Bird Photos and their Stories
Living in the woods, our family comes across Carpenter Bees quite often. They can be real pests if they decide to bore holes in your deck in order to make tunnels for raising their offspring, but they are not actually feeding on the wood. They collect nectar from flowers and aid in pollination like other […]
Hummingbird nectar and nectar from flowers don’t make up all of a hummingbird’s diet. A large percentage is comprised of insects and spiders, giving the tiny birds needed protein for their incredibly fast metabolism. Their tiny wings beat about 53 times a second according to allaboutbirds.org by Cornell and their hearts beat up to 1250 […]
Last week while hoping for shorebirds at Montour Preserve, and watching for anything that moves from the kayak, I spotted this long, thin, chocolate-brown creature. I’ve seen them on the other side of the preserve before where very few people walk the trails, but never out in the open with people walking the path 5 […]
Sometimes you get lucky, and this day was exceptional! The only shorebird I could find on the entire lake was ready for a photo shoot! He found the most interesting settings in which to pose, and wasn’t bothered at all by me stalking him in the kayak. This little guy is a juvenile Spotted […]
When our family went to Jamaica last week for our son’s wedding, I left my Canon camera and big lens behind so I wouldn’t be tempted to bird instead of spend quality time with family. We were only there for 3 days, after all. But when having breakfast in an open-air restaurant every morning, […]
A couple of weeks ago, I had the fun of birding at a neighbor’s family farm up the hill from our house in Muncy Hills, PA. John and Leah Tewksbury have over 40 beautiful acres of mixed farmland, open meadows and hardwood forest where they grow heirloom vegetables, herbs, and shitake mushrooms for customers […]
As I prepare these blogs, I learn new things all the time. For example, because this Belted Kingfisher has one dark band across his breast, and some rufous along the side that doesn’t extend all the way across, it is a juvenile. Which explains its comical attempts to land on the power line overlooking the […]
This Red-eyed Vireo parent has caught and probably beat to death a very large green caterpillar for her fledgling. Unfortunately, Baby has no idea how to get this giant breakfast headed down the right direction, and drops it. Poor Mom thought she was going to get a rest for awhile after such a big catch! […]
There are three kinds of falcons in Pennsylvania, and the city and suburbs of Williamsport has been hosting two of them for the last several years. Both previously nested far from the city, with Peregrines nesting on cliff ledges, and Merlins in the forest and prairie. Both are now making their homes in the […]
There was little activity on the lake at Montour Preserve yesterday, except for a couple of Great Blue Herons and this little Green Heron. To my amazement, he let me drift quite close in my kayak where I was able to take over a hundred shots of him attempting to catch his breakfast. When he […]