Swans, Great Egret, Red Fox, Goldfinch

Tags

canada goose, goldfinch, great egret, mallard, mute swan, postaday, red fox, Tundra Swan

Mute Swans live year round at the refuge, but in the fall and winter Tundra Swans stop by on their way to warmer spots in the Mid Atlantic region.

Two weeks ago, I saw one immature Mute Swan, with a bill that was not fully orange yet.

Immature Mute Swan.

Not far from it there was a Tundra Swan swimming with a Canada Goose.

Tundra Swan and Canada Goose.

At another part of the refuge, three adult Mute Swans could be seen preening.

Three Mute Swans.

Three Mute Swans.

Not to be outdone, a Great Egret was also showing its preening skills.

Great Egret.

Closer to home, in our backyard, a Red Fox was sitting comfortably at the edge of the woods, watching us from a safe distance.

Red Fox.

Much closer than the Red Fox, a Goldfinch in its winter colors was visiting the birdfeeder.

Goldfinch.

Belted Kingfisher and Others

Tags

belted kingfisher, mallard, postaday, song sparrow

A lady photographer told me five years ago that there was a Belted Kingfisher at Colonial Lake near our house in New Jersey. She even told me that it usually came out at 1 PM to start looking for food. It’s only yesterday, five years later that I was finally able to photograph it a few minutes after 1 PM, from about 200 ft away.

Female Belted Kingfisher with punk crest.

Next time I will try to come closer and hopefully get a better shot, but she may be too skittish.

Meanwhile a Song Sparrow, partially hidden in a tree, was singing beautifully.

Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow: “Did you like my song?”

And two Painted Turtles had just finished their rowing exercises.

Painted Turtles.

Finally, a female Mallard with mixed genes was practicing her Karate kick.

Female Mallard.

Sky and Ice

Tags

cirrus clouds, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, ice, mallard, mute swan, postaday, Tundra Swan

More photos of the beautiful blue sky from a few days ago.

High cirrus clouds.

Deep blue against white clouds.

Tundra Swan and Mallards.

Mute Swans.

In the above photo you can see the ice begin to form on the surface of the marsh. Down below is a closer look at the ice.

Ice in monochrome.

Around the Lake

Tags

bee, blue dasher, dragonfly, hibiscus, mallard, monarch, painted turtle, postaday, primrose

Yesterday I walked around Colonial Lake, five miles from home, to see what I could photograph during one of the hottest days of the year. An excessive heat warning is in effect until tomorrow evening.

The dragonflies enjoyed the heat.

Blue Dasher dragonfly.

The primroses were thriving.

Primrose.

The hibiscuses were in full bloom.

Red Hibiscus.

Bee inside pink Hibiscus.

There were many ducks, mainly Mallards, with some oddly colored ones mixed in with them.

Female Mallard and other ducks.

Monarchs were flying around.

Monarch butterfly.

Painted Turtles were sunning on an old tire.

Painted Turtles on all-season tire.

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?

Silent Sunday

Tags

mallard, photography, postaday, Purple Finch

Purple Finch, male.

Purple Finch, female.

Mallard, female.

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.

Silent Sunday

Tags

colonial lake, mallard, photography, postaday

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

Mallard landing.

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.

Wordless Wednesday

Tags

Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, mallard, muteswan, photography, postaday

Mallards.

Mute Swan.

2018 Unpublished Photos

Tags

american robin, blue jay, cosmos, great egret, mallard, montezuma national wildlife refuge, northern cardinal, photography, postaday

In 2018, some of my photos did not appear on this blog, normally because I didn’t want to have too many in any post. Now at year end, looking at them, some actually deserve to be shown, and here they are.

Northern Cardinal in January 2018.

Mallard mother and ducklings, May 2018.

Great Egret at Montezuma NWR, September 2018.

American Robin, November 2018.

Blue Jay, November 2018.

Cosmos brought inside, October 2018.

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.

New and Old Birds

Tags

common grackel, common yellowthroat, house sparrow, mallard, photography, postaday, snowy egret

Recently I encountered a new bird, for me anyway, the Common Yellowthroat, a small warbler with a Lone Ranger black mask, a white head top, and a very yellow throat.

Male Common Yellowthroat.

Male Common Yellowthroat singing.

This House Sparrow was preening itself one morning, and looked down curiously at a photographer.

House Sparrow.

Meanwhile, a female Mallard took off from Colonial Lake.

Female Mallard.

Snowy Egret stabbing water after a fish.

A Common Grackle laughed at the scene.

Common Grackle: “You missed!”

Have a great weekend!

Cuteness in Nature

Tags

canada goose, duckling, gosling, mallard, photography, postaday

For this hot weekend, here are some cool images of cute creatures in nature that I saw at Colonial Lake a few weeks ago.

Canada Goose Gosling.

Female Mallard and Ducklings.

Have a great weekend!

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.

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.

Loon, Long-Tailed Duck, Red-Breasted Mergansers, Mallards

Tags

barnegat lighthouse, common loon, long-tailed duck, mallard, photograpy, postaday, red-breasted merganser

A week ago at the Barnegat Lighthouse, many people came to walk along the beach, as it was sunny and the wind was bearable, especially if one wore a good winter jacket or coat.

Barnegat Lighthouse on January 1st, 2017.

Along the jetty, but away from the swift currents that Harlequin ducks preferred, there were three other kinds of ducks or waterbirds swimming and diving calmly for food.

Common Loon, a large waterbird in its non-breeding colors.

Long-tailed Duck. This kind of duck can deep dive up to 200 ft (60 m). This one was just looking around and enjoying the sun.

Red-breasted Mergansers, a rather large duck compared to the well-coiffed Hooded Mergansers that I photographed last year.

Earlier in the day, I saw a pair of Mallards dabbling for food at Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge which has been practically closed due to road repairs for at least half a year now.

A pair of Mallards. They don’t dive and just dabble for food near the surface of the water.

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.

As You Like It: Mallards

Tags

mallard, photography, postaday

Last week I saw a pair of mallards swimming at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. I took the following three images, each about 5 seconds after the other. Was the female mallard, the one in brown, yelling something at her spouse? If you like, feel free to write your own captions to these photos in your comments.

Mallards – Photo 1

Mallard – Photo 2

Mallard – Photo 3