Time For Seasons To Change – We Are Ready!
It was a nice past week with some feather friends keeping our community’s backyard and skies still active as migrations continue back north and our seasons change from winter to spring. Which I think we are ALL ready for! Think Osprey!!
Our visitors were the same and as usual, with the gulls taking their turns perching on our osprey nest. I watched this next fella go through a stretching session, it was a bit comical. Here’s his best stretch!
Ring-Billed Gull
From another day, this next one was down below me on a light along our walking path. We watched each other.
Ring-Billed Gull
Ring-Billed Gull
And a final shot of another gull on yet another day on the rocks below our osprey nest, reflecting in the waters.
The Canada geese still stay most evenings up in Marshy Creek and head out in the morning to venture off for the day, maybe to return back that evening or not, as the migration flocks are on the move. Here’s two different mornings as they moved on out….
Canada Geese
Canada Geese
Other bird activity is constant in the skies if you can take the time to watch and listen. Three times I watched with binoculars 2 adult and 2 juvenile eagles flying around or perching in the trees over at CBEC. Not close enough for any great photographs, but a joy to watch. And while watching them or the skies in general, I tried to capture the next few birds that passed on by a bit closer to me. A Great blue heron….
Great Blue Heron
a turkey vulture….we have a few of them on occasion….
Turkey Vulture
and tundra swans who are also abundant along the banks of Kent Island and CBEC for the evenings/mornings.
Tundra Swan
Tundra Swan
And of course, we have the mallards. They feel safe here and do get some great feedings, so it is real unusual to not have at least a pair around.
Male and Female Mallards
Male Mallard
One day at low tide, we had a group of eight mallards feeding with bottoms up. Almost got all eight in one shot!
1 Male & 3 Female Mallards - Bottoms Up!
2 Male & 4 Female Mallards - Bottoms Up!
The mallards are in full swing on mating. Got some before/beginning shots and then the end male strut & victory lap.
Male and Female Mallard Mating
Male and Female Mallard Mating
Male and Female Mallard Mating
Male and Female Mallard Mating
Male and Female Mallard Mating
Mallard Mating Complete - Male Struts
Mallard Mating Complete - Male Circles Female in Victory Lap
Mallard Mating Complete - Male Circles Female in Victory Lap
The biggest treat for me this past week was coming home and finding a raft of American coots out on Marshy Creek. We haven’t had these ducks visit this winter as they have in the past. As I captured some shots, the raft started heading towards me, so perfect!
American Coots
After a few photos, the coots about-faced and went back towards more of the center of Marshy Creek and mixed in with a small group of scaup, diving and feeding together as the sun set.
American Coots and Scaup
I heard this little guy below me on the ground one late afternoon, then I found him, he blended in really well with the grass. I think it is an American tree sparrow, please correct me if I am wrong! I’m really green on identifying ‘land’ birds but I’m attempting to learn and expand my bird ID knowledge. 🙂
American Tree Sparrow?
We had a few beautiful sunrises and sunsets, I enjoyed most enroute to/from work. On February 17th, I made it home in time but the sunset wasn’t so spectacular in a wide angle shot; however it became a soft orange sunset with my telephoto lens.
Sunset - February 17, 2012
Made it home again last night in time and captured this awesome cloud-filled sunset.
Sunset - February 23, 2012
I’ve been working on my Oliver & Olivia 2011 review to post, looking them over really has me excited on their soon arrival. There has already been a confirmed osprey sighting in the Williamsburg, Virginia vicinity! Cool!
Thanks for stopping!
A Great Bird-Op Day
With all the bald eagle sightings to and from work the last several weeks, and the previous day a field of snow geese, Tuesday morning I got on the road early to give me ‘stopping time’ in hopes of some of the same sightings. 🙂
Getting in my car, several house finches were singing beautifully in the parking lot. I spotted the closest one and took a few shots in the early morning light. His beautiful song deserved his photo posting!
House Finch
No, that is not snow in the next photo! Unbelievably, after the past weekend freeze, we are back in the 50’s. And as I had hoped, the same farm field along Rt 301 about 20 minutes from home was filled with snow geese. Monday, there wasn’t as many on the field, most were in the air at a distance, coming in. Tuesday morning, my wide angle lens could not get in the width of their presence and it wasn’t so great showing the depth they were. Even from my distance their honking chatter was awesome!
Field of Snow Geese
Deer herds can be seen most mornings and evenings in open fields, and unfortunately there is always a perished one from a vehicle strike along the road here and there along Rt 301. I came upon one along the road which was being enjoyed by a bald eagle. He didn’t even pay any attention as I pulled over and took a few shots. Darn….unfocused….I got too excited…and not worthy of posting. There wasn’t much traffic except an occasional car or tractor trailer, which of course one of the big loud ones now had to go by. I refocused just in time as the eagle turned to look to mine and the truck’s direction.
Bald Eagle
Then another tractor trailer goes by, where are they coming from and why now?? That was both mine and the eagle’s thoughts! LOL And so, of course, the eagle took flight….
Bald Eagle
and landed several hundred feet further into the farm field. He was definitely staying close to keep an eye on his meal. I took only a couple more shots, said goodbye & thanks, giving him back his space. Back on the road to work I went.
Bald Eagle
In the fall/winter, hawks can easily be seen perched along Rt 301 almost daily. I’ve tried many times to capture shots but they are very skittish and will take flight while you’re trying to pull over just to get stopped. And that’s from across a dual highway with a wide grass center inbetween. I’ve seen so many lately, I decided Tuesday I was going to try again if I came across one at a good angle. Not 10 minutes after leaving the eagle, I spotted the next red-tailed hawk perched across the highway up in the trees. He was busy moving around and then sat up & looked directly at me, maybe to flash a smile? Or to see who’s watching him! Sorry, poor focus.
Red-Tailed Hawk
He started to move around again and I thought he was surely going to take off, but then watched and photographed him as he worked on breaking off a small branch from the tree.
Red-Tailed Hawk
With success, he took flight swiftly with his branch I’m sure to head back to his nest.
Red-Tailed Hawk
I wasn’t sure if he was passing the branch from his beak to his claws and/or it was an accidental drop, but I got this shot before the branch fell from his clutch. Again, my excitement and his quickness lost the focus….but I still wanted to share the ‘action’ of these two shots.
Red-Tailed Hawk
The red-tailed hawk didn’t give that branch a second thought, just went straight to another tree and perched. He kept his back to me for several shots, and I told him I’d leave him alone and be on my way. (Does any other wildlife photographers ‘talk’ to their ops?? Or am I crazy, LOL) Well, he must have heard me, he turned and gave me the next look. I took three photos, told him bye/thanks, and drove off.
Red-Tailed Hawk
Arriving to work, I thought what a great drive in! I couldn’t wait for the drive home AND to download the day’s photos.
When it was time to leave, the sun was setting really bright. There’s a man-made pond just before I get back on Rt 301 where there’s an occasional mallard or two. For the past week or so, I’ve spotted a pair of buffleheads in that pond. It’s been the first time I’d seen them there and so close to active civilization (the pond is beyond a Walmart). I couldn’t get the pair together, the female was more behind some marshy grasses but I captured the male in the sun.
Male Bufflehead
Joining the buffleheads were those mallards.
Male Bufflehead, Male & Female Mallards
Mallards & Bufflehead - BOTTOMS UP!
Meanwhile, off to the left of the pond up on a mound of dirt where other construction will soon be in the works, a small flock of Canadian geese were resting, with their ‘looker’ doing just that, looking for intruders and enemies. You can see some of the geese napping while standing on one foot. Now that’s balance!
Canadian Geese
Three ventured down the hill, grazing the grass while I was photographing them and the pond ducks.
Canadian Geese
One goose finally decided he needed a drink and swim. He then turned back to the group and honked a few times The sun was setting quickly so I opted to get back on the road. As I was leaving, I saw the rest were waking and starting their way to the water. I wondered just what that goose said to them….”hey fellas the water feels great”!
Canadian Goose, Mallards, Bufflehead
The next 45 minutes ride to home, not a bird to photograph. That was okay, I was tickled at my day’s sightings already! As I was approaching our community’s entrance, I did a quick check on a small protected inlet along our community that runs up to Rt 18 where I’ve seen a blue heron quite often in the late afternoon. He was there. 🙂 I got pulled over safely a bit past where he was and walked back slowly to not scare him. He hardly moved, I took a few shots, and went home.
Great Blue Heron
When I got home, I thought can there be any backyard visitors? Just a few mallards. The incoming winds and waves were not favorable for any visitors. That was ok, I was most content with my great bird-op day!
Finally, a quick share, when I was downloading my photos, I found the shots I forgot I took of our half moon before sunrise Monday morning. Here’s one of those shots. Pretty cool to see the craters. Pretty amazing how BIG those craters/mountain ranges really are!
I hope you enjoyed my drive in to and from work. And a big THANKS to all of you for visiting and following my blog. I really REALLY appreciate it and feel honored!
P.S. I am an amateur at bird identification. If I ever misname any bird, PLEASE let me know!!
Sunday at the Beach!
First, Happy Heart Day! Hope everyone has a wonderful day. To commemorate, here’s a repeat Great Egret photo I took at Chincoteague NWR during my day trip mid-January, now a favorite of mine! The ‘heart’ that appears at his neck is untouched….
And now onto Sunday at the ‘beach’! As most of the northeast United States experienced, a frigid mass of cold air dropped in from Canada and some even a pile of snow swept through this past Saturday. Our area received snow flurries but it melted quickly; however, the winds and cold temps got most of us. Sunday was a beautiful, partly cloudy day; but if you stepped outside, the temps with the windchill factor were in the teens. I opted to stay home and do the household thing. Of course, with an eye out the windows for any visiting feathered-friends.
The north/northwest winds effected our tides, blowing out and away a substantial amount of water. Usually at low tide, the water depth is low to mid-way at our rock berm, usually no more than 1.5 feet lower than high tide. At 9:00 a.m., I took a photo of the cove that I refer to often that is to the right of our osprey nest and me, thinking that’s one low tide! The white lines were ice that had formed as the tide receded.
I glanced at our tide clock and it said it had just come off HIGH tide less than an hour prior. Whoa, I thought! The next photo was taken at low tide around 3:30 p.m.
The sun had melted most of the ice by that time. And so this became Sunday at the beach! Now back to the morning as the high tide was receding, the gulls were having a hey-day with all the sand to pick at.
The mallards were soon flying in and joining. Got this nice shot of a male mallard. Catch them just right and they look as if they are smiling for the camera. 🙂
Okay, I was really trying to clean/do laundry but I took another break few hours later to see what the gulls and mallards were up to and glancing up I saw two eagles soaring over the cove. Grabbed the camera and took the next shot through my picture window, had no time to make it outside to my balcony!
I thought, darn it, if I had just ‘breaked’ sooner, I might have gotten some nice shots of them. Flying further away from me, I watched them with binoculars as they headed over to Kent Island.
By now I was more intrigued with outside than inside, as it was obviously more fun! LOL I grabbed my coat & headed out onto the balcony to set up my camera & tripod and almost tripped from excitement as a flock of Canadian geese flew directly in front of me, dropping down into our cove.
On the edge of their flock, closer to me, a Great Blue Heron passed on by as well. Unfortunately, the sun’s position was behind him…. 😦
The blue heron then dropped down over the sunlit water. Most may not like the next shot, but I thought it was kinda neat. It is untouched except for cropping.
Passing over the Canadian geese that had just landed, he gave them a bit of a fright.
The blue heron continued over to the point and landed to his own private beach. With the shots not being so great, I can’t confirm it was Blake our blue heron who had been visiting us for 22 weeks, but this one landed right where Blake always did. So maybe!
As the blue heron fished along the water, the Canadian geese settled with the mallards not to far from him.
Ten minutes later, our dedicated neighbor tossed out feed for all who dared to come get it on the beach.
Immediately, two geese made their way to the feed. The first one slowly went on the beach while the second ‘looker’ kept his eye out.
The rest held back for a good five minutes before deciding it was safe. And then it became chow time!
You know the saying about getting ‘goosed’? A couple fellas were doing just that to the others who were trying to get out of their way, they had me laughing.
Once their bellies were content, the geese spent the rest of the afternoon resting and napping on the beach….
Including those that didn’t take any chances coming in. It’s hard to see, but the blue heron is still on the beach in the top left corner.
Meanwhile, out just past our osprey nest, a raft of canvasbacks, ruddy ducks, and scaup were feeding along the water’s bottom.
As the sun began to set, the geese swam their way back past me and into Marshy Creek to spend their night.
I started photographing the sun setting and was fully expecting the clouds to light up with colors…..but it fizzled out. But this shot of the last of the peaking sun still ended a great day of my birdwatching!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed!
Birds, Birds, Birds!
So sorry for the long absence, I’ve been under the weather and it’s been a bit difficult bouncing back and catch up on everything. Even when I was home trying to rest & recoup, I still kept an eye out and about our osprey nest to see what’s the latest in visitors in this mild winter to share. I do enjoy our pair of house wrens who are daily visitors, perching on our balcony railing or up on the gutter, singing their spring song and just hanging out enjoying the warm sun rays.
And the herring gulls seem to believe the osprey nest is theirs, except each one thinks it’s his so they chase each other off so they can have their turn to perch and even sitting down to take a little nap. They will find out different in another month when our osprey return!
In that last photo, you can see our osprey nest has really dwindled down this past season, more so than I’ve seen in the last three years. The rebuilding will begin in March by our osprey, and it will be amazing and fun to watch how fast it will grow. Stay tune for that!
The tundra swans are still around, seen in Marshy Creek and over at Kent Island. I captured this shot of a small group flying towards Kent Island and the setting sun.
I haven’t seen Blake our visiting Great Blue Heron at all. 😦 But we’ve still got the Canadian geese coming and going. This past week’s visiting geese seemed to be less skittish at being closer to us. I seen this small group over to the point to the right of our nest, catching a snooze just before sunset one evening.
A few minutes later, the mallards in the cove were noisily splashing and diving as they chowed down on feed tossed by a devoted neighbor.
This commotion got the sleeping geese attention, as did other mallards who made their flight over to get their share. Two geese immediately headed to the berm to get some too. The others followed, they weren’t going to be left out!
This morning at sunrise, a larger flock of geese headed out of Marshy Creek on past our nest, and then turned to head into the cove where mallards were already hanging out. I would have loved to see if they went right to the berm and hung out for a while before taking off for their day’s adventure, but was already running late! Last winter, they were along and on our berms as well as on our grass, unfortunately chopping our grasses.
I’ve been watching over the last month, large rafts of ducks at a distance in Marshy Creek. A couple evenings this past week, closer directly out behind our nest a raft of scaups went back and forth, feeding on the bottom. I believe they were lesser scaups and not greater scaups, identifying by the difference in the shape of their heads. The two otherwise look very close alike and are easily confused, so I could be wrong!
Here’s a close-up from the above photo, where I discovered a pair of ruddy ducks in the center.
As the sun was setting, more had arrived. They stayed tight in their raft as they busily dove for food. There were at least double of what you see in the next photo, the others are underwater!
My husband and I were marveling on the increase in recent sightings of eagles in our area. The pair that lives across Marshy Creek over at CBEC have been gracefully soaring or perching within binocular sight. Neighbor Mary told me her husband had sighted them on one of Lipincott’s channel markers over a week ago.
Quick Bald Eagle Facts
Young eagles are called juvenile or immature eagles & are a mix of brown & white.
Eagles reach full maturity at 4-5 yrs old when they finally have their distinct white head & tail.
At maturity, they find a mate, and remain together until one dies.
Bald eagles can live up to 30 years and weigh 10-14 lbs.
Their wingspan is 72-90 inches.
They can fly to an altitude of 10,000 feet & reach speeds of 30-35 mph.
A bald eagle has 7,000 feathers.
I’ve also sighted juvenile/immature eagles as well, usually soaring inbetween CBEC and Kent Island, south of the Narrows, and are real fun to watch with binoculars. This morning as the Canadian geese were making their way into our cove, a pair of juvenile eagles were again playing and this time I got a few shots to share. These juveniles were at least 2000-3000 feet from me so the photos are grainy but enough to see their fun.
An extra treat, an adult eagle appeared and began to play as well!
After a few minutes, the adult eagle retreated to CBEC, joining another adult eagle who was already perched, probably watching the fun. 🙂 Because there was no discord and all appeared in fun, my guess is that adult eagles were the parents of the juveniles. The juveniles continued to play as they soared while mom & dad watched from the tree. (Remember I mentioned I was already running late this morning, the eagles added to that! LOL)
An extra treat, I’ve been spotting at least one eagle a day along the Rt. 301 corridor on my way to & from work, either in a tree or flying. Since I hadn’t been feeling well, I had opted to not carry my camera and had been sorry several times, thinking I won’t possibly see more again. Sighting four one day, the next morning I didn’t chance it & carried my camera. And amazingly that morning a beautiful eagle was perched right alongside the highway. Of course, I stopped and photographed that one and got many nice photos! The second shot is my favorite and I believe one of my best eagle shots to date. I can feel his eye piercing down along the road for his next prey!
Saw four more eagles that day. Couldn’t believe it! Also passed at the Centreville Rt 213 exit this huge flock of snow geese. There were thousands in the distant skies still coming.
Finally, I have two more photos that I liked and just had to share. First, we had a beautiful full moon this past week that was 4/5’s across the sky, close to setting, about a hour before sunrise. It was boldly bright and cast a beautiful shine across the Kent Narrows. My wide-angle shots didn’t expose well but I did get this next close-up shot with my telephoto lens.
And I thought this last photo of a cloud is really cool and so appropriate for my birding blog. I immediately saw a bird flying. Do you? 🙂 It lasted not even a minute before distorting from the wind.
I hope I didn’t overwhelm and overdo with too many photos, and you enjoyed them! Sick or well, I did keep snapping, and dwindling down the number to share was hard for the one and half weeks length of time I’ve missed on posting. In addition to my posts, I have started working on a photo page of the highlights of our osprey parents, Oliver & Olivia, and their two chicks from last season to share. I’ll try and have that posted in the next two weeks, to fuel our excitement of their upcoming arrival in only a month. Thanks for visiting and following my blog, I appreciate you!
Tundra Swans and Blake’s Back
After posting last Sunday, I got to hang around for the day but not much was going on out by the osprey nest. Then about 3pm, I spotted a blue heron along our berm. Could it be Blake, ‘our’ blue heron who started visiting us 22 weeks ago? I took quite a few shots while he made his way in the muddy muck at low tide towards our osprey nest. The tide was so low that he wasn’t successful in his fishing, but he gave it a try before up and flying over to the other point to another favorite spot of his. After comparing to my past photos, I believe it was Blake. He’s probably been around the corner or across the way all along at another sweet spot while the direct winds kept the water bit rough around the nest the last few weeks!
Monday and Tuesday, Blake was along the berm again when I came home from work, doing his thing before giving up and taking a flight over to CBEC.
What a treat to see him again! Last year we were frozen over with ice about this time and I’ve never seen a blue heron anywhere in sight. If we’re lucky, he’ll hang around until mid-March when our osprey pair, Oliver and Olivia, return from their winter vacation. But once they return, Blake will have to find safer grounds, blue herons are one of the birds that Oliver and Olivia will not allow around their nest area. So we shall see!
Being used to seeing tundra swans in large numbers in Marshy Creek (off to the left of our nest) during the winter months, and hearing them in a distance elsewhere this winter, it’s exciting to see they’ve decided to spend several past days in our community’s sight finally!
As I was photographing, I pulled out the binoculars because I thought I could see an eagle. Sure enough, there was one….no two! The second one is just to the right of the circled one, but in the shade hidden. About midway in the photo, their nest is high in the trees but cannot be seen from my balcony, but you can see it from CBEC’s drive.
I almost jumped into the car to ride over to CBEC to see if I could get closer shots of the tundra swans, but reality beckoned otherwise (cooking dinner!). After seeing them again Monday night in large numbers, on my home from work Tuesday I stopped over to CBEC for a quick check. It was too difficult to get a decent shot (even with me standing inside my car door ledge trying to LOL), but I did like this one. I didn’t know the Canadian geese were in my foreground until I downloaded the shots. This one should be titled, Bottoms Up! as the swans feed on the bottom.
I didn’t stay but a few minutes but took time to capture a shot of the eagle’s nest I mentioned above from CBEC drive. No eagles in sight though. 😦
This little guy, an Eastern bluebird, was singing and watching me as I photographed the eagle’s nest.
We been graced with more beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Picking my favorite from this past week is this sunset on Monday. The beauty stayed with us for almost an hour after the sun actually set. The water just glowed, it was awesome!
Finally, a couple shots from today. This morning this gull was keeping tabs on the nest, squawking at any other gull that tried to come too close. I wanted to show the condition of our osprey nest. The winter winds and visitors picking at it has reduced it to almost nothing. Oliver will have his work cut out to rebuild it when he returns, which we know he’s one great architect. His building materials have always been interesting, as he has a love for items and plastic in addition to sticks. Notice the boat line and black plastic embedded in the nest? LOL Last year, he even brought a McDonald’s bag to use!
Also this evening while the mallards were waiting for their ‘feeding’, they all took flight in a tight pack at once. Clue! I ran out and put my eye to the sky for an eagle. And there he was. A not-so-great shot….
And that’s the latest on what I’ve sighted around our osprey nest. It sure has been a ‘slow’ winter because the migratory birds didn’t come as far south as they normally do, but somewhat still exciting, as we begin the countdown of the arrival of spring as well as Oliver and Olivia!
Our Visitors and My Visit to Assateague & Chincoteague
The past week continued with mild temps and south/southwest breezy winds, at times 20-30 mph, making conditions still not favorable for visiting waterfowl around our osprey nest. Within the next month, the migratory birds will begin their trek back north. Such a big difference from this time last winter where we were iced-over and were fortunate to watch visiting Canadian geese, tundra swan, scaups, buffleheads, mallards, eagles, canvasbacks, and gulls in abundance.
But our loyal visiting Canadian geese and buffleheads are still around to date. This morning a small group of geese were just bobbing along around the nest and then took off for their day’s excursion.
At sunrise while the waters have been calm before the day’s winds began, the buffleheads were feeding almost daily.
One morning just before leaving for work, a pair of house finches were on our balcony rail, enjoying the warm rays of the rising sun. Very flighty, so I was lucky to get this shot of the male from behind the chair.
I work in a commercial industrial park so there’s usually not too many birds around. But yesterday when getting out of my car, I spotted this pair of European starlings singing their hearts out.
The past week still afforded beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Wednesday was one of those sunrises, with a group of Canadian geese waking up with the sun. I took several from my balcony that just didn’t seem to do it, so decided to get a couple shots from along the berm at the base of our osprey nest, put a little front foliage in the shot.
Sure makes you want to stay home and watch the day unfold instead of going to work! 🙂
I’ve finished up my Assateague Island / Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge photos from my visit two weeks ago. Here’s a sampling to entice you to jump to the full page of photos….
On this first shot, I took maybe 25-30 photos of this Great egret as he slowly moved around and didn’t know until I was home reviewing them that some showed a ‘heart’ in his neck. 🙂
To continue to see the full page of much more, you can access the Assateague/Chincoteague photo gallery page HERE, or down the sidebar under Pages.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend & upcoming week!
Blackwater Wildlife Refuge Visit
As promised, photos taken at my last Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge visit earlier this month have been uploaded on the Blackwater Photo Gallery page accessible through the Photo Galleries tab above, or under Pages down the sidebar or HERE.
Here’s a sampling of a few to entice you to jump to the full page of photos from that day! 🙂
To see the rest of the best of that day, please go to the Photo Galleries tab at the top of the page and then click on Blackwater. I hope you enjoy them and thanks for stopping by!
Oyster Cove Osprey Nest Area Is Quiet & Peaceful
Not much has changed around our area since my last post, except for the temperatures dropping about 10+ degrees, making the days’ highs in the 30’s, making it more of what a ‘normal’ winter season is like here at this time. Last night into this morning, we got a dusting of snow, with some rain on it’s way so it’ll disappear quickly. Here’s a shot of our osprey nest early this morning. An occasional tundra swan can be heard coo’ing in the distant. Otherwise it was quiet and beautifully peaceful.
A short while later, a dozen buffleheads arrived to feed around our nest.
An occasional eagle flies by. Canadian geese continue to come and go from CBEC. And the mallards come each evening to the berm for their nightly feedings from a faithful neighbor. In the mix now, I’ve noticed a few black ducks and one cream-colored duck that I have not been able to identify. I’ve wondered if it is a type of albino mallard. Here’s a poor shot of that duck. Anyone know?
Disappointingly, I haven’t seen Blake, our Great blue heron, at all for a few weeks now. Since our season’s migratory birds didn’t arrive, he has been our big entertainment in past posts with his handsome stature and watchful eye. We’ve had quite a bit of southern and westerly winds the last few weeks which is a direct hit to the nest area. With that and the slowly declining temperatures to freezing, maybe he had to find feeding grounds in warmer or less-windy areas. Our weather is forecast for our temps to rise back up to the high 40’s, maybe he’ll be back!
Almost daily on my way to and from work along Route 301 to Delaware, I’ve been sighting more and more snow geese in the air and along the highway in farm fields.
They’ve been slow in arriving to the mid-Atlantic region but there has been a recent exciting record sighting of snow geese at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Milton, Delaware. Estimates have been 150,000 at one time! Can you imagine the sound of all that squawking and flapping?!!! To see a absolutely amazing photo of them taken by western shore Maryland photographer Stephen Talabac, SJT Photography, CLICK HERE. Don’t hesitate to check out all of his website for more awesome photos.
I’ve recently enjoyed visits to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Assateague Island National Seashore, and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. I’ve been anxious to share my photos with you and have been working on them for upload in hopefully the next day or so. While visiting Assateague/Chincoteague, we stayed a few days in Ocean City along the Isle of Wight Bay where a small inlet came in and up to the parking lot. What a treat to catch these next shots.
We had buffleheads……
A pair of American black ducks….
who swam along with the buffleheads….
A Great blue heron….
And a pair of red-breasted mergansers….
For those of you who love bald eagles, Blackwater NWR has their eagle nest cam back up and running after several unfortunate mishaps over the fall/winter; and it’s just in time for watching the parent eagles come and go as they incubate two eggs recently laid. The eggs are due to hatch mid-February, and then the action begins as you get to watch the eaglets grow. Be sure to check-out this amazing glimpse into the life of a bald eagle family! (Click Here)
Until next post, have a super weekend!
Crazy Weather and Buffleheads
The past week and a half has been a continued roller-coaster of weather changes, as well as sightings here and there of our latest visiting migratory waterfowl here in our Oyster Cove area. Temps were in the 50’s-60’s first few days of the year, and then they plummeted to the 20’s for our days’ highs, then back up to the 50’s with a surprise snow squall last night that passed through our region, dusting us. Then today temps back up. Crazy!
Eagles are flying our skies and perching over at CBEC in the trees. The Canadian geese are continuing to arrive/pass through our area…..
with flocks continuing to spend their night in Marshy Creek, and like clockwork, awakening with the sun’s rise and passing by our nest to take flight for the day’s adventures.
A few tundra swans have arrived and are enjoying their protective night’s stay also in Marshy Creek. They haven’t as yet come by our nest that I’ve seen as last year, but their chatter can be heard and I’ve watched them flying in the distance in their early morning flights out and over CBEC.
I’m quite impressed to still see Blake, our visiting Great Blue Heron, around. The weather doesn’t matter to him. With the recent moonlit nights/early mornings, I’ve been outside before sunrise and seen him already perched on the berm down on my left, perfectly still, waiting for the day’s beginning. And then he continues to stay there, only slightly moving his head to keep an eye around him while the sky fills with light. The gulls will hang around him, hoping he’s going to miss a meal and they can grab it. Blake’s down in the bottom right of the last photo, giving you an idea where he’s hanging these days.
With nothing much else being exciting to post, my entry seemed doomed for not much else than sunrises and sunsets (about them a little later!). I am still working on my photos taken on New Year’s day where Rick and I spent the afternoon at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, so not prepared just yet to post those best (hopefully VERY soon, got some great eagle, blue heron & duck shots). But then my lucky timing occurred as I was watching a flock of buffleheads at a distance, when they took flight and flew toward me and past the nest and then a loop back around for another flight before they flew off. They are really a beautiful duck in flight as you’ll see in my photo sequence. Our waters were calm, capturing some cool reflections….which after a while you begin to wonder in the sequence which are real buffleheads and which are not!
The crazy weather sure did provide several fabulous sunrises and sunsets. If there’s one and I am home, I have a photograph of it. 🙂 To keep to a minimum and not bore you with one after another, I chose one sunset and one sunrise to share.
The sunrise was unbelievable and occurred on January 6. It just got brighter and brighter.
The next sunset occurred on January 5 @ 4:52 pm, the night before. I had my camera and when I arrived home, I shot the first photo of it from the ground. The shrubbery and ducks flying through gave it a different angle than my usual balcony shot.
I went indoors and knew to keep my eye on this one. Three minutes later from my balcony…..
Hmmmmm, I thought. It appeared it might just fizzle out. But not so, 14 minutes later @ 5:09 pm it just popped with brilliance…..
And finally @ 5:14pm, with a flock of Canadian geese flying in to settle into Marshy Creek for the night.
May you have a beautiful ending to a great day this week.
Until next time, take care and thanks for visiting!
Happy New Year to All!
Welcome back, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year’s! Although the holidays were busy, I still had a few opportunities to get some great shots of the visiting waterfowl to our osprey nest area. Because of the continuing unusual warm temperatures we’re experiencing this season, the migrating waterfowl are taking their time moving south down the East Coast, thereby making sightings and quantities for us so far less than normal. But don’t worry, when the cold arrives…..they will come!
Blake, our visiting Great Blue Heron now for 18 weeks, continues to delight us with his excursions along our berm searching for some of those scrumptious fish. I took time the morning of Christmas Eve to capture some photos of him before he took flight.
We have mallards by the hundred, they continue to arrive most every afternoon to bask in the warm sun rays, pruning their feathers while they wait for their feeding by a loyal neighbor.
The males are also in constant competition for the females and chase each other when one attempts to take another’s mate.
One recent afternoon the mallards were at the berm as usual, waiting for their feeding in the water, on the rocks, and along the berm…..
when along came a bald eagle crossing in the sky, his eyes on them….
He didn’t make any moves to attack them, he just cruised on past me and them.
I quickly took a shot of the mallards to see how they responded, since I didn’t hear them take flight as I’ve seen them do before. Here’s the shot. Once they sighted the eagle, the mallards quickly left the berm and got in to a tight circle in the water. There’s always more safety in numbers they’ve learned!
The Canadian geese are appearing in larger numbers for overnight stays along CBEC’s and Kent Islands shores. When the sky begins to lighten each morning, the quietness turns into the distant sound of their honking as they awaken and begin to chatter with each other, eventually making their way to open waters to take flight for the day’s hunt for food.
I posted a couple weeks ago the arrival of a few buffleheads, but hadn’t seen them since until three days ago when another group arrived and have been feeding each morning close to our osprey nest. Today they were closer and I got my best shots to share. At least the females (mostly black with white spot alongside their eye) tried to feed, the males (mostly white with a white head) were more interested in trying to get a female’s attention by flying over to them and chasing them or the competition. Buffleheads are no larger than 13 1/2″, making them the smallest duck in North America, and migrate to us from Canada. Chunky, cute, and energetic, they are a favorite.
In the last two weeks, we had more awesome sunrises…..
and sunsets.
There’s nothing so splendid than a sunrise or sunset blazing across the sky!
My daily drive to and from work along farmlands is an enjoyment with frequent sightings of local and migrating birds. The past two weeks I’ve spotted snow geese and finally stopped to photograph them from my car as hundreds and hundreds were landing on a field alongside the highway.
Now that the New Year has arrived, it brings the excited anticipation of the return of our osprey parents, Oliver & Olivia, in March! I received a funny photo from a devoted osprey-lover in the Tampa Bay, Florida area where they are fortunate that most of their osprey do not migrate. This osprey was enjoying a recent perch this past week on the local 2012 ball-drop that was erected for their New Year’s Eve festivities. Hopefully, he wasn’t there when that ball dropped at midnight! LOL
I miss our osprey and can’t wait for their return! 🙂
Until my next post, enjoy the migrations occurring everywhere!
Bay Photos by Donna 