Bird Photos and their Stories
While photographing hummingbirds in my flower garden, I’ve come across two smaller imposters. In fact, these moths are so fast, that it’s hard to get a good look as they feed on the bee balm in the garden. Several people over the years have asked me about their little, but strange-looking hummingbirds. Until I photographed […]
After trying all summer to get close enough to one of these beauties in good light, I finally struck gold, I mean blue! According to allaboutbirds.org , The all-blue male Indigo Bunting sings with cheerful gusto and looks like a scrap of sky with wings. Sometimes nicknamed “blue canaries,” these brilliantly colored yet common and […]
Maybe it’s because red is my favorite color, or maybe it’s because there are fewer warblers around to enjoy close-up; but anyway, scarlet tanagers really knock my eyes out when they show up in the dense forest. It’s hard to catch them in the sunlight, but when you do, they really light up the […]
This morning I had the fun of taking some old friends birding on my hill. They are newbies to birding, but very excited to learn. The road up my hill and back down goes through various habitats with fields, deep woods and ravines, and brushy areas. Different habitats means different birds. The day started out […]
This morning in my wanderings, I observed several birds of prey and a very large crow, being harassed by blackbirds. And for good reason! They are all trying to feed their ravenous nestlings, sometimes with the adults or nestlings of other species! The owner of a new wetland in my area took me around on his […]
Last month in my post about Peregrine Falcons–Banding Day, pictures showed two very white, downy, awkward-looking birds with huge yellow beaks. When I visited the Williamsport side of the bridge on Friday, I was amazed to see how quickly they had matured. The smaller chick, a male, was now 40 days old, which is certainly […]
I’ve got to admit, I’m a sucker for Cedar Waxwings. They are so exotic, so beautiful with their soft buffy-brown, sleek feathering; black mask and crested head, yellow-tipped tail, and spot of red on the wing. Their main diet is insects, but they also love berries. I wasn’t lucky enough to snatch any pictures of […]
Young Swallows and Phoebes were not the only babies seen the other morning by kayak. Young warbler families were also active along the lakeside at Montour Preserve. There were several Common Yellowthroat families skulking in the vines and dogwood by the water, very upset that I was invading their territory. Yellow warblers also abounded, and two […]
Hazy, hot and humid described this morning as I went out in my kayak to Montour Preserve, but the heat was quickly forgotten as I floated along the shore and started seeing busy families of birds everywhere. In three hours I covered about a quarter of a mile, and was thoroughly enjoying the solitude […]
What do you call a nature walk by kayak? Not sure, but I love early mornings all alone in my kayak at Montour Preserve near my home. Here are some images I captured from this morning. I am in awe of our Great Creator!!