One Day’s Sunrise and Sunset
A few days ago, my day began with this gorgeous sunrise….
Sunrise – December 7, 2023
and ended with this spectacular sunset.
Sunset – December 7, 2023
My day inbetween was a delight and enjoyment too! 🌞
Woodpecker Wednesday
Knock knock knock knock knock knock…..
It’s a loud hum of drilling. Where are you, woodpecker?
Now that there are less leaves on the trees, it’s gotten easier to find them.
In the past several weeks, I’m still enjoying six of the seven local woodpecker species in our area. The one missing, the Red-headed Woodpecker, usually migrates more inland to western Maryland or further; and I’m thinking mine have taken that trip!
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (female or juvenile)
Hairy Woodpecker (male)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (female)
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted, female)
Downy Woodpecker (male)
Pileated Woodpeckers (male top, female bottom)
1-2-3 Medium Bird Jubilee – #17
These three secretive bird species blend in well when on the ground and may be hard to spot, unless you have your ‘eagle eyes’ engaged. 🙂
Hermit Thrush
Length: 5.5-7.1 in (14-18 cm)
Weight: 0.8-1.3 oz (23-37 g)
Wingspan: 9.8-11.4 in (25-29 cm)
Brown Thrasher
Length: 9.1-11.8 in (23-30 cm)
Weight: 2.1-3.1 oz (61-89 g)
Wingspan: 11.4-12.6 in (29-32 cm)
Killdeer
Length: 7.9-11.0 in (20-28 cm)
Weight: 2.6-4.5 oz (75-128 g)
Wingspan: 18.1-18.9 in (46-48 cm)
1-2-3 Birds and Berries – #6
Bird compositions with berries/seeds included are a win-win to me. I hope you think so too!
Eastern Bluebird (female) at sunrise with cedar berries
Blue Jay with a mouthful of acorns
Purple Finch (female) enjoying rosa multiflora hips
Critter Time!
A change-up to share the other wildlife surrounding me, besides my beautiful birds!
Gray Squirrel
Eastern Cottontails
Catching a lil’ snooze…
Eastern Cottontails
Groundhog
White-tailed Deer
I’m gonna get all these in my mouth cheeks…
so I can carry them all….
*pop* It’s not working….now what?
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Raccoon
Eastern Rat Snake
Muskrat
Snapping Turtle close-up
Big Boy!
Snapping Turtle
Snapping Turtle
(I got him off the road while slowing down a couple vehicles coming around the curve, whew!)
Here you go, Sandy!
This 3.5″ rhinestone-eyed, bobbing-headed metal turtle is for my friend, Sandy, in England. She has a rose/pink-backed one just like it that she shares in her posts often that first captured my eye, bringing back fond memories for me. Mine above was my grandmother’s that I would play with as a child and was one of the things I wanted and received of hers when she passed so many years ago. Sandy’s and my turtle connection evolved into a wonderful friendship! 😊
Upright Gray Squirrel watching me
Brown Bat
Brown Bat
Brown Bats
(their photography is a work-in-progress, whew!)
Red Fox
Pair hunting together
Red Fox
And you thought I wouldn’t get them all in there, ha, well this works!
And that’s a critter wrap!
1-2-3 Cute As Can Be – #29
Three little birds, all in the sparrow family!
Song Sparrow
Length: 4.7-6.7 in (12-17 cm)
Weight: 0.4-1.9 oz (12-53 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-9.4 in (18-24 cm)
Dark-eyed Junco
Length: 5.5-6.3 in (14-16 cm)
Weight: 0.6-1.1 oz (18-30 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-9.8 in (18-25 cm)
Swamp Sparrow
Length: 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm)
Weight: 0.5-0.8 oz (15-23 g)
Wingspan: 7.1-7.5 in (18-19 cm)
Five On The Wing – #36
Who’s been flying overhead in past couple months, challenging me for a photo? 😉
Here’s another add to my series of five bird species in flight, this time sharing five from the Egret/Heron family!
Great Egret
Little Blue Herons (dark ones, adults; white ones, juveniles)
Black-crowned Night Heron (juvenile)
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egrets
Gobble Gobble!
Wild Turkeys
Hopefully these gobblers are still on the run and not on any of our tables today! 😉
Happy Thanksgiving to all who participate in this United States holiday.
One of my many thanks is being blessed with the world-wide community of friends in all of you. I am truly grateful, thank you!
Sharps Island Light
During one of our last boat rides, we went to see Sharps Island Light. It sits in 10 feet of water in the Chesapeake Bay, approximately three miles S/SW of the southern end of Tilghman Island, where it marks the shoal between the entrance to the Choptank River and the main shipping channel of the Chesapeake Bay.
Sharps Island Lighthouse, Chesapeake Bay
1882 – Construction completed, it being the third lighthouse at this location.
1951 – Last year to have resident keepers; the light was put into automation.
Winter of 1976-77 – extreme cold created huge ice flows in the bay that piled 40 feet high against the light, pushing it to tip to the south at a 15-degree angle.
2008 – US government sold the light at an online auction to a Delaware LLC company for $80,000; the sale allowed the US Coast Guard continued access to maintain it as an active navigation aid in the Chesapeake Bay. The sale did not include the submerged land it sits on.
2017 – Rapid deterioration forced the US Coast Guard to turn off the beacon and put the lighthouse into automation. The owner hasn’t done anything with the lighthouse since ownership, so it continues to deteriorate.
Sharps Island Lighthouse
We made it just in time for me to photograph and us enjoy floating around the lighthouse a few minutes before two more boats arrived to it. One for a slow ride-by viewing, the other dropping fishing lines.
Could this light be saved? The cost would be extreme. But, maybe it is impossible with the right person?
Rich Cucé, owner of a Pennsylvania industrial painting and sandblasting company purchased the Hoopers Light further down the Chesapeake Bay for $200,000 sight unseen and is now in the process of restoring that similar light. It’s a very interesting story to follow, hearing about his next day of remorse after the excitement of winning the bid, having never been to the Chesapeake Bay nor on a boat, and the progress since. A good read to follow of a historical lighthouse restoration and how the Chesapeake Bay people have come together to support him.
https://www.hooperislandlighthouse.org/
https://www.facebook.com/HooperIslandLighthouse
We plan on boating down to the Hoopers Light next summer to see its progress.
Birding By Boat in November
We’ve taken our last boat rides out on the Chesapeake Bay the past couple weeks as our cooler autumn temps arrive. Too cold to go fast, so let’s go putter around and look for arriving migrating water birds! 🙂
The Common Loons have arrived; those I’m seeing hail from eastern Canada as they filter down the Atlantic Coast.
Common Loon
Common Loon
Common Loons
Common Loons
I was excited to see the Scoters are here too by the hundreds! There are three species: Black Scoter, Surf Scoter, and White-winged Scoter (we don’t see many of these). I saw two but there’s reports all three are here.
Surf Scoters (males)
Black Scoters
And then there’s the cute Ruddy Ducks who always arrive early.
Ruddy Ducks
We boated past a Great Blue Heron who was soaking up the sun’s warmth to beat the chill I was feeling….
Great Blue Heron
And finally, two lone birds, both a little behind on their migration south that I spotted on some riprap rocks.
Least Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Other waterfowl have begun to arrive as well, including Canada Geese (thousands!), Tundra Swans, Buffleheads, Northern Shovelers, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, Teals, and Northern Pintails, with more species to come. It’ll have to be searching by foot to find them now! 🙂
