Rookery at Ocean City Welcome Center Part 2

Tags

glossy ibis, great egret, little blue heron, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, rookery, white ibis

With bright sunshine, white clouds on blue sky, bearable temperatures, and a cool breeze from time to time, it was a perfect day for photography. There were already about a dozen photographers with their massive long lenses pointed at various points of the rookery.

Except for the sleepy night herons, the birds were very active, flying in and out of the trees every minute or so. I ended up taking many more pictures of birds in flight than I had planned.

Great Egret.

Great Egret.

Little Blue Heron, the first time I have seen one. In the background is the smokestack of a now-decommissioned power plant, the B.L. England Generating Station, also called Beesley’s Point Generating Station.

Glossy Ibis.

White Ibis.

White Ibis.

Juvenile Little Blue Heron.

White Ibis.

Bird Flights

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, Forster's Tern, glossy ibis, mocking bird, photography, postaday, snowy egret

Here are some photos of flying birds that I’ve taken over these past several weeks.

Black-crowned Night Heron.

Mocking Bird.

Two Glossy Ibises.

Forster’s Tern.

Snowy Egret.

Rookery at Ocean City 2

Tags

glossy ibis, little blue heron, ocean city, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

Yesterday, in this series first post, I wrote that it was late in the season.This was because I saw many juvenile birds at the rookery, and only one nest with unhatched eggs.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons.

There were some juvenile Glossy Ibises, very hungry ones that did not give their parents any respite as they kept demanding for more food. They caused a lot of commotion from one end of the rookery to the other, juveniles chasing their parents to get food from their bills!

Juvenile Glossy Ibis.

Glossy Ibises, adult and juvenile.

I also saw the following juvenile, which I am guessing is a Little Blue Heron. If so, it would be a first sighting for me. If you know it is a different bird, please tell me.

Juvenile Little Blue Heron.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

allium, daylily, glossy ibis, hen, photography, postaday, rooster, wordless wednesday, yellow-crowned night heron

Allium in the rain.

Daylily.

Daylily.

Glossy Ibis.

Young Yellow-crowned Night Herons.

Rooster and Hens.

Hatchlings

Tags

Black-crowned Night Heron, glossy ibis, great egret, hatchling, Ocean City Welcome Center, photography, postaday, yellow-crowned night heron

As predicted, the eggs in the Night Heron nests have begun to hatch. I went to the Ocean City Welcome Center today to look at them, and saw little balls of fur moving while the parents were busy preening or redecorating their nests.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons with new hatchlings in nest.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons planning redecoration.

At another nest, the male heron brought a twig back.

Female heron: “What took you so long?” Note that one egg still had not hatched.

Male heron passing twig to female.

While he flew away to look for other twigs, she tidied up their nest.

At yet another nest, no eggs had hatched.

All the eggs were still whole.

There were many other birds around the herons. I only managed to get shots of Ibises and Great Egret.

Great Egret throwing up food.

Several Glossy Ibises were flying around. Maybe they also had nests in the rookery.

Black-crowned Night Heron. They also had nests but those were well hidden in the rookery trees.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron on the hunt.

Glossy Ibises

Tags

edwin b forstythe national wildlife refuge, glossy ibis, photography, postaday

There is a flock of Glossy Ibises at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Birds of Pharaoh Thot, Glossy Ibises originate from Africa but have migrated and established themselves in the Americas.

When I see them, they are always looking for food, their curved bills half immersed in the water of the marshes.

Glossy Ibises

Glossy Ibises

While taking photos of Ospreys and Willets, I saw a pair of Glossy Ibises flying gracefully overhead and quickly shot the following.

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis