February 25, 2015, one of four of Maryland DNR’s cutters, the 80-foot A.V. Sandusky, came through the Kent Narrows to relieve ice stress on the surroundings marinas, bulkheads, and bridges.
Maryland DNR Cutter, the A. V. Sandusky
That afternoon when I did the Duck Dynasty photo shoot, I checked out the local Kent Narrows Watermen’s Marina that was previously locked up with ice. I was glad to see the A. V. Sandusky had been down through it on its way by.
Kent Narrows Watermen’s Marina
The Chesapeake Bay watermen work year-round, no matter the weather, to catch and sell the fresh crabs, fish, and oysters the Bay has to offer. They work long, hard hours for little pay to begin the process of getting that fresh seafood to our plates. Soon after the cutter had gone through several times, tides pulled on the ice and water opened up. Melting began occurring rapidly, allowing the watermen to finally be able to resume their work. But I am sure it is treacherous with the floating ice. As I watch them come and go this time of year, I wonder how they handle the frigid cold while hanging over and dealing with ice-cold water.
We awoke this past Monday morning to ice from the previous night’s storm. We had icicles hanging from our Osprey nest platform. And to think our Osprey are usually due to return in a week!
I wish I had been able to get out to photograph the ice when the sun was peeking through here and there; but it was too dangerous, so I had to settle with what I could take from my balcony. Here’s a sample of how pretty it was.
This same iced morning before the fog had burned off, watermen were again working the Kent Narrows southend channel for oysters. I hadn’t seen them do this so close to us and in the channel before this winter. I also wondered, just how could they have been out already so early with all the ice we had everywhere.
After the sun popped out, the A. V. Sandusky appeared, making another trip through the Kent Narrows.
A. V. Sandusky making another run through the Kent Narrows and down to Prospect Bay, passing a local waterman
An hour later, the cutter came through again. He must have made a loop around Kent Island.
Maryland DNR cutter, A. V. Sandusky
It was then that I saw the icicles hanging from the cutter’s railings. Wow.
Icicles hanging from the railings
Yesterday, watermen were out again. YAY!
And again this morning. 🙂
I have the utmost respect for our local watermen.
And for the birders, here’s a fly-by from today while we received yet another round of frozen mix and 5″ of snow.
Ring-Billed Gull
I liked the snow in this Gull’s photo op! 🙂
Bird Feeder Activity at CBEC
A few days ago I took a quick jaunt over to the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC), to check to see whether Tundra Swans were present close to CBEC’s entrance road at the top of Marshy Creek, one of their usual winter havens around us. I know they are out there somewhere, I can hear them in the early morning and late evenings.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see any. I decided to head on into CBEC anyway to see if there was any activity at the feeder just behind the Welcome Center. It was busy with several species, including a new lifer for me, the White-throated Sparrow.
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White-throated Sparrow – A New Lifer for Me
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He was joined by several buddies….
White-throated Sparrow and Song Sparrow
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Dark-eyed Junco and black-capped chickadee
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The best part of the photo shoot were the Northern Cardinals, a favorite top-10 of mine. There were several males and females to my delight, either at the feeder or in the bushes and marsh grass waiting their turn. I had never had so many at one time, so I went a little nutso with them. 🙂
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White-throated Sparrow and Northern Cardinal
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Male Northern Cardinal
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Female Northern Cardinal
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Male Northern Cardinal givin’ me the eye
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Female Northern Cardinal and Song Sparrow
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Carolina Wren, Northern Cardinal, and Song Sparrow
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I didn’t get to stay long, but the visit were worth it! 🙂
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Ruddy Ducks At Kent Narrows
The final post on the 3-part series of my “Duck Dynasty at Kent Narrows” profiles the cute little Ruddy Duck. The female Ruddy Ducks were the least skittish of all the ducks and would come the closest to the bulkhead between the boats and along the piers, many napping while keeping an eye on me. The males primarily were out in the open water with the rest of the ducks, diving and feeding so I didn’t get but a couple chances of close-ups on the males.
To me, they always look like they’re smiling. 🙂
Male Ruddy Duck
Female Ruddy Duck
Another Female Ruddy Duck
Two Female Ruddy Ducks Napping
Female Ruddy Duck
Female Ruddy Duck & Male Canvasback
See ya!
Canvasbacks At Kent Narrows
To continue from my last post about all those ducks feeding around the KIYC Marina piers and bulkhead at Kent Narrows, I scored many great shots of the Canvasbacks, who outnumbered the rest of the ducks. On occasion, the sun would peak out.
It was difficult to select just a couple, soooooo…..
Male Canvasback
Female Canvasback
A couple Canvasback dives!
Now you see me……
And now I am outta here!
They were fast at diving, that’s for sure.
This fella had a notion it was nicer to pose on a sheet of ice.
The next photo is my favorite in this series.
See ya!
Duck Dynasty at Kent Narrows
Crossing the Rt. 18 Watermen’s Bridge over the Kent Narrows Channel to run an errand late afternoon a few days ago, I spotted a large quantity of ducks in the waters around the Kent Island Yacht Club piers and bulkhead where the ice buildup had melted. Quickly finishing my errand, rechecked on return to see if they were still there (YEP!), home to get the camera, and then back to the ducks.
I spent about 90 minutes taking 554 photos in mostly cloudy conditions. It really was a Duck Dynasty of beauties!
Canvasbacks, American Coots, Ruddy Ducks, Redheads, Lesser Scaup
Canvasbacks, Redheads, Lesser Scaup
If they saw me, they would move away from land, so I had to compromise shooting from behind boats and my car.
Shooting from behind a boat.
Canvasbacks, Redheads, Lesser Scaup, American Coot, Bufflehead
Male & Female Lesser Scaups & Canvasbacks
Redheads, American Coot, Canvasback
Canvasbacks, Ruddy Ducks
When I saw the dozen or so Redheads, my heart skipped a beat, lol. A lifer for me! 🙂 I’d been trying to photograph a Redhead duck for quite a while now.
Male Redheads
I even saw a male Redhead coming in for a landing and tried my best to stay locked on him.
Male Redhead
For some reason, I didn’t get very lucky on close-ups of the Lesser Scaup, but did capture this one.
Male Lesser Scaup
Close-up photo ops were galore for the Ruddy Ducks and Canvasbacks, the only two species who started to trust my presence and came a little closer to the bulkhead, and always with an eye on me. I’ll issue the next two posts of those two so I don’t overload the ducks on you. 🙂
(Excuse me, friends, for being behind on my blog-reading, I’ll be by soon!)
A Surprise February Visitor
Just before the Marshy Creek ‘freeze-over’, I had mentioned a couple posts back that we experienced extreme low tides, causing a large mud flat to the left of our Osprey nest platform.
Our Extreme Low Tide and unusually large mud flat it created
By luck while out on my balcony, I happen to hear a bird that I knew, then saying to myself, “can’t be….that’s a summer bird”. I started scanning the mud flat, heard him again, and then spotted him. It was a Killdeer. Whether is was a local resident or a migrator, I’d never seen nor had any idea Killdeers could survive this far north and wintered around the Chesapeake Bay. Obviously, they do. There were actually a pair to boot!
Killdeer
They visited for about five minutes. I actually heard them the next day but couldn’t spot them. Nothing since, but of course the ice took over the area. No matter, I felt fortunate to capture and document that they were indeed here in February! 🙂
A Foggy Eagle
I showed a distant shot in my last post of the fog rolling across frozen Marshy Creek last Wednesday morning. I took a few more of an American Bald Eagle perched on Lippincott Marina’s entrance channel marker when the sun was rising.
Getting him to turn to the side so I could capture his beak silhouette was a challenge (‘cuz I was cold!) but he finally obliged. 🙂
Bay Photos by Donna 