A boat ride in the sun

Great Blue Heron

 

Cormorant

Turtles

Beaver

We were finally able to get the pedal boat out this morning and we saw some of our favorite creatures enjoying the sunny day. The beaver is smaller than the ones we've been seeing come by our dock. Perhaps he's one of this year's offspring.

Northern Flicker

Here's a photo of a Northern Flicker. They have not been very frequent visitors, but we've been persistent and patient.

Blue Jay

 

Sometimes we forget about the blue jay because he's so common. He really does have some stunning colors.

What does a night heron do during the day?

 

 

While we were in the yard yesterday, the night heron was sleeping in a tree. We were quiet so we didn't disturb him. If only we could put an end to lawn mowers, leaf blowers and weed wackers.

Mike couldn't resist taking a few (hundred) more photos.

Black Skimmers: Photo By Carol

 

 

 

These pictures were taken at Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville
New Jersey . These birds are a wonder to watch as they skim over the
water to catch their fish.

Black Necked Stilt: Photo by Carol

 

This picture was taken at Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville
NJ. This is a rare bird to see at Forsthye.

A better waxwing photo

We get an occasional cedar waxwing at home, always high in the trees. With all the rain, a drainage pond formed at Mike's work. After a while, he saw what appeared in the distance to be swallows flying over it. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that 20 or more waxwings were in the area. Here are some of the better photos.

Great Blue Heron: Photo by Lynn

 

Here's a photo of a heron taken by our daughter. The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

Cedar Waxwing

 

Here's our best photo yet of a cedar waxwing. If you ever watched Zaboomofoo, you'd know why we call him Wiggy Waxwing.

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

 

 

The night herons seem to have taken over our backyard while we were shut in due to the rain (or escaping it in Florida). Here's two photos of the juvenile. His colors are starting to change.

The house wrens seem to have abandoned their nest in the duck house. Maybe they didn't like the herons using it as a fishing perch.

Bird Photos by misseymarie : ) Butler New Jersey

Male Cowbird We get a flock of 10 to 12, they are all males, I haven't seen a female so far this season. Baby male Downy Woodpecker We have a baby female Downy that also visits our feeders. There was a adult Male Downy and a baby male and female on the suet's at the same time but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture, maybe today! Male Hairy Woodpecker It is always a thrill to see a Hairy Woodpecker. I have only seen the male so far, he has been a frequent visitor this year. Female Red-Bellied Woodpecker This is a 1st year female, we named her Annie last year, I took a series of pictures from the 1st time she stuck her head out of the hole in the dead tree across the street from our house to the 1st time she came to our feeders, her head was mostly gray and gradually her red feathers started coming in. Red-Bellied Woodpeckers are my favorite. Male Red-Bellied Woodpecker This is a 1st year male, we named him Andy, he is a frequent visitor, he likes to feed at the house feeder instead of the suet. Photos by misseymarie : ) Butler New Jersey

More of the Night Heron

 

 

 

 

Sorry if this is getting a bit repetitive, but it's hard not to take photos of a night heron in your tree especially when he's just waking up.

Escape to Florida

Great Blue Heron at a fishing pier

Seagull with a crab

Lesser Tern

Loon

We couldn't tolerate the rain and overcast any longer, so we took a quick trip to Florida's Emerald Coast. We didn't do any serious birding, but took a few shots with the old camera while strolling along the beach.

Pied Cormorant and Australian Pelican from Monkey Mia, Western Australia

It's still too dark and rainy to watch birds here, so here's another vacation photo: A pied cormorant from Monkey Mia in Western Australia.

 

Monkey Mia also has many Australian Pelicans.

 

By the way, the main reason to visit Monkey Mia is a group of wild bottlenose dolphins that come in to feed occasionally. The cormorants and pelicans hang out in hopes of getting some fish from the visitors.

 

Baby Ducks

 

 

 

Finally, some baby ducks (and the proud father).

Young Chickadee

 

 

On our walk this morning, we were looking for some Northern Flickers which we haven't seen many of lately. Instead we saw lots of small birds darting about a tree, and it turned out to be a family of chickadees. We saw some parents feeding young. We think the Chickadee in the photos is a young one because it wasn't very good at flying.

We are still waiting to get a glimpse of the Oriole babies. We can hear them when the mother comes by to feed but they are 40 feet up and not showing themselves.

Downy at the new feeder

 

The woodpeckers don't mind hanging upside down to eat suet, but the grackles do.

Backyard Birds

House Wren

Robin

Baltimore Oriole

Groundhog

We got almost 30 minutes of sunshine today. Here's are photos of the birds (and a groundhog) that were out.

Night Herons

 

 

We haven't seen as much bird activity recently with the past week or two of rain. A juvenile and adult night heron landed on the dock. The juvenile is starting to get some adult coloring.

The juvenile got quite interested in a beaver that was nearby. The herons fly away and the beaver swims away when we get near, but they don't mind one another.

Dreaming of Sunshine

 

It's been raining so long that we are starting to dream of sunnier times. Here's an old vacation photo from Belize of a heron that can't read.