A 6 week old Eaglet and the fate of a Red-winged Blackbird’s nest

A real foggy sunrise

I was out to Harlow pond this morning in hopes of seeing a sunrise that would be worthy of recording. However, it was not meant to be. The fog was so thick that the sun didn’t burn thru until  an hour after it rose above the horizon.

I kept myself entertained by taking a few “spooky” foggy pictures of the pond while the sun tried to peek it’s way across the sky. Below are a few I took.

foggy morning at harlow

Reminds me of Stephen King’s book “The Mist”

turtle head foggy weather

Turtle looking to come ashore for place to lay eggs, “Is the coast clear?”

Bald eagle in fog

Bald Eagle waiting by nest for the sun to come up.

sun trying to burn the fog

After awhile the sun manages to burn off some fog.

As the morning fog burned off and the sunshine peeked thru the clouds, it was apparent that it would be a very nice and sunny morning.

Snapping turtle nesting grounds

I had noticed turtle tracks along side the road, with a few spots where the turtles had attempted to dig holes to lay their eggs. Apparently the sandy areas have been to compact and heavy due to all the recent rain because the holes were not very deep before the turtles abandoned their mission.

Within the course of an hour I saw over 6 snapping turtles try repeatedly to climb out of the pond and on to the side of the road to try and lay eggs. Almost every time a vehicle would pass by and scare them back in o the water. The turtles sizes ranged from the size of an average dinner plate all the way up to the size of a trash can lid.  Not one turtle was actually able to lay any eggs. Maybe later tonight or early tomorrow they will try again.

Song birds, Where are thou?

There are not many song birds in the area anymore like there was early this spring. It appears they  were just resting here for a few days before continuing their migration north.

The purple martins are still here, but they are not in the same numbers as they were last year. I watched their aerial acrobatics as they chased and tried to capture the many varieties of bugs on the water surface. And a few of them would land on the ground and try to pick up small sticks. I practiced trying to capture their picture of their flying.  That didn’t work out to very well. My camera’s shutter speed simply is not fast enough to freeze their movement without a trace of blurriness.

The young Eaglet

I met a passer-by that stopped and asked me if I had been able to get any good pictures of the nearby nesting Ospreys or the nesting Bald Eagles. She then went on to tell me that there was one eaglet in the nest about 6 weeks old. A pair of biologists had stopped at the nest a week ago and removed the young eaglet from the nest and banded it. It was very healthy and looked promising to make it into adulthood. It was nice to know that there is a young eaglet in the area. Hopefully with 5 or 6 more weeks I might be fortunate enough to get a picture of it while it is learning to fly.

Nothing was mentioned about the Ospreys. I have yet to see any little heads peeking out above the edge of their nest. I assume there is some young in that nest considering how territorial the Osprey have been lately.

Red-wing blackbird’s nest destroyed

About a week ago I found and photographed a female red-wing blackbird sitting on a nest of 4 eggs. I was a little worried and concerned about the safety of the nest due to it’s location. It was placed in a small clump of bushes about 5 feet from shore and about 3 feet above the water. However it was quite noticeable. I kept watch and was hoping to be able to get some video footage and picture of them at different stages of their growth, from eggs to the time they left their nest. It was not to be, as this morning when I went to check on them some of the bushes were broken and the nest destroyed. I don’t know if an animal did that or if someone fishing there did the damaged. The signs around the area was difficult to decipher because there were evidence of people as well as some sort of canine.  not sure if  a dog or a coyote. The tracks were to big for a fox as well as the distance the nest was away from land and height from water was to great for a fox.

I do have a video of when the nest was intact and the female was sitting on her eggs that I will upload to my YouTube channel in  about a week.

red-wing blackbird nest and eggs

Picture of red-wing blackbird nest with 4 eggs taken a week ago

female red-wing blackbird on nest

Female red-wing blackbird sitting on nest of eggs taken a week ago

nest location of red-wing blackbird

location of red-wing blackbird nest

destroyed red-wing blackbird nest

remains of the red-wing blackbird nest after something destroyed it over the weekend. No trace of egg shells visible.

female red-wing blackbird

Female telling me what happened to her nest. To bad I don’t understand bird.

pre-dawn view of pond

A calmness encases the cove shortly before daybreak

trutle dig hole

Snapping turtle trying to prepare a hole to lay eggs in. Was scared away by passing truck before laying eggs.

daisies by water

A bunch of daisies by the water’s edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is that swimming in the pond?

I saw this swimming in a pond the other day. It was a fairly good distance away and was only able to get this one picture of it. I know what it. Now my question to you, What do you think it is? Please answer in the poll below the picture.

Muskrat or Beaver

Muskrat or Beaver or what?

muskrat or beaver
What is this a picture of?

 

Early morning adventure with a Blue Heron

Early Bird Arrival

I watched the weather report last night and saw that it was planning on being a beautiful morning today, So I got up early and arrived at a local pond around 5:00 A.M. The sun was already partially above the horizon but there were still areas on the pond that was not well lite. This was due to some of the tall trees surrounding the pond. In one particular spot there is a shallow cove that is protected from the early morning rays more then others. And this is where most of today’s action took place.

It appeared I arrived at the perfect time. As I pulled off the road into the turn out and shut my truck off, I noticed a very young red-winged black bird sitting on  top of a small tree chirping his heart out.

At first, I have to admit, I didn’t know what kind of beautiful bird it was. See, he was sitting in the very harsh bright light of the raising sun. It gave him a reddish hue and in turn, made his neck and chest area a more reddish color then the actual black that they are.

As you can see in the photo below, he is still very immature as you can still see some of his downy feathers on his back.

Red Wing Black bird Fledgling

Red Wing Black bird Fledgling in harsh sunrise sun light

I quietly got out of my truck, making sure to take the keys out of the ignition so the door chime wouldn’t go berserk once I opened the door. I slowly uncapped my camera and did the best I could to get a good focus on him even though there was the harsh lighting. I was not able to get a great still photo, so I switched to video mode and thought I would see if I could get a crisp clear video of him. Considering what I had to work with for lighting, the video didn’t come out horrible. The camera was having some issues with figuring out what to focus on  unfortunately.

Permission to land granted, Blue Heron

What happened next was exciting. While I was videoing the young red-wing blackbird, it became very skittish and decided to fly away. I lowered my camera from my eye for a split second so I could visually track him and see if I would be able to spot him again. Maybe next time, he would be out of the harsh light where I could take a clean still shot of him.

But instead, I spotted a Mature Blue Heron flying in low right at me. I had been standing perfectly still while videoing the young blackbird and apparently the Blue Heron never noticed me. It was heading for the cove possibly after one of the very loud frogs.

Without shutting the camera off, I managed to swivel (ever so slowly) my head so I could capture the Heron on video. This is where I tell you that I had been standing on uneven ground and was not in the best position to stand in. If you watch the video you will understand why I felt I need to add this little piece of information. (can you say shakiness?)

I was not able to take any actual still pictures because he flew away before I was done videoing him. I did managed to pull a still picture from the video with the help of Windows Live Movie Maker

Blue Heron fairly close

Blue Heron notices me after landing.

Luckily, the cove had just enough tree growth to shield me from having to try and video into direct sun light. The quality is not the best, but it was the best I got in such bad lighting.

Do Loons fish in the early morning?

After the Heron flew away, I walked up and down the road looking for more picture opportunities. I saw these pair of loons doing some early morning fishing. And I was able to stand facing them with the sun on my back. They were pretty far away so the image below is full zoom of my Canon Powershot SX40 HS.

Early morning fishing loons

Loons doing some early morning fishing

Getting on with the day

By now the sun is completely above the tree line and the road traffic is picking up. I haven’t seen the song birds around the area like I used to. Usually there are a few pairs of Orioles, swallows and a wide variety of warblers. But this morning they seem to have vanished.

I then decided to walk down the nearby field and see how the Osprey and her babies were making out. Curious to see how they had weathered the terrible weather we have had for the last two weeks. Also I wanted to see if the pair of Sharp-shinned hawks were still in the area.

With the hay field almost waist high and still soaked from the rains of days gone by, I start the wet walk down along the wood line. It was evident that the deer have been out sometime during the night as there were swaths of tall grass bent over indicating something or someone has passed by. Upon inspection of the ground I confirm my suspicions by spotting a couple of deer tracks. One was teeny tiny. A very good sign. :)

Knowing the area, I also suspect that a few of the grass bent “Trails” were also caused by a local flock of turkeys. I would be extremely thrilled if I happened to have came across a Female turkey and her brood.

As I got closer to the corner of the field where the Osprey has her nest and where I had been spotting the Sharp-shinned Hawks, I was greeted by the familiar warning chirping of the female Osprey. I didn’t get a picture of her, as she never raised up from the inner confines of her nest. I could just barely see the top of her head when the wind ruffled her head feathers.

A few minutes and several yards later and I heard the familiar shrill chattering chirps of the female Sharp-shinned hawk. I was not able to locate her or the nest as the tree growth is thick and I was looking towards the sun.

At the edge of the field where it meets the water, I looked across to see if I could spot any Bald Eagle activity. I could see the nest and some movement but was not able to get a good picture. The distance is to great and the position of their nest makes it hard to get a picture. I did however, get a picture of one of the parents sitting on the neighboring tree enjoying the sun.

Bald eagle enjoying morning sun

Bald Eagle enjoying morning sun

At this point, it seems that my stomach is informing me that it is time for breakfast. So I decided to call it a day and start heading back to the truck. Along the way I noticed some mushrooms growing on some old hay bales that were discarded last year due to being rained on after being bailed.

wet mushrooms

Been to much rain even for mushrooms

You know it has rained to much and for to long when the mushrooms start dying.

I get back to my truck and take one more glance around and as I drive home I smile to myself as I reflect on what a great morning it was.

Below is the video I have been referring to throughout this post.