Travelled out to Nassau County, New York, to Nickerson Beach to photograph some seabirds. My friend, Harry Collins and I had all we could handle. What a great day!
American Oystercatcher
American Oystercatchers
Oystercatcher and Chick
Piling Plover
Common Terns
Oystercatcher and Eggs
Common Tern
Oystercatcher Chick
Piling Plover
Common Tern Pair
I’m a couple of months behind on this blog. Hopefully I’m going to work to get up to date. I’m currently up in Maine near Acadia National Park, can’t wait to post those shots.
Anyway, here’s a beginning at Island Beach State Park. The Ospreys are always fun to photograph, especially before the mosquitos arrive.
Great Egret
American Robin
This Spring, I made several visits to the Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. It was the first year I visited this wonderful place. I have so many photos I want to share, so I will split them into several posts. I’ll start with two red fox dens that I so enjoyed observing. The first kits were getting big and went into the woods after two visits. The second den had younger kits and were still around at my last visit. Much more from Bombay to follow.
I spent a lazy afternoon at the Plainsboro Preserve in Cranbury, NJ with my friend and photographer, Robert Zurfluh. It’s always a treat to run into bluebirds. This pair was pretty busy with their nesting box.
Mom Taking a Break
This Robin wanted in on the photos.
I took another trip back to Philadelphia to photograph the wood ducks. Just a beautiful day and always fun to shoot these guys. Shooting from down in the water, they consider you less of a threat. They came quite close all day long.
The Female
In the water (photo by friend Harry Collins)
My friend Harry Collins found a second Great Horned Owl’s nest in another part of New Jersey. I spend the entire day watching these two owlets on some branches outside the nest. Click here to see a short video.
A collection of photos from several visits to a local bald eagle nest. At this point (May 21) the eaglet is about 8-9 weeks old.
The Ospreys have returned to Island Beach State Park. Always fun to see their return.
Mommy working on the nest.
Green winged teal
A compilation of several days at a Great Horned Owl’s nest in northern New Jersey. At the time of the last photo, two owlets had already fledged and one was left in the nest. It was so much fun to watch them get bigger each visit. The two adults were always near by. One afternoon a red tailed hawk came close to grabbing an owlet, until the “mom” came out of nowhere to chase the hawk on it’s way. I have since been to a third great horned owl nest, those photos will follow.
Adults would bring food to the nest.
This guy was almost grabbed by a red-tailed hawk.
Adult male keeping an eye on the nest.
This was the last one to leave the nest.
This mute swan was constantly chasing the Canada Goose away.
This was my first time photographing wood ducks. My good friend and wildlife photographer, Harry Collins, knew this small park in Pennsylvania where they arrive at the tail end of winter. Normally wood ducks can be very shy and quite elusive, but here they seem more tolerant of people. We set up in waders in the water with our cameras and lenses inches from the water. After a couple of hours, the wood ducks became more comfortable with our presence. Some were floating by a few feet away. What a wonderful sight to see these spectacular colors. Most ducks were already paired up when they arrived. Wood ducks are one of the few duck species with strong claws that can grip bark and perch on branches. They nest high up in tree cavities. The ducklings can jump from heights above fifty feet without injury. This was definitely a most enjoyable day. We plan to return, hopefully to catch some babies.
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