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?

Soaring Birds

Tags

bald eagle, colonial lake, photography, postaday, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture

One afternoon, a Bald Eagle flew in and circled Colonial Lake several times looking for fish. It even dove toward the water once but still came up with no fish, but it provided good opportunities for photographing in the waning sun.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

A few weeks ago, a Turkey Vulture was also soaring above Colonial Lake for several minutes, looking for carrion in the nearby woods, or perhaps for dead fish dropped by the eagles.

Turkey Vulture over Colonial Lake.

It came down low enough for me to take a shot looking at its back. I did not see it catch anything.

Turkey Vulture over Colonial Lake.

Then a Red-tailed Hawk (tentative identification) also made its appearance.

Red-tailed Hawk over Colonial Lake.

Silent Sunday

Tags

american robin, colonial lake, mallard, mourning dove, photography, postaday, red-bellied woodpecker

Storm clouds.

Mourning Dove.

American Robin.

Mallards.

Mallards.

Mallards.

Red-bellied Woodpecker.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

bald eagle, colonial lake, photography, postaday

Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle.

Silent Sunday

Tags

colonial lake, mallard, photography, postaday

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Harbingers of Spring

Tags

american robin, canada geese, colonial lake, diamondback terrapin, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, great egret, photography, postaday, snowy egret

American Robins don’t migrate during the winter, merely keeping out of sight most of the time. They reappear with the coming of spring, when the ground is no longer too hard for them to try to pull out worms.

American Robin, 2019 spring.

Flocks of Canada Geese flying overhead is another sign that the seasons are changing. However, I can’t figure out what they are doing since they seem to be flying in all directions.

Canada Geese flying East.

Just a minute after the above shot, those Canada Geese reversed direction and flew over me again.

Canada Geese flying West.

I thought that was the last of that flock and started walking toward the woods. Then they flew North and passed overhead once more.

Canada Geese flying North.

Another sure sign of spring is the return of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets. They appeared two weeks ago, then went away when the weather turned cold. Now they are back.

Great Egret and Snowy Egrets at Edwin B Forsythe NWR.

Great Egret.

Finally the turtles are out sunning themselves. I think they are Diamondback Terrapins, but am not positive. They all jumped into the water as I tried to come closer to them to get a better look.

Seven turtles at Colonial Lake.

Silent Sunday

Tags

colonial lake, osprey, photography, postaday

Osprey hunting.

Osprey Diving.

Osprey diving.

Osprey caught fish.

Osprey with caught fish.

Osprey with caught fish.

Osprey with caught fish.

Double-Crested Cormorants

Tags

colonial lake, double-crested cormorant, photography, postaday

There are many Double-crested Cormorants at Colonial Lake. A few days ago, they took turns taking off and flying around the lake, sometimes right over my head. I had plenty of opportunities to practice camera panning to follow their flights.

Double-crested Cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant.

Double-crested Cormorant.

Naturally all this flying around requires a lot of energy. I saw at least two Cormorants diving and coming up with fish that they promptly swallowed in a few seconds.

Double-crested Cormorants. The one on the left just came up with a big fish.

Double-crested Cormorant swallowing fish.

Wood Ducks

Tags

colonial lake, photography, postaday, wood duck

Wood Ducks are among the most stunning ducks, rivaling Mandarin Ducks from Asia. I have been looking in New Jersey to photograph them for several years, going in vain to places where people have reported seeing them. Then yesterday, while I was taking pictures at Colonial Lake about 5 miles from home, I saw two ducks jump down from a tree onto the lake. It was a beautiful couple of Wood Ducks, and they were worth waiting for all this time!

As usual for ducks, the male Wood Duck was more striking, but the female was very pretty.

Female Wood Duck.

Male Wood Duck.

Male Wood Duck.

Male Wood Duck.

Female and male Wood Ducks.

Female Wood Duck.

Silent Sunday

Tags

bald eagle, colonial lake, photography, postaday

Bald Eagle.

Bald Eagle.

Mallards Landing

Tags

colonial lake, mallard, photography, postaday

This Mallard couple had a very long landing on Colonial Lake. I took a shot, but could not pick which cropped version is the better one to show. Let me know what you think.

1. Mallards landing.

2. Mallards landing.

Bald Eagle 2019 – II

Tags

bald eagle, colonial lake, photography, postaday, Trout

More photos of the Bald Eagles at Colonial Lake, NJ, taken three days ago.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

About a week ago, Colonial Lake was stocked with 170 Trout. That may explain why Bald Eagles have been coming there to fish, although other lakes in New Jersey were also restocked with Trout, mainly for recreation fishing by humans.

Bald Eagle holding a trout at Colonial Lake.

For some reason, the half-eaten fish fell to the ground (I did not know that until much later when I passed by the tree the Bald Eagle was on).

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake, after half eaten fish fell to the ground.

Bald Eagle starting to fly away.

Bald Eagle 2019

Tags

bald eagle, colonial lake, photography, postaday

As temperatures today climbed above 50 °F (10 °C), I went to Colonial Lake to see if the birds responded to the sudden warmth after a long winter. At first I only saw seagulls and Mallard ducks, then just as I got back into the car to go home, two Bald Eagles appeared! They flew around the lake.

Bald Eagle flying at Colonial Lake.

Then they went to perch on tree branches and looked down on walkers, joggers, and photographers. Apparently, they had caught and eaten some fish and were just happy to sit up high and enjoy the scenery.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Bald Eagle at Colonial Lake.

Silent Sunday: Long-tailed Ducks et al.

Tags

barnegat lighthouse state park, brant, canada geese, colonial lake, great black-backed gull, long-tailed duck, photography, postaday, ring-billed gull

Male Long-tailed Duck.

Male Long-tailed Duck.

Male Long-tailed Duck.

Great Black-backed Gull.

Brants.

Canada Geese.

Ring-billed Gull.

Ring-billed Gull.

Ice Cold

Tags

colonial lake, photography, postaday

Today, following the example of Eliza Waters (https://elizawaters.com/2019/01/21/brrrr/), I went to Colonial Lake close to home to photograph ice formations. The lake is man-made, capturing water coming from Shabakunk Creek, damming it, then releasing it further downstream back into the same creek.

It was around 20 °F (-6 °C), the lake was completely iced over, but the water underneath had to flow along its usual path.

Volcano on ice?

Ice bells.

Ice cold water.

Ice cover around trees.

Water and ice.

More ice than water.

Shriveled remnant of autumn.

There was a Great Blue Heron nearby, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Great Blue Heron resting.

Taking Photos with an Extender

Tags

colonial lake, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, extender, great blue heron, mallard, photography, postaday, snow geese

One of the must-have equipment for wildlife photography in general, and bird photography in particular, is to have a telephoto lens powerful enough to capture subjects with sufficient details and sharpness, without having to come too close to them. Since most of us can’t afford super telephoto lenses, also called second-mortgage lenses, some of us resort to using an extender, which is much less expensive, to increase the reach of our lenses. With a 1.4 extender, a 400 mm lens  will be equivalent to a 560 mm lens.

I have had such an extender for two years, but almost never used it because the results had been disappointing especially in terms of sharpness. Finally, looking at photos posted by Jerry from Quiet Solo Pursuits here on WordPress, I decided to give it a try with the Canon 5D Mark IV that I have been using since last year.

Following are some of the shots I took yesterday at the refuge and at Colonial Lake under a bright sun with the 100-400 mm lens and a 1.4 extender.

Great Blue Heron shaking a fish.

Great Blue Heron in “flasher” pose facing the sun to warm itself up.

Mallard in flight.

Mallard in flight.

Female Mallard.

Snow Goose.

Snow Geese.

Snow Geese.

Buffleheads 2018

Tags

bufflehead, colonial lake, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

Buffleheads are the smallest diving ducks, no larger than 16 in (40 cm) in length. They are a joy to see as they appear to be constantly smiling and moving about, bobbing, and diving to find food. They swallow their catch of crustaceans (shrimps) and mollusks under water, and I have yet to see a photo of one Bufflehead holding food in its short, smily bill.

In past years I usually had a hard time taking good pictures of them, especially the male ones, because their eyes are often lost in the dark patches around their heads. This year sunlight was with me, most of the time, as you can see in the following photos.

Female Buffleheads at Colonial Lake.

Female Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Female Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Female Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Male Bufflehead at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Male Bufflehead beginning to dive.

Male Bufflehead approaching female who just dove.

Male Bufflehead and his harem.

Female Bufflehead angling for photo.

Female Bufflehead and Canada Geese.

Silent Sunday

Tags

colonial lake, photography, postaday, robin, sparrow, squirrel

Squirrel at Colonial Lake.

Robin at Colonial Lake.

Sparrow at Colonial Lake.

Great Blue Heron at Colonial Lake.

Colonial Lake Wildlife

Tags

canada goose, colonial lake, crawfish, eastern phoebe, great blue heron, photography, postaday, squirrel

Colonial Lake close to home is quite small, but it has a good variety of wildlife. An old Canada Goose, named Hank by the locals, does not seem to fly any more and enjoys eating the bread crumbs and cookies that people throw to him.

Hank, the old Canada Goose.

Squirrels are abundant, and at this time of the year they are stocking up on acorns and other wild nuts to prepare for winter.

Squirrel at Colonial Lake.

An Eastern Phoebe had something in its bill, but I couldn’t tell what it was. They usually eat small insects, and sometimes small fruit or seeds.

Eastern Phoebe.

A Ring-billed Seagull landed with a splash and caught something in its beak.

Ring-billed Seagull.

The champ was a Great Blue Heron who caught three fishes in less than 10 minutes as I photographed him.

Great Blue Heron.

Great Blue Heron with first fish.

Great Blue Heron with second fish.

Great Blue Heron with a crawfish.

Some Late Summer Flowers

Tags

arrowhead, Bidens Trichosperma, colonial lake, hibiscus, photography, postaday, tickseed sunflower

I walked around Colonial Lake near home yesterday and took pictures of the following flowers. I am guessing the names of the first two, so please feel free to correct me if you happen to recognize them with their proper names.

Arrowhead flowers.

Bidens Trichosperma or Tickseed Sunflower.

Hibiscus dried seed pods.

Turtles

Tags

colonial lake, diamondback, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday, snapping turtle, terrapin, turtle

One day last week I had to stop several times to let turtles cross the road in front of me. Here are a few shots of them at different places in the refuge, and one shot at Colonial Lake closer to home.

Diamondback Terrapin.

Diamondback Terrapin.

Snowy Egret with turtle under water in background.

Snapping Turtle at Colonial Lake.

At the beginning of last century, Terrapins were eaten by humans, almost to extinction. It was only two years ago in 2016 that New Jersey officially banned the hunting of Terrapins for any reason. They are currently classified as a species of Special Concern. Snapping Turtles are classified as Least Concern.

Silent Sunday

Tags

colonial lake, photography, Pink Evening Primrose, postaday

I don’t know the name of the following flowers. If you do, please tell me.

Update: I searched for this flower image on the Internet, and it’s a Pink Evening Primrose!

Pink Evening Primrose.

Pink Evening Primrose.

Pink Evening Primrose.

Mallards

Tags

colonial lake, mallard, photography, postaday

A male Mallard was landing near a female Mallard at Colonial Lake.

Male Mallard landing.

He looked very happy.

Male Mallard: “Hi sweetie!”

She was indeed a pretty Mallard.

Female Mallard.

Female Mallard.

Memorial Day 2018

Tags

colonial lake, lupine, memorial day, photography, postaday, rhododendron

Some flowers I saw on a recent walk around Colonial Lake.

Lupine.

Rhododendron.

Cedar Waxwing

Tags

cedar waxwing, colonial lake, photography, postaday

Cedar Waxwings are quite common birds native to North and Central America. They live all year round in our area. However, it was only until yesterday that I could photograph one. It was perched high on a branch by the water at Colonial Lake. A band of them were flying around eating insects. They are normally fruit eaters but there was no fruit to be found yet at this time of the year.

Cedar Waxwing.

Cedar Waxwing.

Cedar Waxwing flying away.

 

American Robins

Tags

american robin, colonial lake, photography, postaday

The American Robin shown below was making so much noise and movement that I had to take its picture.

American Robin, excited and shouting.

The target for its cries was another Robin, who watched it very nonchalantly.

American Robin, cool and relaxed.

Here are the two of them in one photo.

Two Robins.

Perhaps the shouting Robin was a juvenile clamoring for food, and the older bird did nothing, as a way of telling the younger one to go find its own worm. Just my guess.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Tags

colonial lake, duckling, mallard, photography, postaday

This Mallard had 12 ducklings following along it on a sunny morning near Colonial Lake..

Mallard and 12 ducklings.

I have more photos, but uploading them to WordPress has been very iffy lately, so the above will have to do for this Mother’s Day.

Bald Eagle Near Home

Tags

bald eagle, colonial lake, photography, postaday

Early this morning I went to Colonial Lake, a small lake about 5 miles (8 km) from home where at least one Bald Eagle has been seen on a daily basis. Not more than 15 minutes after I arrived, an eagle swooped down and plucked a big fish out of the lake. I was not quite ready yet, so my first shot is not the best, but at least you do see the action.

Bald Eagle catching fish.

The eagle took the fish to a high branch on a tree and proceeded to eat it there.

Bald Eagle eating fish.

He ate the whole fish in less than 10 minutes, after which he took off right above me to go for a drink.

Bald Eagle flying toward water.

Bald Eagle drinking lake water.

He had several drinks, looking up each time to check his surroundings.

Balk Eagle looking up after one drink.

Then he shifted position.

Bald Eagle turning.

Bald Eagle after turn.

Then he flew up to a nearby tree, perched on a branch, and looked down on the lake and the other birds there, ignoring the few humans who wandered around along the lake shore.

Bald Eagle.

I think he eventually took a nap for I did not see it move from his perch for almost half an hour.