Juvenile
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
This juvenile common tern reminded e of air more that any other picture I have taken recently. I really enjoy photographing birds in flight though it more often than not result in less than optimum photos. A skill I really need to work on more.
Among my favorites to photograph are swallows and terns. These are the acrobats, the sleek highly maneuverable species which remind me of the Thunderbirds flying precision high G passes. This juvenile tern for example is still being fed by the adults, but here it is carving a path through the air, twisting and turning with great control. Later in the same session I watched one of the adults approach and hand off a herring to the juvenile smoothly without landing. It hovered for a minute as it put the fish in the juveniles mouth then took of again like a rocket.
Watching a tern fish, alternately scouting, hovering and diving head first into the water is a great way to pass an hour or even two.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Sternidae
- Genus
- Sterna
- Species
- Sterna hirundo
Life Photo Meme]]>
Johann’s Great White Egret
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
A week or so ago, Johann and I headed out to the hardware store to pick up some PVC pipe so we could make a light tent for shooting Tammy’s booties. We both took our cameras to see if there were some photo opportunities along the way. The hardware store was a bust, but the journey there and back was golden!
First we spotted some great white egrets on an area of marsh. It was high tide and the marsh was flooded. The egrets were hunting through the clumps of marsh grasses for mummichog and other tasty treats. We pulled to the side of the road and got quite a few shots. Eventually a blue heron arrived on the scene, though it stayed pretty far out on the marsh edge. A male kingfisher also visited, perching on the abandoned osprey roost. Up the road at another marsh was a snowy egret prancing along the flooded mosquito ditch. So in one afternoon outing he added the White Egret, Snowy Egret, Blue Heron and kingfisher to his newly started Life Photo Bird List.
Johann’s film card was filled by the time we left the marsh, so he was my spotter when we saw the osprey with it’s striped bass. He was so excited to be buzzed so closely by the osprey that he was literally jumping up and down for all he was worth.
Soon we’ll have to get him his own flickr account.
At the same spot I managed to catch the egret in mid mummichog flip…
Gulp!
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Ciconiiformes
- Family
- Ardeidae
- Genus
- Ardea
- Species
- Ardea alba
Flying Fish
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
This juvenile osprey flew over Johann and I as we were photographing some ducks in Old Mystic, It all happened so fast I couldn’t change much of anything up on the camera. The striped Bass was pretty good sized (~18–20″ long), and definitely looked like he was a tad bit afraid of heights.
We decided to let Johann start using the old Canon Rebel to use with supervision. He went out to Avery Point with it on Friday and got some butters and then this afternoon we passed by some prime marshes where he and I shot some egrets, herons and a kingfisher. As we neared the hardware store there is a small old factory on the river, we got out to shoot ducks there when this osprey screamed low over head. I was already loaded with the 400 and a 1.4x and no time to change. Johann was so jazzed about the whole thing. Now he wants a flickr account and access to the Lightroom software.
Interestingly, I saw something I hadn’t seen with ospreys before as two other ospreys buzzed this one a couple of times as it looked for a suitable perch to eat. They were all juveniles and from that behavior I would assume they were probably nest mates. I have seen nest mates sharing and pushing each other over food brought by a parent. Maybe this is the continuation of that behavior.
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Panning
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
This is one of my older shots, but right now it is most appropriate for Wild, the theme of the current Life Photo cycle.
This great blue was captured launching itself out of the brackish pool on the property of UCONN’s Avery Point, headed for who knows where after getting a few fish and frogs from the pond. They are around the pond this time of the year. With my current situation Johann and Tammy accompany me to the school often and have taken to walking the pond area as well as running around the campus.
Watching Johann chase under the dragonflies and run with the swallows, like this heron he is free and just a little wild and it is beautiful. I am chaffing to be able to run with them and be just a little wild as well. Soon.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- SubPhylum
- Vertebrata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Ciconiiformes
- Family
- Ardeidae
- Genus
- Ardea
- Species
- Ardea herodias
Tern Formation
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Terns are considered threatened in many states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island where the colony nesting sites are protected.
These two were hitting the water going after herring or some other clupeoid fish that were breaking the surface to escape submerged predators. Fish such as herring and sand lance make up the majority of the terns diet. They terns will also eat crustaceans, polychaetes and insects though that is less common.
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Subphylum
- Vertebrata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Sterna
- Species
- Sterna hirundo
Update:
I should clarify that the common tern is not considered threatened on a national basis. Some states list them as threatened and there have been significant local declines in many areas – possibly tied to waterfront development trends and beach usage patterns. The IUCN considers them as Least Concern with a global population of 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 individuals globally (and they are truly a global species!)
Harbinger of Spring
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Today marks the return of the robin to Mystic. Large voracious flocks of them have descended on the berries and trees here. I tried counting them, but they were flitting to and fro in large numbers. At one point there were at least 25 stripping the remaining berries from the 4 or 5 small holly bushes along our front walk area.
We’ve always loved Robins, but ever since Idaho they have had a very special place in our hearts. They nested right outside our window and let us watch them raise two broods of chicks. In part it was all the more exciting as it was confirmation of our efforts to rehabilitate the backyard environment where we lived. We still have the time-lapse video we took. Two years of hard work paid off with the Robins, hummers, hummingbird moths and many others.
Like the Robins our activity here has been a bit sparse. Hopefully that will pick up a bit. We do have a couple of entries in the wings and we’ld like to catch aeveryone up on our doings over the late fall and winter. It’s been busy — some good, a little bad — basically life…Abundantly.
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Yes Virginia…
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Sorry about the lack of updates…things have been a bit crazy around here lately.
Finally everything is off to Texas for the Show at the 1550 Gallery. We ended up sending 22 items, mostly scarves but also some bags and a pair of indigo shibori pants as well. When I wasn’t working on the show there was (is) school and then spending time with Johann. September is literally a blur. One festival, multiple trips to see parts of the whale trail, science experiments, just for fun outings, school, the show, giving Tammy time to sew…I didn’t get more than about 4 hours of sleep on any given night.
I think I’m going to sleep for a week!
Didn’t have much time for photography either, but luckily on Fridy I caught a few (almost 40!) herons and egrets gathered around a swampy pond during a break in the rain. Best of all there were three black crowned night herons!
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I’ve got my Eye on You
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
The birds that have been at the Aquarium all summer are also making appearances at the Mystic Seaport… This Hyacinth Macaw is a rescued bird that has been rehabilitated and is now being trained to be used to humans again. A wonderful bird, he was being pretty vocal, calling out with a short beatiful call every few minutes. He was wonderful with Johann even though with his long tail feathers he is almost as big!
100% crop from a head shot. I really love the colors and textures on these birds!
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Snowy Strut
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
This snowy egret displayed a wide range of behaviors during the 20 minutes or so I watched it hunt, at one point it started strutting across one of the pools. I thought it was just moving across the pool, but twice while strutting this way it with it’s head high, it quickly struck to the side, succeeding once in getting a fish.
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Shove Off!
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
A juvenile common tern coming in for a landing on a small rock in the sound, forcing the adult that was occupying the rock off to find a new place to perch.
I spent an hour or so on one of the beaches down in Waterford the other day (the same place and day that the Mystic Whaler shot was taken). I just watched the sound and the shore birds along some of the rocks and jetties. The funny thing about many of these birds is that they see a place where another bird is “perched” and decide that it’s a nice spot to stop. Not that the rock itself is a nice spot – whether the rock is 20 square feet or a half a square foot – no, they decide to land in the exact couple of inches as one of the other birds.
The rock in this photo also was the site of this type of musical chairs game. Over the course of the hour I was there it must have been the temporary perch to at least 30 birds. Some left of their own accord to fly further down the beach, but most, like the adult in the photo, were “pushed” off by another bird landing. I watched cormarants, gulls and terns all displace each other, and even one female duck. It is often comical, especially if the “pushed off” one circles round and reclaims his spot. I watched one pair of cormorants (both juvenile double cresteds) play musical chairs like this with each other repeatedly on a piling in the Mystic estuary. They switched places about 10 times over the course of a 10-15 minute period.
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