Mute Swans

Tags

glades wildlife Refuge, mute swan, photography, postaday

Mute Swans are monogamous and mate for life. However, when one of a pair dies, the other will try to find another mate. A male will then find a younger or older female, but a female will look for a younger male.

Yesterday, I went to Glades Wildlife Refuge at the southern end of New Jersey not very far from the Delaware Bay. On a pond there, a bevy of Mute Swans was foraging for food, each swan separate from the others, except for a couple. Unless I am mistaken, a smaller female and a younger male where going through courtship rituals. Young male swans have a dull gray bill that will become orange in color when they are mature.

Mute Swans, female on left.

Mute Swans.

Mute Swans.

Mute Swans. 

Mallards

Tags

john heinz national wildlife refuge, mallards, photography, postaday

Last Saturday at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, I came too close to some Mallards and they took off flying with a great deal of noise, almost like a series of explosions. First the female.

Female Mallard flying away.

Then the male.

Flying male Mallard.

As I walked on, I found them again after a while, swimming and looking for food as they do most of the time.

Mallard couple.

Northern Pintails

Tags

john heinz national wildlife refuge, northern pintail, photography, postaday

As of 2014, the Northern Pintail is on the list of birds in steep decline. Yesterday, though, I saw many of them at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, outnumbering all the other ducks combined. They were busy looking for food, flying about from one spot to another, and allowing me ample opportunities for photos.

Northern Pintails at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. The one of the right is the male.

Female Northern Pintail with her head above water. The two diving ducks with long tails are male, and the other one female.

Northern Pintails in flight.

Landing on water at end of flight.

Female Northern Pintail putting on the water brakes.

Cardinal Among the Reeds

Tags

john heinz national wildlife refuge, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

Today, temperatures rose to 64^oF (18^oC) which made it feel like Spring. I went to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge opposite Philadelphia International Airport on the other side of I-95. Vegetation still looked drab and dull, but among the light brown reeds I saw a flash of brilliant red. It was a male Northern Cardinal. He kept foraging for food in the same area for several long minutes. I took a series of shots and the following turned out to be the better ones.

Male Northern Cardinal at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shadow

Tags

moon, photography, postaday, shadow, weekly photo challenge

The link for this Weekly photo Challenge is: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/shadow-2017/

Two days ago, I was taking pictures of the moon when I heard the sound of a jet airplane. It flew overhead, to the left of the moon, and I just had seconds to swing my camera toward it. There was no time to adjust any setting, with the following result.

Airplane and its photographic shadow.

Here’s a picture of the moon.

Moon.

Birds in Snowstorm, and a Deer

Tags

cardinal, carolina chickadee, dark-eyed junco, deer, photography, postaday, snowstorm, tufted titmouse

In the end we only got 4 inches (10 cm) of snow as it was too warm and the storm started out as rain spattering on our roof in the middle of the night. Our feathered friends gathered around the feeder and tried to make the best of it.

Female Cardinal.

Dark-eyed Junco.

Tufted Titmouse.

Carolina Chickadee.

Young deer. This was actually taken at the end of another storm a few weeks ago.

Moon Before Snowstorm

Tags

moon, photography, postaday, snowstorm

A major snowstorm is supposed to dump from 8 to 12 inches of snow in our area tomorrow. It was quite warm this evening, around 60°F (15 °C), and when I went out there was a bright moon in the sky. Dark clouds flew by and covered it from time to time, but only a few minutes wait allowed me to take the following shot.

Moon before snow. 

How to Eat Peanuts

Tags

blue jay, chickadee, downy woodpecker, photography, postaday, tufted titmouse

Each bird has its own way of eating peanuts. Here are a few examples.

Blue Jay.

Chickadee, probably the smallest bird that is not a Hummingbird.

Downy Woodpecker.

Tufted Titmouse.

Then we are back to the Blue Jay, the most voracious of them all.

Blue Jay.