Posts in Category: Photography

Tips, advice and philosophy on photography

Update on Both Loon Families, July 30, 2021

On July 2, 2021 - Loons, Wildlife Photography

Over the past several days, I’ve had a chance to stop in to visit both the loon families I’ve been following in the Upper Connecticut River Valley area. I was able to visit the family with two chicks four times, the other family once. I’m way behind on editing the pix, but here’s a first look to see how everyone is doing.

Let’s start with our one-chick family. When these were taken on July 23, the chick was something like 33 days old. The chick looks to be doing well. It has grown notably, is feeding well and learning to loon. It even managed to catch a snack all by itself when I was there.

You can see that all the chick’s bill is changing shape, getting longer and pointier.

They’ve still got some growing to do if they’re going to fit into their feet.

Adolescent chicks will pester adults when they’re hungry – which seems like most of the time they aren’t sleeping. The chicks will nibble the adult, usually around the chest or neck until they get results.

The chick’s wings aren’t yet up to providing the lift needed to fly. Actually, the little guy is probably just stretching.

Sometimes you get lucky and the loons do something interesting in some nice light.

It had been 11 days since I visited the family with two chicks on July 22. The chicks were 33 and 34 days old and doing well.

There was a visitor to the loon’s pond just before sunrise. Mrs. Moose walked out of the woods and into the pond and swam across the pond. I was in her path, but she ignored me. I made pretty good time getting out of her way.

This shot gives you an idea of why loons look they way they do. On a day with just a slight wind, the pattern on their backs blends nicely with the highlights on the water. And, being white on the bottom, would help them blend into the sky if you were below and looking up.

The chicks will often, and the adults occasionally, swipe at the water with their bill by shaking their head back and forth. My bet is that this is the loon equivalent of blowing your nose – a way to clear their sinuses.

The adult has spotted an immature eagle flying over the pond. Before the adults swam off towards the eagle, they herded the chicks close to my boat. I’ve seen this several times over the years. It is likely that the loons believe that raptors want to stay well clear of people and boats, giving the chicks safe harbor.

With a threat overhead, loon chicks flatten themselves on the water. This makes their profile smaller, making it harder for a predator to spot them.

When there’s a bit of wind, the chicks seem to disappear when they flatten.

I made it back to the pond on Saturday July 24 to check on them again. There was only one adult on the pond when I arrived about 0430. It is not uncommon for loons to wander off for a time. I imagine they just need a break to recharge. I’ve visited ponds where a loon was off on a break, but don’t recall ever seeing one spend the night away. I took a good look around the pond to make sure the missing loon wasn’t in distress.

Here’s a nice portrait of the adult on duty and the chicks.

That’s a nice-sized brook trout. It took some work to get it down, but the chick was up for the challenge. I’m not quite sure where a chick that small puts a fish that big when it swallows it.

Having lots of chores do to around the house Saturday evening, I made the obvious choice and returned to the pond. Our absent loon was still absent and the chicks spent much of the evening napping.

This little painted turtle was basking in the afternoon light.

And, Mrs. Moose returned. Her presence attracted a flotilla of boats – 8 at one point. She didn’t seem to care. One of the guys in a canoe asked if we were sure this was a moose. I have no earthly idea what else it could have been, but yes, yes we were sure.

The moose spent about an hour browsing along the shore, above and below water.

On July 27, I made it back before sunup, curious to see if our wayward loon had returned. My arrival was delayed by Mrs. Moose who was sauntering up the one lane road to the pond, stopping to browse as needed. She was going to do what she needed to do, and I could wait, thank you very much. She eventually wandered off into the brush and I was able to continue on to visit the loons.

Both adults were back on the pond and working hard to feed the chicks. One takes a quick break to stretch.

Loons eat crayfish – if you mange to see a loon eating, it is probably eating a crayfish. They swallow a lot of their prey underwater, but the crayfish need to be lined up to slide down tail first to avoid the pinchers. Loons will often bring them to the surface and toss them to get them lined up properly. The loons I’ve watched raise chicks before would usually bring fish to the chicks, with a few crayfish mixed in. This pair of loons seem partial to crayfish. Not sure if it is a personal taste or if crayfish are just more common than fish this year. Here’s an adult inbound with a good-sized crayfish.

Both adults heading inbound, each with a crayfish.

This turned into a race, with the adult with the smaller crayfish diving to get ahead.

Here’s a chick with the bigger of the crayfish. It looks like the crayfish was uncooperative and pinched the chick.

The crayfish’s strategy almost worked, the chick spit it out. The victory was short-lived, the chick hunted the crayfish down and swallowed it.

After a nap, one of our chicks stretches.

I tried again on the 29th, heading up before sunup. Mrs. Moose ran across the parking lot and the boat launch before heading into the woods. The forecast was for mostly sunny, but that didn’t work out. There were heavy clouds and the haze from the western wildfires. With much light, I mostly sat and watched.

But, I did, sorta, catch an interaction between a loon and a family of geese. The goose family, two adults and a mostly grown gosling, have been around all summer. Mostly, the families ignore each other. I did see the single loon tending the chicks on the 24th drive the geese back at one point. But, this morning the geese were minding their own business swimming away from the chicks, probably about 600′ feet and going way when one of our loons popped up to tell the geese to be gone. I imagine that having a ticked off loon appear out of nowhere to rear up over you must be a terrifying experience. The geese decided to move along.

I’ll be down at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair in Sunapee from August 7th to the 15th. Come on by and say hello. More info about the Fair at the League’s site, NHCrafts.org

Loon Chicks at 11 & 12 Days Old

On July 2, 2021 - Loons, Wildlife Photography

Let’s check in on our loon family. On June 29, the chicks were likely to be 11 and 12 days old. They’ve grown rapidly and are beginning to venture a few yards from their parents. Both chicks appear to be doing well, both about the same size, both learning to be loons and taking cute little loon dives. The morning I visited, the parents were feeding larvae, fish and crayfish to them. The parents would often carry fish or crayfish a far distance back to the chicks, but would offer the larvae if they were caught close to the chicks.

It looks like largemouth bass was the catch of the day.

The fish is a big meal for a little loon.

Yawning chicks give a good idea of how large their mouths are.

Foot waiving is thought to be a technique for cooling off. It was in the 80s by early morning, and all of the loons repeated waived their feet.

Some traits are shared by siblings of all species…

And a few pix of the chicks just because they’re cute.

After preening, loons of all ages will stretch their wings.

Sometimes it is just fun being a little loon….

After a busy couple of hours, everyone settled in for a nap.

Yet More Loon Pix, June 30, 2021

On June 30, 2021 - Loons, Wildlife Photography

This is a second loon family that I follow. They’ve got a chick. I must have missed the nest for a few days, I expected the chick to have hatched the day before these photos were taken, but it looks a few days older.

Surveying the pond from a parent’s back.

The little family took a slow paddle around the pond as the sun was coming up. The chick is barely visible on the back of the parent in the back.

The chick takes to riding on a parent like its riding in a palanquin.

The parent the chick was riding set out to forage, the other parent tried to encourage the chick to come aboard.

The chick was more interested in breakfast.

It looked like the parents were catching damselfly or dragonfly larvae for the chick.

Hey! Where did Dad go? The parent that the chick was next to just dove.

The chick fed, for now, the parents took some time to preen and stretch.

Then, some time just to watch the little one.

A Morning With The Loon Family, June 24, 2021

On June 24, 2021 - Loons, Wildlife Photography

Thursday morning I got to spend a few hours following our little loon family. Best guess is that on 6/24, the chicks were five and six days old. They’ve already grown noticeably. Both seem active and were eagerly feeding.

Check back regularly. There’s another pair of loons with eggs due to hatch as soon as tomorrow. I’ll be following both families when I get the chance.

My research suggest that loon chicks in the Upper Valley are fully 18% cuter than other baby loons 😉

Easy to believe when you get a look at them.

The parents take turns foraging for the chicks. This pair seems partial to feeding crayfish to the chicks. Loons aren’t strong on the concept of ‘volume,’ many of the crayfish offered are almost chick size.

Our chick has to lean out for the crayfish….

…and falls off and swims over for breakfast.

The crayfish appeared to object to being eaten, and managed to get free. The other parent retrieved it and offered it again.

It was a job to get it down, but our chick was up to it!

The parents are still keeping the chicks very close, and often on the parent’s back.

This little one takes a moment to preen. Loons, like other waterfowl, have a gland, called the uropygial gland, that excretes a waterproof oil that the loons spread over their feathers. They have to do this regularly to remain waterproof.

One chicks swimming along with a parent, one tucked under the wing.

One chick has climbed aboard preparing to nap.

Climbing all the way up can be a challenge for a little chick.

Shortly after the babysitting parent took the chicks aboard and got them settled, the other parent returned from foraging with another crayfish for the chicks – waking everyone up again.

And inbound again with another crayfish.

After feeding again, the babysitting parent gathered up the chicks, and after a bit, got everyone settled again. And I had to call it a morning.

First Loon Chicks of 2021

On June 23, 2021 - Loons, Wildlife Photography

UPDATE: When I first posted this, I didn’t know which loon was banded. I contacted the Loon Preservation Committee with the band information. They wrote back that this bird was banded on Lee’s Pond in Moultonborough, NH, in 2017. The were unable to determine the sex while banding. I eventually observed the banded bird yodeling. Since only males yodel, that let us determine the banded bird is dad. I’ve updated this post to reflect that in the captions.

Loon chicks are hatching around the Upper Valley. One of the pairs I follow had two chicks last Sunday morning. They were still on the nest, the chicks probably hatched Friday and Saturday. They stayed on the nest for a bit Sunday morning, before heading out to tackle life.

A note on photographing loons. Please give them their space – keep well back. Even if you aren’t a threat, you may distract the parents from something that is a danger to the chicks. Loon chicks face tough enough odds, don’t make it worse. These images were all taken with an 800mm lens on a crop 35mm body, comparable to a 1,280mm lens on a traditional 35mm camera – something like a 26x scope. And, they’re heavily cropped. You can get good images without crowding the loons.

Here’s our little family, still on the nest. That’s dad with the chicks, we can one of his leg bands.

The chicks ventured into the water a few inches from the nest when the mom brought food. Here they’re working to climb back into the nest. Loons’ legs are placed far back on their bodies. Perfect for swimming and flying, but they have real trouble walking on land. This shot gives a good look at how far back their legs are.

The loon sitting on the nest turns out to be dad, identified by his bands. The silver band on the close leg has a nine digit number to give the bird a unique identifier. But, it is next to impossible to read unless you catch the bird again. Loons are banded with two bands per leg, with different colors to increase the odds of being able to ID the bird without catching it. This bird has green over silver on the starboard side, yellow over green on the port side (way back on the left of the photo). Traditionally, loon banders put the silver band on the right leg if they band the bird as an adult, the left if they band a chick.

The chicks seemed to grow a bit restless, venturing further from the nest after each feeding. Eventually, the loon on the nest decided it was time to go. The family probably will not return to the nest.

After leaving the nest, dad got a well-deserved stretch.

Loons are very attentive parents. Both loons will guard and feed the chicks. They spell each other, a few times a day one parent will wander off to forage, preen and occasionally fly a couple laps around the pond.

Loon chicks have some sibling rivalry and will occasionally squabble.

One of the parents bringing a crawfish to the chicks. This crawfish was too big for the chicks to handle. They both made valiant efforts to swallow it, but it was too big. They kept dropping it. The parent probably retrieved and offered again it 10 times before just eating it.

After the crawfish, the parents tried what appeared to be damselfly and dragonfly larva. Which worked much better.

And another morsel…

It takes a long time to get a chick full on tiny tidbits.

Stretching out a leg – notice how far back the chick’s legs are.

The parents keep a close eye on the chicks when they’re small, one of the parents is usually within a few feet of them.

The chicks learn to be loons by mimicking their parents. You can often see the chicks at it, if a parent turns to look at something, the chicks are likely to turn as well.

The chicks will hitch rides on both parents’ backs, often tucking in under the wings to keep warm.

And sometimes riding high to enjoy the view.

Round Up The Usual Suspects, June 21, 2021

On June 21, 2021 - Loons, Wildlife Photography

Let’s round up the usual suspects once again. I’ve had some time in the kayak, exploring several local ponds and marshes.

I’ve been keeping an eye on several pairs of loons. Most have two eggs, one pair doesn’t seem to have built a nest yet.

One of the loons I’ve been following was napping in nice light, I tried to drift into position for a peaceful shot of a sleeping loon. This otter had other ideas.

The loon, which was not far from the nest, was not amused. It woke and dove after the otter several times.
It was a busy morning for this loon pair, while headed back to check on its mate on the nest, the loon found a snapping turtle which was encouraged to move along.

Shortly after, an eagle flew over their pond, causing the loon to flatten out to hide.

Another pond on another morning found a nice early morning scene with a pair of loons.

Spring time brings turtles out to lay their eggs. This pretty lady was laying eggs in West Newbury. That’s a snail hitching a ride. I asked him what was going on, he replied, “beats me. Its all happening so fast….”

Swamp police are on the lookout for this masked bandit, known as the common yellowthroat. They urge extreme caution, as he’s known to be winged and dangerous.

He had a sidekick, known as cedar waxwing.

Even our swamp sparrows are looking good this season.

This pair of kingbirds had a prolonged interaction that I couldn’t figure out. They were alternately perching near each other and swooping each other off their perches. There were several kingbird nests around the pond with birds still sitting on eggs, so it is probably too early for a fledgling. And, if they were courting, knocking your potential sweetheart off her perch repeatedly seems an odd way to win her favor.

The orange crown is what gives kingbirds their name, it is rare to see it.

This spotted sandpiper was kind enough to pose nicely several times throughout one morning.

Oh! Deer! This doe popped out of the brush not far from where I was tied off. I’m not sure she approved of my being on her pond.

Readers who don’t wish to see nature being nature may want to stop with this shot of the doe. Following are a pair of pictures of raptors with prey, including some gore.

A broad-winged hawk gave me a fly by with some Vermont Flied Chicken. I can’t really tell what the prey is, we were a long ways from anyone keeping chickens, it may be a turkey poult.

Wood Ducklings

On June 15, 2021 - Wildlife, Wildlife Photography

Sunday morning found this family of wood duck ducklings out and about. Mom was nowhere to be seen, but seven ducklings went about their business.

They explored around the brush lining the edge of their pond.

They foraged in the shallow water and picked insects off the brush.

They were finding a variety of insects along the way. Sometimes the insects are in easy reach…

You can see the terrain their camouflage is designed for.

Even ducklings have to put up with the flies.

This little duckling tried some sort of salad, it chewed on it for a bit before deciding it wasn’t very good.

Ducklings are masters of disguise. When they sense a threat, they rapidly disappear into and under the brush.

After a bit, the ducklings crawled out on a log to preen and stretch. And I paddled off to see who else was out and about.

ducklings, ducks, wood ducklings, wood ducks

Piping Plovers On The New Hampshire Coast

On June 14, 2021 - Wildlife Photography

Piping plover chicks have hatched on the New Hampshire Coast. I visited last week. In the short section of beach I visited, I found two families with chicks, one with three and one with four chicks. There were also a number of common terns terrorizing the beach denizens, winged, armed or legged.

What’s your vote for cutest bird? Piping plover chicks have to be on anyone’s list.

Let’s start with the terns. They nest in the sand dunes not far above high tide. They make a shallow scrape for their eggs. And, they defend their territory with gusto! They’ll swoop, peck and sometimes poop on intruders. Once one tern gets upset about an intruder, it seems like all the terns on the beach join in the commotion and find some critter to drive off.

A tern looking for someone to divebomb….

And a tern escorting a gull from the premises.

Adult piping plovers are handsome birds. They’re not very large, about 7″ long. They hunt for small crustaceans, worms and insects along the beach. You probably won’t see them until they move. They run – very fast – for short spurts. They live along the northeastern coast and in the Great Lakes. They’re endangered. I’ve seen the figure 6,100 individuals, but never with a citation.

Here’s mom – or maybe dad, only they know – overseeing the chicks running about on the beach.

They seem to coexist with some of the other plovers, and drive others away from there territory. Perhaps they come to terms with their neighbors, but still view others as threats. This plover has spotted another plover it wishes would go away.

Chicks are born ready to forage, the parents take turns supervising them as they run about the beach. The parents seem fairly laissez-faire about watching the chicks. They chicks are often well out of the parent’s sight. The parents call occasionally, probably to keep the kids relatively close. Every so often, the parent baby sitting decides the chicks are cold and calls them in and they duck under the adult and everyone sits for a few minutes.

This parent reacted to its mate returning to sit the kids by scrunching down and fluffing.

And the chicks are just darned cute. They run about the beach exploring, foraging, stretching and fluffing. They run in short spurts, changing direction on a whim.

Here’s one practicing being cute.

It takes them a while to grow into their feet.

Watching them walk, I can’t help but wonder if they were the inspiration for the two-legged walkers in Star Wars.

Exploring along above the high-tide mark.

This little guy may have some more learning to do….

birds, piping plover, piping plover chick, shorebirds

Solar Eclipse, June 10, 2021

On June 10, 2021 - Photography

Just a couple pix from today’s solar eclipse, taken from Rogers Hill in West Newbury, Vermont.

The sun never cleared the clouds during the eclipse, but you could see what was going on.

Osprey in Maine, May 2021

On May 22, 2021 - Raptors, Wildlife Photography

Greater Damariscotta, Maine, has been attracting bird photographers for years. Damariscotta Mills came to the attention of photographers when they restored the fish ladder on the Damariscotta River. The ladder was originally built in 1807 when mills blocked the fish’s trip up the river. in 2007 a group took to restoring the ladder which allowed the fish to run again. The fish attracted osprey and eagles. The birds attracted photographers.

When the alewife start running, all sorts of birds and others come to feed on them. I got a couple days up that way last week. The action seemed to be better just to the east in along the Saint George River in Warren, Maine. There were a number of osprey coming and going, the most spotted at one time was six. There was also a pair of adult bald eagles and two immature bald eagles in the area as well as a large supporting cast of cormorants and gulls.

The attraction for the wildlife is the alewife run. Alewife are marine fish that swim up rivers to breed in fresh water. They can grow to about 16″, but average about 10″. They swim upstream in large schools, with many millions of fish heading up the rivers in greater Damariscotta every year. Alewife apparently don’t appeal to humans. There are a few shops in the area advertising smoked alewife, but most of the fish caught become bait in lobster traps.

The rivers are filled with schools of alewife.

There were several flocks of herring and ring-billed gulls ranging in size from about 20 to over 50. They moved around on the river mixing then splitting up, making it hard to count. And, every time an eagle went over, the gulls would all take flight and squawk. They seemed to do their fishing around the lowest point of the tide.

When a gull managed to catch or scavenge a fish, it would be mobbed by several others attempting to steal it.

A broad-winged hawk came by to check out the scene. The guidebooks say broad-wings will eat fish, but this one just circled overhead briefly before moving on.

This immature bald eagle was my hero, he couldn’t go by the gulls without swooping them.

Another eagle resting on rocks in the river. The eagles seemed more interested in stealing fish from the osprey than catching their own.

The main attraction was the osprey. They fish at mid tide. The water has to be deep enough for them to dive into – they can go a couple feet down, but it seems they like the water shallow enough to keep the fish near the surface. Osprey glide in a slow circle over the water until they see an opportunity to grab a fish – or two – then dive.

There are often multiple osprey circling over the river.

Osprey can pull up and ‘hover’ more or less in one place while they watch the action below.

Still hovering, in the “‘”angel’s wing” pose.

The best part of watching them is the dive and climbing back out of the water.

Unlike eagles which grab fish from very near the surface, osprey dive much deeper, sometime submerging the entire bird. They make a slash when they hit!

Climbing back out of the water makes for some great pics.

This guy looks kinda mad, glad I’m not a fish.

Sometimes they come up with a fish – or two – sometimes not.

After a dive, osprey shake like a wet dog to get rid of the water.

After a catch, the osprey will often circle over the photographers to show off their catch.

The trip to see the fish ladder and osprey is worth it. The alewife start running in early May and go into June. The Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder is open to the public. They harvest fish a couple times a day and are very used to visitors stopping by to watch. You can usually see osprey and eagles from the road by the fish ladder. Last time I was there, a pair of seals came upstream for a snack.

Newer Entries — Older Entries

Posts in Category: Photography

Pin It on Pinterest