1-2-3 Medium Bird Jubilee – #13
Our winter’s medium-sized birds have style and class! Check out these five species showing off their beauty.
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Blue Jay
Length 9.8-11.8 inches (25-30 cm)
Weight 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g)
Wingspan 13.4-16.9 inches (34-43 cm)
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American Robin
Length 7.9-11.0 inches (20-28 cm)
Weight 2.7-3.0 oz (77-85 g)
Wingspan 12.2-15.8 inches (31-40 cm)
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Common Grackle (male)
Length 11.0-13.4 inches (28-34 cm)
Weight 2.6-5.0 oz (74-142 g)
Wingspan 14.2-18.1 inches (36-46 cm)
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Northern Mockingbird
Length 8.3-10.2 inches (21-26 cm)
Weight 1.6-2.0 oz (45-58 g)
Wingspan 12.2-13.8 inches (31-35 cm)
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Northern Cardinals (females)
Length 8.3-9.1 inches (21-23 cm)
Weight 1.5-1.7 oz (42-48 g)
Wingspan 9.8-12.2 inches (25-31 cm)
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I concentrated on the lower female in the above photo for the next photo composition.
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Northern Cardinal (female)
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Five On The Wing – #32
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Adding to my series of five bird species in flight!
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Belted Kingfisher (female)
Blue Jay
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Eastern Meadowlark
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Killdeer
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Eastern Bluebird
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If I had wings,
Then I could fly.
I’d spread my wings,
I’d span the sky.
If I had wings,
I’d feel so free.
My friend, would you
Come fly with me?
The wind would surely lift us high,
Far above the clouds.
If I had wings, I’d fly with you,
Far from all the crowds!
– Author Unknown
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Trumpeter and Tundra Swans
One more swan post, at least for a while!
I received a rare sighting notice on a Trumpeter Swan in the mix of eight Tundra Swans in a farm field, just a mile from my route to my dental appointment I had the next morning. That’d be a lifer for me, so of course, I left a little earlier than necessary the next morning with fingers crossed!
When I arrived to the location, out in the distance there sat the Trumpeter Swan, along with three Tundra Swans.
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Trumpeter Swan (left) with three Tundra Swans (right)
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The Trumpeter is slightly larger than the 20-pound Tundra Swan, with males averaging over 26 pounds, making the Trumpeter Swan North America’s heaviest flying bird.
At the area where the bill meets the head, the Trumpeter’s is V-shaped while the Tundra’s is U-shaped and has an additional small yellow patch in front of the eye.
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Trumpeter Swan (lifer #293, lifers photographed #272)
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One more series of another recent encounter (different day) of a farm field filled with over 500 Tundra Swans accompanied by eight Bald Eagles that I happened upon during errand running. Love when this happens!
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Tundra Swans
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They were stretched out so far, I couldn’t get them all in one shot.
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Tundra Swans
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At first, I spotted five Bald Eagles and a Turkey Vulture picking at what little was left of an unfortunate swan. By the time I got my lens on them, one eagle had taken off.
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Turkey Vulture and four Bald Eagles
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I started looking for the other eagle and then counted eight total, those others were each sitting alone on the ground, with all basically having the swans surrounded. Didn’t like seeing that…..
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Just a few more close-ups of the swans.
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Tundra Swans mate for life and live to approximately 20 years old. They fly about 4,000 miles from the Arctic to be here with us throughout the winter months.
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Tundra Swan (immature with pink beak and ‘dirty’ look)
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As I departed, Tundra Swan families were still arriving.
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Tundra Swan family (two adults, two immatures) dropping in for a landing
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I’m pretty sure I could have sat there all day long and watched them.
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Tundra Swans Taking Flight
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I ended my last post that this next post would be those featured eight Tundra Swans about-facing on me and suddenly deciding to take flight.
It’s amazing to see this large bird literally lift its 13-20 pound body out of the water as it begins running on top to go airborne. They need as much as 100 feet of water-running!
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Tundra Swans taking flight
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Up a little closer…..
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The surrounding ducks are unaffected by the take-off. Shouldn’t they be? Those swans need to be airborne before they cross that long raft of ducks!
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The Tundra Swans wingspan reaches 5′ 6″ wide.
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Those strong wing strides puts the swans on tippy-toes!
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And then suddenly into lift-off. Clearing those ducks, whew!
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These couple photos, I cropped a little tighter on six of the swans. The first two in the beginning photos were bewildered with the sudden take-off, so they lagged behind for a bit.
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Following the cove, the swans turned slightly more my direction to clear the trees, with the last two joining the line.
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Gaining altitude….
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Up into the blue sky.
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And they kept on going!
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So you know, I was easy on ya with this photos series! 😁 A little side note on this shoot, I actually shot 43 photos total of this take-off. All while standing on the inside ledge of my opened car door, shooting from the top of my car roof, using a camera ‘pillow’ as a tripod. 😂 Can you see me doing this?!! 🤣 It’s my safe way to see over the marsh at this location! 😊
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Winter Waterfowl
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Besides the land birds, there is another fall bird migration currently taking place with the arrival of our winter waterfowl, coming to the Chesapeake Bay area to spend several months to live and feed.
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“Yay! My winter buddies are back!”
Mallards
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Suddenly, many of the winter ‘regulars’ were here. And more and more are arriving each day!
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Ruddy Ducks, American Black Ducks, American Wigeons, Gadwalls,
Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, and Northern Pintails
Eastern Neck NWR
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Canada Geese
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Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Black Ducks
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Here’s some close-ups I’ve gotten recently showing what some of these ducks look like.
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Green-winged Teal along with three larger Northern Pintails
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Northern Pintails (males)
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Gadwalls along with smaller Ruddy Ducks
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Northern Shoveler (male)
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Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, and Ruddy Ducks
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Happy Mallards
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Another big view with a number of species in the photo….
Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, Ruddy Ducks, American Black Ducks, American Wigeons,
Mallards, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and Northern Pintails
Sunrise @ Calfpasture Cove – Eastern Neck NWR
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I noticed the above Tundra Swans had started to slow down and bunch up as they moved further along the cove.
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Tundra Swans, Ruddy Ducks, American Black Ducks, American Wigeons,
Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and Northern Pintails
Sunrise @ Calfpasture Cove – Eastern Neck NWR
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Check out my next post to see those Tundra Swans turned around and going airborne!
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Five On The Wire – #10
It’s been a long while since I’ve shared another of my series post of five bird species perched on some type of wire or wire-like item, either resting or possibly hunting. So, here we go!
My first two photos are of two different nuthatches perched atop my shepherd’s hook, trying to get a turn at the feeder. I like these, comparing their differences, including size showing the Red-breasted is smaller than its White-breasted cousin.
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Red-breasted Nuthatch
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White-breasted Nuthatch
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And here’s the three remaining birds, perched atop the popular communication wire.
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American Robin
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Northern Cardinal
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Red-tailed Hawk (immature)
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Golden Eagle
When we moved to our present home 14 months ago, I learned that a migrant Golden Eagle was often seen soaring in our area during the winter. I was always on the look-out; but by Spring 2022, I never scored a sighting.
The Golden Eagles have returned, with one being reported near me a few times in the past several weeks. You can bet I’ve had my eye to the sky ever since!
Couple days ago heading home from errands through that approximate area, I saw a very large, dark bird soaring with Turkey Vultures that ‘looked different’.
Could it be???
I quickly pulled over and was out of my car in a flash with my binoculars and camera.
Yes!!!!
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Golden Eagle – lifer #291/photographed lifer #271
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Before I shared this, I had my ID confirmed by three pro-birders. I wanted to be sure!
Thank you for letting me share my excitement! 🤗💃😊
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Raptors Perched in Trees
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Simple post, seven species of raptors perched in trees, taking a break!
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Bald Eagle (immature)
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Bald Eagle (adult)
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Turkey Vulture
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Black Vulture
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Red-shouldered Hawk (immature)
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Cooper’s Hawk
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Bald Eagle
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And for the last one, I’m slipping a raptor in from last August, one who’s hopefully enjoying warm, sunny days in South America right now!
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Osprey (juvenile)
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Happy Thanksgiving 2022
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Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. friends!
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Wild Turkey
Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge
Rock Hall, Maryland
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An Autumn Peek at Eastern Neck NWR
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Here’s a few more recent autumn photos at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge.
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Tubby Cove Boardwalk with sun rising behind me and a full moon setting
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Tubby Cove platform at sunrise
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Another angle of the platform and duck blind at sunrise
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From the above platform on a cloudy November 12th, both myself and others were lucky to see the first-of-the-season Tundra Swans.
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Tundra Swans at a distance
(my shot 500mm above, see cropped shot below)
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There they are, welcome back, Tundra Swans!
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Butterfly Trail
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Overlooking marshes
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Headquarters Pond – heavily laden with duck weed
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Tubby Cove Trail
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Overlooking the mouth of the Chester River and out to the Chesapeake Bay
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Dramatic skies on a chilly, breezy day at the refuge
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Boxes Point Trail
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This next photo is not mine but gives you a full aerial view of the 2,285 acres of Eastern Neck NWR.
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Aerial view of Eastern Neck NWR
Entrance is over the bridge at bottom left onto the island that boasts 9 miles of roads & trails
Photo credit – Will Parson
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And finally, always a welcomed sight when arriving at the refuge, the raptor who lives year-round there and helps manage it, the Bald Eagle.
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Bay Photos by Donna 