Eastern Bluebird and Others

Tags

Eastern Bluebird, house finch, photography, postaday

Twice a day, the female Eastern Bluebird flies out of the birdhouse to preen herself and maybe look around for food. I’ve placed some mealworms on a big oak tree stump, but so far she has not come near them. It has been stormy with lots of rain coming down, which may explain why. In the meantime she has posed gracefully for the camera. First in the afternoon.

Female Eastern Bluebird in the afternoon sun.

Then in the morning.

Female Eastern Bluebird.

Female Eastern Bluebird.

Female Eastern Bluebird.

I have not seen the male bird these past few days, but I am sure he is somewhere nearby protecting her and their nest.

Meanwhile, other birds keep coming to the vegetarian bird feeder.

Male House Finch.

Female House Finch.

Eastern Bluebird Couple

Tags

Eastern Bluebird, photography, postaday

The Eastern Bluebird couple nesting in our backyard today made a joint appearance for my camera. It has been at least five years since I put up the first birdhouse, and finally this year Bluebirds are using one of them!

Female Eastern Bluebird.

Female Eastern Bluebird singing.

This afternoon, I first saw a male among the crape myrtle branches.

Male Eastern Bluebird.

Male Eastern Bluebird.

Male Eastern Bluebird jumping as his mate landed nearby.

Eastern Bluebird couple.

Eastern Bluebird couple.

Following the above shot, she flew away, perhaps after seeing a worm or insect on the ground. Bluebirds do not eat from the bird feeder filled with sunflower seeds that I put up for other kinds of birds.

Male Eastern Bluebird looking in the direction where his mate flew.

Eastern Bluebird

Tags

Eastern Bluebird, photography, postaday

A pair of Eastern Bluebird is now residing in one of the birdhouses I put up around our backyard. Recently I have seen them flying around, but today I finally saw a female come out of a birdhouse. After some waiting, I saw her perched on a nearby crape myrtle branch, preening herself and inspecting her surroundings.

Female Bluebird preening.

Female Bluebird.

Female Bluebird.

Feisty Red-winged Blackbird

Tags

boat-tailed grackle, horseshoe crab, photography, postaday, red-winged blackbird

Red-winged Blackbirds were very active at the beach at Fortescue, NJ while the birds were feasting on Horseshoe Crab eggs. I couldn’t help noticing the following male who seemed quite feisty patrolling the beach close to its territory in the dunes.

Male Red-winged Blackbird.

Male Red-winged Blackbird.

Male Red-winged Blackbird: “You guys keep out of my way!”

When not on the beach, he perched on a nearby tree and belted out his warning calls.

Male Red-winged Blackbird.

Male Red-winged Blackbird.

He was not scared of and studiously ignored a bigger Boat-tailed Grackle that was only a short distance away, singing his own warning calls.

Male Red-winged Blackbird and Boat-tailed Grackle.

Horseshoe Crab 2019

Tags

fortescue, horsehoe crab, nj, photography, postaday

Last week I went to Forstecue, NJ to see Horseshoe Crabs come ashore for their annual mating. The weather was cool and the tide high which may explain why there were not many Horseshoe Crabs to be seen. However, the birds were very busy feasting on the crabs’ eggs.

Shore birds eating eggs. A female Horseshoe Crab was surrounded by three males in photo center.

As usual some Horseshoe Crabs were upended and helpless on the beach.

Horseshoe Crab laying on his back.

Upended Horseshoe Crabs.

Birds eating Horseshoe Crab eggs at Fortescue, NJ.

Boat-tailed Grackle watching the feast.

Boat-tailed Grackle taking off.

Ruddy Turnstone flying away from beach.

Oculus

Tags

Oculus, photography, postaday

Oculus is the name of the World Trade Center station in New York City completed in 2016. Today I went there for the first time to take photographs from different angles of the wonderfully striking building. However, I forgot to bring a spare battery for my camera, which cut drastically short that plan. In the end I was only able to take the following shots.

Oculus, outside.

Oculus.

Oculus.

Oculus, inside.

Oculus.

Oculus.

One of these days, I will have to make another trip to the city to take other photos of the rest of Oculus and the World Trade Center, with at least one spare battery.

Backyard Flowers

Tags

iris, photography, postaday, Viburnum plicatum

Irises and Viburnum are blooming in our backyard. Here are some shots of these spring flowers that come back year after year without any help.

Iris bud.

Iris.

Iris.

Viburnum plicatum flowers.

Miniature Horses 2019

Tags

miniature horses, photography, postaday

The South Jersey farm where miniature horses are raised has been on sale for a few years, so I was not too hopeful when I drove there to photograph them a few days ago. But they are still there, at least some of them, grazing peacefully on two lush fields covered with yellow flowers. As usual, the male and female horses were kept apart, separated by a wire fence.

A white mare saw me and approached, looking for a treat that I did not have! She looked very pregnant.

Very pregnant looking mare.

She came close to the fence, batting her eyelashes …

White mare.

I did not see any baby horse, perhaps because it is too early in the season? Meanwhile the male horses were grazing peacefully in an adjacent field.

Male miniature horse.

Male miniature horses.

Male miniature horses.

Miniature horses.

Male miniature horse.

More Longwood Gardens Flowers

Tags

allium, anthurium, carolina silver bell, foxglove, lilly, Longwood Gardens, photography, postaday

Here are more photos I took at Longwood Gardens last week, both inside the Conservatory and outside. There were many more flowers, but rain and time were the limiting factors to our visit.

Lilly.

Allium.

Allium.

Anthurium.

Foxglove.

Carolina Silver Bell.

Lilly.

Longwood Gardens Flowers

Tags

Abutilon Indian Mallow, Gesneriad, lollipop plant, Longwood Gardens, painted tongue, photography, postaday, powder puff tree, royal pelargonium

Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden in Pennsylvania about 75 miles (121 km) from our house. We took some friends there on a rainy day last week and saw flowers mainly in its Conservatory rather than in the many gardens extending over 1,077 acres (436 hectares). Here are some of the flowers that were most prominent and colorful.

Painted Tongue (Salpiglossis sinuata) a relative from Chile of petunias.

Flowers from the Powder Puff Tree (Calliandra haematocephala) from South Africa.

Royal Pelargonium.

Lollipop Plant (Pachystachys lutea).

Abutilon Indian Mallow.

Gesneriad, identified thanks to Eliza.

A Dozen Plus One

Tags

duckling, mallard, photography, postaday, sayen garden

A Mallard mother was leading her 13 ducklings around a small pond at the Sayen Garden in Hamilton, NJ.

Mallard and Ducklings.

She seemed very proud of her brood. They in turn enjoyed her tour, nibbling at plants in and out of the water.

Mallard and Ducklings.

Mallard and Ducklings.

Here are some closeups of the Ducklings.

Ducklings.

Ducklings.

Ducklings.

Ducklings.

Duckling: “Hi!”.

Mallards Up Close

Tags

colonial lake, mallard, photography, postaday

The fish are mostly gone from Colonial Lake. They were either eaten by Bald Eagles, Ospreys, and Cormorants, or humans fished them out of existence not too long after the state allowed fishing in mid March after stocking the lake with trout. The large raptors are now rarely seen at the lake. However, Mallards are plentiful and didn’t mind my coming close to them to take the following photos.

Male Mallard.

Female Mallard.

Some were strolling or marching down to the water as if they owned the lake, which they probably do.

Male Mallards.

Female Mallard.

Some male Mallards were completely brown from their neck down, and were perhaps hybrids of Mallard with some other type of duck.

Mallard, a hybrid perhaps.

Mallard, hybrid?

Green-winged Teal

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, green-winged teal, photography, postaday

I took the following photos of Green-winged Teals at the refuge a month ago. They are the smallest among dabbling ducks, much smaller than Mallards. They feed by looking for vegetation in shallow water. The ones seen below live in North America. They differ from their Eurasian counterparts by having a white stripe on their breast. The Eurasian Green-winged Teal have that white stripe along their shoulders.

Green-winged Teal, male.

Green-winged Teals, male and female in back.

Green-winged Teals, female and male in back.

Green-winged Teal, male.