Five On The Wire – #13
Five bird species perched on a wire, enjoying those 360° views!
Northern Mockingbird
American Goldfinch (male)
Chipping Sparrow
Purple Martins
Eastern Kingbird
Herons and Egrets
Two herons and two egrets, all ready for some good summer fishing!
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpeckers
Several Red-bellied Woodpeckers are daily visitors in my backyard trees and lovers of my feeders.
Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (female, no red on top of head)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)
However, Red-headed Woodpeckers aren’t so common in our area, let alone my backyard.
Just a couple weeks ago, while doing a little birding on the back deck with my seven year old grandson, he hollered out a species sighting…
“Look, there’s a Red-headed Woodpecker!”
“No, that’d be a Red-bellied Woodpecker, remember? Where is it?” I asked.
“Over there, and no it’s not a Red-bellied, it is a Red-headed, Grandma! Look!”, he exclaimed while pointing.
Sure as I’m sitting here typing this, there up in my tree was a Red-headed Woodpecker!! 😁😉
Well, my adrenaline kicked in 😂 and I ran for my camera to capture proof of Matt’s bird sighting, that stunning Red-headed Woodpecker.
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
I was so darn proud of my grandson and poured on the hugs and congratulations! He is becoming quite the birder already for a seven year old! 😊
One final shot of a Red-bellied Woodpecker, for fun!
“So where’d that red-headed fella go??”
Hungry Little Robin
I have a lot of American Robins in my back yard. It seemed like only yesterday, the adults were running around, collecting nesting materials.
American Robin with mouthful of nesting materials
Of course, it was just a matter of time when the fledglings would be hopping around on the ground, chasing parents, begging for something wormy to eat.
American Robin fledgling
I had to giggle at this little one.
The parent was quite dutiful in supplying worms. The little one didn’t have to even budge from its spot.
Parent running to a begging fledgling with a worm
And then another worm….
And another…
Nonstop! That little robin’s belly had to be getting full!
But I’m hungry….I really am!
Turtle Tuesday
For turtle fans!
Maryland has 22 turtle species (19 native, 3 introduced). Here are my favorite shots of three species I’ve seen so far this Spring.
Eastern painted turtle
Eastern painted turtles
Northern red-bellied cooter
Snapping turtle
Now where ya going??
Peek-a-boo
.
Snoozing
Now….no one move and roll the log again!
😁
Springtime Shorebirds
Spring migration is considered over; and I’m finding shorebirds at my usual spots. I miss them already!
Here’s a last spring-fling variety blitz from the past month or so.
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Dunlin
Dunlins
Semipalmated Plovers
Black-bellied Plovers
Black-bellied Plovers
Dunlins, Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers
Lesser Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Killdeer
We’re all high-stepping into the hot summer months now!
Red-tailed Hawks
While driving a back road, I saw a pair of Red-tailed Hawks perched up in a tree coming up on my left with their backs to me.
Getting my lens up and ready, the hawk on the top branch turned around to look at me, and then the body turned. Darn, I wasn’t intending to disrupt them.
I scrapped the “pair-together” shot and quickly zoomed for a possible launch that happened just as quick!
Red-tailed Hawk launching into flight
Not letting off the trigger, I stayed with the hawk, hoping I was maintaining focus for at least one good shot, it happened so fast. Oh, it was a ‘lucky-me’ moment!
Red-tailed Hawk in flight
The hawk quickly hooked a hard left towards me to get a good, close look at who this big-eyed creature was staring at it, much to the pleasure of this lens holder!
I went back to find the second hawk still sitting up in the tree, giving me the eye for ruining their moment.
Red-tailed Hawk
Had I made note who was the largest when I first saw the pair in the tree, I would have known which one was the female, who is 25-30% larger than the male.
I got the hint from the stink-eye and pulled away with my apologies! 🙂
Delmarva Fox Squirrel
Fox squirrels are the largest tree squirrels in the western hemisphere.
The Delmarva fox squirrel is one of 10 subspecies of the fox squirrel.
Before the 1900’s, the Delmarva fox squirrel’s original range was Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, with stretches into southeastern Pennsylvania.
By 1900, the Delmarva fox squirrel was found only in Maryland.
By the mid-1960’s, only small pockets of populations were found in just four Maryland eastern shore counties; Kent (mine), Queen Anne’s, Talbot, and Dorchester. That is less than 10% of its former range. Conservation efforts showed dwindling success as habitats continued to decline.
In 1967, the Delmarva fox squirrel was federally listed as an endangered species.
Immediately, Maryland put forth more money and stronger conservation plans, but it wasn’t so easy. Plans failed and had to be revised numerous times, all while trying to gain wider support and more devoted efforts.
It wasn’t until 2015 that success in stable populations was achieved in small pockets on private properties around Maryland’s eastern shore counties, and in December 2015, the Delmarva fox squirrel was delisted.
In 2020, Maryland translocated small populations (15-20) to southern Delaware and Virginia’s eastern shore in private areas in hopes of reestablishing them there once again, after previous failed attempts. They will know in a couple more years if good pocket populations were created successfully in those two states as well.
Quite shy and elusive, the last time I saw a Delmarva fox squirrel was in 2018 at Blackwater NWR in Dorchester County, 75+ miles south of me where Maryland has the largest, thriving pocket population.
So you can imagine my thrill when a month ago I saw one for the first time in my Kent County, just a five miles from home at Chesapeake Farms on their wildlife tour!
Delmarva fox squirrel
(twice as large as a gray squirrel)
Of course, s/he scurried away but first watched me curiously for a bit while munching. I loved it!
And then, guess what? Two weeks later, another birding trip through the farm, about 3/4’s mile from my first sighting, I saw another one.
Delmarva fox squirrel
15″ (38cm) body length + 15″ (38cm) tail
After a quick disappear, it popped out again to check me out.
Delmarva fox squirrel
And then gone! 🙂
Chesapeake Farms’ auto wildlife tour is about five miles of winding through a diversified 3,300-acre dedicated wildlife management agricultural area on a dirt road. It is truly a perfect location for the Delmarva fox squirrel to thrive where they will be provided a beautiful, private habitat for expansion and life.
Duck Duck Goose
I think you know where this post is going! 😉
Mallards
Green-winged Teal (male)
Green-winged Teal (female)
Green-winged Teal
(a surprise to find this pair early May!)
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks
(Rare for our mid-Atlantic region, returning for a 3rd year
to a nearby residential retention pond in Clayton, Delaware)
Wood Ducks and home
Red-breasted Merganser (female)
Canada Goose
Northern Shovelers
(a surprise to find this pair mid-May!)
Mallard (female)
Black -bellied Whistling Ducks
Common Mergansers
Wood Ducks
Snow Geese
(one of my last sightings in March before they migrated)
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks
Common Mergansers
Wood Duck (male)
Canada Goose
Northern Shoveler
Momma Mallard and her Spring babies who are already big!
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Canada Geese on a nest
Thank you for playing along and letting me catch up my duck and geese photos!
1-2-3 Medium Bird Jubilee – #16
As the birds get a little bigger, they get a littler easier on snapping a shot before they take flight. Here’s a series of my lucky favorite shots of some medium-sized birds from the past couple months.
First, some side-by-side comparisons of a male and female in a species.
(click on side-by-side images for more details)
Northern Cardinal (male)
Northern Cardinal (female)
Northern Cardinals
Eastern Bluebirds
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Red-winged Blackbirds
Brown-headed Cowbird (male)
Brown-headed Cowbird (female)
Brown-headed Cowbirds
Blue Grosbeak (male)
Blue Grosbeak (female)
Blue Grosbeaks
This next bird species, the Dickcissel, was considered a rare sighting for our area. We had a flock come through, I was able to hear at least eight of them singing from their hidings. This one finally popped up way out in the field.
Dickcissel
A few more birds!
Northern Mockingbird
Grey Catbird
American Robin
Mourning Dove
American Crow
Baltimore Oriole
Orchard Oriole
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-breasted Chat
Killdeer
Brown Thrasher
Blue Jay
Eastern Kingbird
Whew, that was a lot of medium-sized birds, thank you for viewing!
Bay Photos by Donna 