Backyard Friends

Tags

chickadee, nuthatch, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse, woodpecker

Throughout most of this year I have been neglecting the small birds that live in the woods behind our house and frequent our bird feeder. They have become regulars, at least as long as I remember to refill when the feeder is empty. Today, the last day of 2015, I put out a tray of roasted peanuts as a special treat for them. They seemed to love it. As of two hours ago all the peanuts were gone. However, photos of the birds remain for us to enjoy.

Tufted Titmouse.

Nuthatch.

Tufted Titmouse.

Chickadee.

Woodpeckers also showed up, but the following female ignored the peanuts and climbed up toward the regular bird feeder.

Woodpecker.

Happy New Year and the best of everything to all of you in 2016!

Feeding the Geese

Tags

canada geese, photography, postaday

Last June while waiting for the Tall Ships to sail into Philadelphia harbor, I heard a lot of wings flapping and water splashes to my right. There were three kids feeding bread, probably their half-eaten sandwiches, to Canada Geese and gulls. So here’s how it looked.

Kids feeding geese.

Canada Geese converging toward their feeders.

Canada Geese eating bread.

Best of 2015 – Part 4

Tags

aspen, great sand dunes national park, photography, pinyon pine, postaday

Part 4 and the last one of this series, is about scenes at an often overlooked national park, Great Sand Dunes National Park near Mosca, Colorado. The park rangers were friendly, and visitors of all ages, from babies to seniors, seemed to be having a good time hiking or sliding down the dunes. I took pictures from sunrise to sunset and could have taken a lot more. Some of the following photos have not been published before on this blog.

Sunrise over Sangre de Cristo mountains at Great Sand Dunes National Park, October 2015.

Great Sand Dunes in the morning, October 2015.

Great Sand Dunes in the afternoon, October 2015.

Great Sand Dunes in the afternoon, October 2015.

Visitor at Great Sand Dunes , October 2015.

Man and his best friend at Great Sand Dunes, October 2015.

Aspens and Pinyon Pines at Great Sand Dunes National Park, October 2015.

Best of 2015 – Part 3

Tags

canada goose, egret, great blue heron, house wren, nuthatch, osprey, photography, postaday, red fox, snow geese

I take a lot of pictures of wildlife, so Part 3 of this series will be about the birds and animals that I have seen through my camera.

Mallards taking off from an icy pond, February 2015.

Great Egret and Snowy Egret, April 2015.

Ospreys mating, April 2015.

Young Red Foxes, May 2015.

Canada Goose and Gosling, May 2015.

Nuthatch pretending to sleep, June 2015.

House Wren holding meal for fledgeling, August 2015.

Sanderling, November 2015.

Great Blue Heron in Flight, December 2015.

Snow Geese in flight, December 2015.

Best of 2015 – Part 2

Tags

badlands national park, Bixby Bridge, lake almanor, lassen volcanic national park, marina, Mr Rainier National Park, mt thielson, photography, postaday, reflection lake, two medicine

This Part 2 series consists of photos of the wonderful landscape I traveled through in 2015.

Beach at Marina, CA.

Bixby bridge after sunset, near Carmel, CA.

Lake Almanor, Chester, CA near Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Sunrise in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

Two Medicine lake, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Reflection Lake, Mt Rainier National Park, Washington state.

Mt. Thielson near Crater Lake National Park, Oregon.

Best of 2015 – Part 1

Tags

photography, postaday

To help bring this year to an end, within the next five days, I am going to post a series of pictures from 2015 that many of you have liked and commented on. Perhaps some of you have not seen them yet, especially if you are new visitors of this blog.

The first series is: flowers and butterflies.

Bleeding Hearts, May 2015.

Clematis, May 2015.

Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed flowers, August 2015.

Yellow Swallowtail, August 2015.

Swallowtail, August 2015.

Lotus flowers, August 2015.

Harbor Seal

Tags

black scoters, harbor seal, long-tailed duck, photography, postaday

Several hundreds ducks of all kinds were floating on the ocean, maybe 50 to 100 yards or so from where I was standing on the beach. There were Common Eiders, the largest duck North of the equator, Black Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, and others I could not identify. They all seemed to be drifting further and further away from the shore. At first they swam North, then after a while reversed direction and went South.

Suddenly one Long-tailed Duck treaded water then took off.

Long-tailed Duck taking off.

Then the Black Scoters noisily left the scene.

Black Scoters fleeing the scene.

I saw the head of a Harbor Seal among the waves. They usually go after fish but are also known to have a penchant for killing and eating ducks. That’s why the ducks I saw were giving him a respectful and wide berth.

Harbor Seal.

He swam toward me! Hmmm …

Harbor Seal.

Then he changed his mind, dove into the water and went after the ducks. The Black Scoters kept flying up, one flock after another.

Black Scoters continuing to flee.

Soon more than half of the ducks were gone. I no longer saw the seal, but he was probably still there lurking underwater.

Miscellaneous Photos from 2015

Tags

photography, postaday

The year is fast closing on all of us, and I’ve been looking through my files to select the best photos of the year for an upcoming post. While doing that I found a few that did not get published for any number of reasons, but in all likelihood because they did not fit into a theme for each post. However, you may still enjoy viewing them, even if there is no rhyme or reason to them.

Juvenile Ring-billed Gull trying to figure out how to eat that mollusk in its bill. An adult gull would have flow up high and drop the oyster or the clam on a hard surface, breaking the shell. This juvenile had not been taught that yet, and I watched it for about 15 minutes carrying its lunch without being able to eat it.

“Red Flying Group”, a sculpture by Ann Gillen in front of 909 Third Avenue in New York City. It was placed there in 1987.

Dried juniper branches at Rock Point in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado.

Sunrise near St Mary, MT at the Eastern entrance of Glacier National Park.

Eroded rock at Capitol Reef National Park in Utah.

Mallards

Tags

john heinz national wildlife refuge, mallard, photography, postaday

Mallards are the most common ducks seen in many places. They are easily recognizable and can put up with human presence around them. Lately I have captured a few pairs of mallards at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near Philadelphia, PA.

Female Mallard at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Male Mallard at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Two Mallard couples at John Heinza National Wildlife Refuge.

Female Mallard at John Heinza National Wildlife Refuge.

Female Mallard at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Mallards swimming and dabbling at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. Mallards do not dive, and only dip their heads in the water to look for food.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Gathering

Tags

gathering, photography, postaday, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/gathering/

A gathering of Cormorants.

Horseshoe Crabs gather to breed. This is an annual event vital for the life of this species which has been in existence for 450 million years.

Shore birds like Laughing Gulls and Red Knots gather to splurge on Horseshoe Crab eggs.

Laughing Gulls gather to feast on a toppled Horseshoe Crab, with its tail sticking up diagonally.

Hooded Mergansers: Bad Hair Day – Again

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, hooded merganser, photography, postaday

Three days ago, Hooded Mergansers were still in abundance at Vogt Pool South, a freshwater pool at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. They swam and dove looking for food, ignoring the very strong wind that at times pushed my camera and its long lens sideways. I had to take most of the following shots from well inside the car.

A pair of Hooded Mergansers swimming together.

Waterfowl Kabuki: The lonely Hooded Merganser on the right protested his isolation.

Meanwhile, the wind caused another bad hair day for these ducks, again.

Hooded Mergansers with wind teasing their crests.

Bad hair: it got worse.

It got so bad that one female Hooded Merganser had to hide her head in the water.

Snow Goose UP62: Certificate

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, greater snow goose, Nunavut, photography, postaday, snow goose

I reported my sighting of the Snow Goose with a collar, UP62, (see previous post https://neihtn.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/snow-goose-collar/) at the following link:

https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/

Yesterday, Dr. Gilles Gauthier, the bander of the Snow Goose, sent me a Certificate of Appreciation.

Certificate of Appreciation.

So UP62, a Greater Snow Goose, was hatched in 2014 in Nunavut, a vast expanse as large as Greenland at the northernmost part of Canada.

UP62: Yes!

Snow Geese: Which Way?

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, snow geese

The record warm weather here has probably confused the Snow Geese which usually come down from the Artic tundras to winter in the Midlantic region. For two weeks in a row I have seen large flocks of them fly North. When winter finally gets here, will they again fly South?

In the meantime, it was a great opportunity for me to photograph them at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

One Snow Goose flying North.

Two Snow Geese flying North.

Three Snow Geese flying North.

Five Snow Geese flying North.

 

Snow Goose Collar

Tags

collar, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, snow geese

Yesterday I saw a Snow Goose wearing a yellow neck collar with two letters and two numbers: UP and 62. Neck collars have been used to study the life and migration of these geese. A yellow collar means that it is a female. The letters and numbers probably mean something also, but only the researchers would know that.

Snow Geese couple at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge on 13-Dec-2015.

Right on cue, the female turned in my direction to allow me a better look at the collar.

UP62 clearly visible on collar.

Collar seen from the other side.

Suddenly, the male Snow Goose signaled they should take off.

Let’s fly!

UP 62 followed her mate.

Last photo before the pair became airborne.

East Point Lighthouse II

Tags

east point lighthouse, photography, postaday

In May of this year I posted about the East Point LIghthouse on the Delaware Bay shoreline in New Jersey: https://neihtn.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/east-point-lighthouse/.

Today I came back to revisit and was allowed to go inside and look at every room including the light room. The inside of the lighthouse needs some significant restoration work. I was told that funding is available and the work will begin in the spring of 2016.

East Point Lighthouse as seen from its beach.

In the afternoon, they were going to have children come and visit Santa Claus at the lighthouse. I could not stay for the party but took pictures of the decorations and a watercolor painting.

Watercolor by Mary Peterson “Monarch Butterflies at East Point Light”.

Display table at East Point Lighthouse.

Model of East Point Lighthouse.

Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Week #9 Rule of Thirds Introduction

Tags

Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge, photography, postaday

Better late than never for this challenge: http://ceenphotography.com/2015/12/02/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-week-9-rule-of-thirds-introduction/

I took the following photo three months ago at Badlands National Park early in the morning when the sun had barely started to rise and some low-hanging clouds tried to overwhelm the heavily eroded and jagged Wall of the park.

Dawn at Badlands National Park.

Hooded Mergansers: Bad Hair Day

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, hooded merganser, photography, postaday

Hooded Mergansers are good-looking ducks with their crest, or hood, which is black and white for males and cinnamon for females. They are not as rare as Harlequin ducks, and I see them every year around this time of the year around many ponds and marshes in our area.

Last week there were several swimming around the Danzenbaker Pool at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

Hooded Mergansers, two males and one female.

Same trio of Hooded Mergansers.

Further East of the pool, a couple of these ducks had just emerged from a dive, their crest feathers matted down, making them look well coiffed..

Hooded Mergansers after diving.

However, as they turned, the strong wind gave them a bad crest, or bad hair, day.

Hooded Mergansers having a bad hair day.

Great Blue Herons: Flight

Tags

great blue heron, john heinz national wildlife refuge, photography, postaday

Great Blue Herons are large enough birds that I found it relatively easy to photograph them in flight. Here are some photos I took at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge a few days ago. They are of three different herons.

Great Blue Heron taking off.

Another Great Blue Heron in flight.

Great Blue Heron in flight, one second later.

Another Great Blue Heron taking off.

Same Great Blue Heron, a fraction of a second later.

All of the above herons flew only short distances to position themselves at a different fishing spot. They probably never went higher than 20 ft (6 m) above the surface of the pond.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Eye Spy

Tags

blue jay, brown pelican, cardinal, eyes spy, great blue heron, mourning dove, photography, postaday, red fox, tufted titmouse, weekly photo challenge

The link for this challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/eye-spy/

When I photograph birds and animals, I try to get a good eye expression, or at least get their eyes in clear focus. Here are my entries for the challenge, all from photos taken this year, some as recently as yesterday.

Great Blue Heron keeping an eye on a fish, which it caught just a few seconds later.

Blue Jay with a questioning look.

Female Cardinal modelling for photographer.

Brown Pelican.

Tufted Titmouse. These birds have some of the most photogenic eyes.

Juvenile Red Fox.

Bighorn Ram.

Mourning Dove.

Goldfinch in winter plumage.

Great Blue Herons Fishing

Tags

great blue heron, john heinz national wildlife refuge, photography, postaday

True to their name, Great Blue Herons are the largest herons in North America with striking shapes and colors that are hard to miss. Yesterday I saw a dozen of them at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge on the other side of I-95, opposite Philadelphia Airport. Despite the near freezing temperature, they were busy catching their breakfast.

Great Blue Heron stabbing the pond looking for fish.

Within less than a second, a fish!

The above fellow or gal was very skilled. It caught three fish within 13 minutes!

Another fish caught.

And another!

Later I saw another Great Blue Heron catching frogs.

Great Blue Heron caught a frog.

Another frog caught.

Here’s a shot of a Great Blue Heron spreading its wings. Despite their enormous size, these herons weigh only about 6 lbs (2.7 kg).

Great Blue Heron spread out.

Ring-billed Seagulls

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, ring-billed seagull

Ring-billed Seagulls are very common in our area, and probably in most other coastal areas as well. They are very friendly and their flight is graceful. I couldn’t help taking their pictures when they put on a display last week at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge around a spot where seawater pours into the marshes at high tide. All kinds of birds congregate at that spot to catch fish, clams, and other foodstuff that the ocean provides at least twice daily.

Juvenile Ring-billed Seagull.

Ring-billed Seagull.

Ring-billed Seagull.

Ring-billed Seagull.

San Bernardino

Tags

photography, postaday, san bernardino, terrorist, tin nguyen

After Paris last month, I never expected another massacre so soon, this time in San Bernardino, CA. One of the victims is a young woman by the name of Tin Nguyen. We are not related and I don’t know her at all, although we both have the same family name, one shared by millions of other Vietnamese.

Wave crashing on beach.

While government officials, politicians and the media are slicing and dicing words to put a label on this latest incident, I will not hesitate to say that it was an attack carried out by two Islamic terrorists.  There is no other way to put it. The lives of Tin Nguyen and the thirteen other victims were simply and cruelly cut short for some insane purpose by two fanatical and demonic individuals.

http://projects.sbsun.com/san-bernardino-mass-shooting/ (Scroll down for photos and some information about each victim, including those wounded.)

Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge: Diagonal Lines

Tags

Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge, diagonal, photography, postaday, starling

The link for this challenge is: http://ceenphotography.com/2015/11/25/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-week-8-diagonal-lines/

Last week I was driving along when a dark cloud of Starlings landed on electrical wire right in front of me. There were possibly a thousand or more of these birds, lined up in rows of varying length, all pointing in the same direction. I stopped, took out my camera and took the following shots which help to illustrate Cee’s challenge.

Starlings on electrical wire.

Trio of Starlings on electrical wire.

One Starling stood out singly.

Starlings near electrical pole.

Finally, a picture of a juvenile Ring-billed Gull in flight, displaying many diagonal lines with its wings and body.

Young Ring-billed Gull.