Five On The Wing – #28
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Let’s continue with #28 of my series of five different bird species in flight!
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Mallards
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Great Egret
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Least Sandpipers
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Laughing Gull
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This next Caspian Tern gets double-billing for its quick maneuver and my quick clicks. 😉
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Caspian Tern
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Caspian Tern
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Bald Eagle Gallery
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We are all familiar with the easily identifiable adult plumage of our majestic Bald Eagle.
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Bald Eagle
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Bald Eagle
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It takes approximately 5½ years for the Bald Eagle to attain full adult plumage.
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Bald Eagle
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Until then, juvenile and immature eagles go through a series of variable plumage.
Juvenile birds (½ year) have the least variable plumage with overall dark colors.
From 1½ through 4½ years of age, the plumages become more diverse and unpredictable, making it very difficult to actually age an immature Bald Eagle.
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Bald Eagle (immature)
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Bald Eagle (adult)
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Bald Eagle with something to say
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Bald Eagle (immature)
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Bald Eagle (adult)
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Bald Eagle (immature)
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Good look at coloring of this immature Bald Eagle
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Bald Eagle (adult)
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This next eagle photo is a bonus treat. I gave Grandson #2 his first real camera, a point-and-shoot with zoom lens, for his 6th birthday this past January. During one of his recent sleepovers, he and I went to the refuge to count and shoot birds with his new camera.
It was very exciting when we spotted an Eagle that worked for him out his car window. And how perfectly wonderful it works with my gallery here. 🥰 Grandma proud!
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Bald Eagle
(taken by Grandson #2, age 6)
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(All photos taken at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Rock Hall, Maryland)
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Red-bellied Woodpeckers – Home Sweet Home
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A few weeks ago I discovered an easy-to-view tree where a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers are residing. What’s really cool is the double-hole entry, with the main entrance having a shelf mushroom ‘awning’. The male does the excavation, he was surely aiming to please with this setup!
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Red-bellied Woodpecker nest
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On May 11th, I was able to determine the woodpecker pair were incubating eggs, and have since been checking up on them, hoping for some action.
Here’s a series, changing egg duty.
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Mrs Woodpecker returning after a break
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“Are you ready to switch?”
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It didn’t take two seconds for the answer, almost side-swiping the Mrs!
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Red-bellied Woodpecker (female) returning inside the nest to incubate
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And she disappears….
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Inside “home sweet home”, there is an excavated nest cavity approximately 8.5″ to 13″ (22 to 32cm) deep with a cylindrical living space of about 3.5″ x 5.5″ (9 x 13cm). The adult woodpecker itself is 9.4″ long (24 cm).
The leftover wood chips are used to create a bed to lay the eggs upon.
Clutch size: 2-6 eggs
Incubation: 12 days
Nestling time: 24-27 days
With my last days’ visits and knowing it’d been two weeks since I noted egg incubation, the adult in the cavity is now calling constantly, as well as seen leaving the nest to scramble around the trunk then return. Little ones are being fed.
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Male wondering where the Mrs is, the babies need to be fed!
(taken yesterday)
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Male returned to pass food, then gave me a quick pose before another quick take-off
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In my last shot, you can see a feather inside the second entrance. I’m hoping to be sharing photos of the little ones in a couple weeks, with fingers crossed there are little heads popping out of both entrances. That’d be double-special!
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Posing Pretty
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Another gallery of my recent bird encounters, not as many this time! 😉
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Song Sparrow – Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge
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Carolina Wren – Eastern Neck NWR
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Northern Mockingbird – my backyard
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Blue Grosbeak (male) – Eastern Neck NWR
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Blue Grosbeak (female) – Eastern Neck NWR
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Northern Cardinal (male) – Eastern Neck NWR
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Canada Geese parents and two goslings
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Chipping Sparrow – Eastern Neck NWR
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House Finch (male) – my backyard
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Double-crested Cormorant – Love Cove Marina
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Spotted Sandpiper (back) and Least Sandpiper – Chesapeake Farms Wildlife Drive
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Solitary Sandpiper – Chesapeake Farms Wildlife Drive
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Eastern Kingbird – Eastern Neck NWR
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Eastern Wood-Pewee – Eastern Neck NWR
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I had such a delightful encounter with an Eastern Meadowlark who seemed quite curious of me, allowing lots of photo ops. I ended my last post with one of its captures, I thought befitting to give another kudos to my five-minute buddy. 🙂
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Eastern Meadowlark – Chesapeake Farms Wildlife Drive
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Birds Galore
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Migration is in full swing! Not only have I picked up 20 new lifers in past few weeks, I was able to photograph five of them to my delight. 🙂
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Great Cormorants (#258) on Bloody Point Bar Lighthouse
(taken from Kent Point Marina parking lot)
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Whimbrel (#259), Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge
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Wilson’s Snipe (#260), Chesapeake Farms
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Chimney Swift (#261), my backyard
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Solitary Sandpiper (#262), Chesapeake Farms
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Now on to a bunch of better photos; maybe you’ll find one of your favorite bird species. 🙂
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Field Sparrow, Eastern Neck NWR
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Carolina Wren, Eastern Neck NWR
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Tree Swallow, Eastern Neck NWR
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Tree Swallow, Eastern Neck NWR
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White-throated Sparrow, my backyard
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Mourning Dove, my backyard
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Carolina Chickadee, Eastern Neck NWR
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Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Neck NWR
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Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Neck NWR
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Great Crested Flycatcher, Shipyard Landing
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Orchard Oriole, Shipyard Landing
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Bobolink (male), Chesapeake Farms
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American Goldfinch (male), Eastern Neck NWR
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American Goldfinch (female), Eastern Neck NWR
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Black-throated Blue Warbler (male), Chesapeake Farms
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Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle), Eastern Neck NWR
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Blue Grosbeak (male), Eastern Neck NWR
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Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Neck NWR
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White-eyed Vireo, Eastern Neck NWR
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Northern Parula, Eastern Neck NWR
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Least Sandpipers, Eastern Neck NWR
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Spotted Sandpiper, Chesapeake Farms
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Indigo Bunting (male), Shipyard Landing
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Black-bellied Plovers, Chesapeake Farms
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Eastern Bluebirds, Chesapeake Farms
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Eastern Meadowlark, Chesapeake Farms
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I’ll stop here, whew! Thank you for making it to the end!
More to come….. 🙂
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Proud Momma Wood Duck
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Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in the world. ❤️
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Female Wood Duck and her ducklings
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(Photo taken at Eastern Neck NWR on April 30, 2022)
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Eagle in Flight with a Fish
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Since in my last post I shared an Osprey in flight with a fish, I thought it befitting to follow with a post of a Bald Eagle also in flight with a fish. 🙂
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Bald Eagle
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Whether heading back to the nest or off to perch for personal enjoyment, lickity-split the Eagle was gone!
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Osprey in Flight with a Fish
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Heading back to our dock, we had to pass relatively close to one of our creek’s Osprey who was eating a fish on one of the pilings. I prepared for the presumed take-off.
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Osprey
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Preparing for that take-off!
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With fish in tow, of course!
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What a beauty in flight!
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Osprey vs Canada Geese
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In my last post I shared two photos of Canada Geese taking stances with Osprey because the geese had already taken possession of some of the returning Osprey’s homes.
Here’s another one of those instances, in a series of photos.
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Canada Geese nesting on last year’s Osprey nest
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Mama Goose is incubating eggs
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Over on the nearby shoreline resting in a tree was a male Osprey taking a break. When rested, he’d do another 3-4 swooping attacks at the geese.
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Canada Geese verbally upset with the Osprey after several attacks
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Hair on their neck is standing and feathers are ruffled too!
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Osprey begins another round of swoops
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That swoop got Mama Goose up and really angry now
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Whoa…..the Osprey swooped again
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Even though the Osprey was relentless in the constant swoops, I noted in my photos that the Osprey always kept its talons curled closed. No intention of injury, more of a scare tactic. One that cannot work in this instance with a family already started.
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Canada Geese up and watching the Osprey who flew to the shoreline for another tree break
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The Osprey’s lady returned from a flight and perched alongside him in the tree. There was no nest around them to begin their season’s family.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for the Canada Geese as well, with them already having the established nest and eggs.
With the female Osprey back, the male Osprey stopped the attacks.
Mr. & Mrs. Goose were able to go back to resting.
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Mr. & Mrs. Canada Goose
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Time for a well-deserved nap until the next round(s)
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This is another interesting nesting situation to return to see the status.
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Birding By Boat
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Photography and birding by boat is pretty awesome, getting to observe sightings and perspectives not seen from land. It is also a whole different challenge when you have a boat rocking under your feet. What fun!
Let’s see what caught my eye while cruising around two days this past week in some of our local Eastern Shore Maryland tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.
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Buffeheads in flight
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Ruddy Ducks in flight
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View of Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge from Chester River
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Osprey drying off
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Canada Goose occupying an Osprey nest platform, possibly on eggs
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Green Herons, one in hot pursuit of the other
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Great Blue Heron
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Great Blue Heron close-up
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Osprey showing off his catch
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Now off to its favorite perch to eat or possibly take to his lady back at the nest
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Fallen tree art
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Osprey pair relaxing on a hunting blind
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Bald Eagle
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Great Blue Heron laughing at my joke
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Osprey in flight
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Caspian Terns beach chillin’
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Caspian in flight
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Bald Eagles flying together
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Canada Goose and Double-crested Cormorants
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Piling Reflection
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Osprey
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Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey to steal its fish
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Unsuccessful and exhausted, the Bald Eagle retreated to a tree to recuperate
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Hunter’s Duck Blind with Osprey pair & nest on left, Canada Geese pair & nest on right
(this ought to be interesting season)
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An Osprey’s beautiful wing
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Common Loon (non-breeding adult or immature)
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Osprey having lunch
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Bonaparte’s Gull in flight
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Farm buildings and Osprey nest platform
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“Chesapeake Bay alligator”
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Osprey “Oopsy Poopsy”
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“Sorry about that!”
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Great Blue Heron
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Osprey fly-by
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Osprey fly-by
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Osprey fly-by
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Osprey checking me out
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Whew, that was a lot, thanks for making it to the end! I’ve got two more series’ posts (much shorter!) to share from these two boating days.
A quick share about our boat name I think you’ll find pretty cool and fun. My husband and grandson #1 (10 yo) have been working on naming our new boat since December. Grandson #1 is a diehard fisherman, has been for several years; he cannot get enough of it. As you know, I’m the diehard birder. Same deal, cannot get enough of it either. 🙂
Husband wanted the name to share both our passions and use one of my bird photos to create a logo that worked. Soooo….they came up with the name, Kingfisher, with the grandson being our “King” fisherman, and the bird name for me. I searched my Belted Kingfisher photos and used this next original shot for my bird selection to enlarge 10-12″ in my logo creation.
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Belted Kingfisher
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While I was teaching myself how to ‘clip out’ the Belted Kingfisher from this photo, Reed at PhotoArtFlight just happen to post on how to gain more resolution to enlarge a photo in PhotoShop. I have an older version and couldn’t follow his steps. We spoke, I emailed him my photo, he enhanced my resolution his way, and emailed it back. Thank you again, Reed, for your assistance!
I then took that image and intricately reclipped my bird out, found a shutterstock fishing rod to purchase, and created the following logo I had printed by a local printshop. Whatcha think?
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