Posts in Category: Wildlife

Photos, stories and ‘how I got the shot’ about birds and animals in the wild

Checking On Our Bird Boxes, April 14, 2021

Not much action in the bluebird box today. Mrs. has shown up only four times. The first time, she settled then fussed several times, we were convinced she was laying her first egg. No such luck 🙁  Both bluebirds are around the yard, ready to protect the box should it need defending. Mrs. should lay her first egg within the next couple days. 


We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds. 

Bluebird Update April 11, 2021

Mrs. Bluebird continues working on her nest. I’d bet she’s getting close to finished. Her last trip into the box in this video shows her bringing what appear to be feathers in to line the nest. 


We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The cameras are permanently mounted in the boxes and we can watch without disturbing the birds. 

Loons & Turtles – Spring Is Here!

With yesterday’s beautiful weather, I dug the kayak out of the basement and headed out. Spring has arrived. 

I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of the sunshine. The pond had a full battalion of painted turtles out basking. It seemed like every log and hummock had at least one, usually many more. 

Looks like this log is approaching turtle capacity.
More turtles enjoying a spot of sunshine.
Someone had put some seeds out on a broken off log. A chickadee paused to ponder the selection before digging in.
Sunflower seeds seemed to be the favorite for a red-breasted nuthatch. 

And, a loon has returned! The loon tipped its head back and opened its mouth without vocalizing many times. I can’t decide if it was stretching, yawning or something else. I’ve emailed the Loon Preservation Committee asking what they think its up to. BTW, the LPC loves to have people report notable statistics about New Hampshire loons. On the Vermont side of the river, Eric Hanson of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies collects data on Vermont loons. They like to know when loons first arrive in the spring, when they mate, when they build their nest, how many eggs they lay, how many chicks hatch and if any of them die. If you notice any of these, just send a quick email with the date, what you saw and which pond you were on. And, if you find a dead loon, they’d like to collect it to do a necropsy. 


The loon took a few minutes to preen. 
And, no visit with loons is compete without a good wing stretch.

Further Work on the Bluebird Nest April 10, 2021

Mrs. Bluebird has been coming and going from the box all morning. She stopped to talk to us while we were having lunch on the deck. The nest is well along and she seems to be making just minor additions and adjustments. 

We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The chickadees are in Piermont, New Hampshire. The cameras are permanently mounted in the boxes and we can watch without disturbing the birds. 

Bluebird Nest Construction Continues, April 9, 2021

Mrs. Bluebird continues to be busy building her nest in our box. She’s been making regular trips in with grass since just before sunup. 

We’re looking inside a nesting box in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds. 

Bluebirds Continue to Build their Nest April 8, 2021

Barry and Jeans are making good progress on their nest. They work hard for a couple hours in the early morning, then wander off to tend to whatever errands they have. 

We’re looking inside a nesting box in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds. 

Return of the Bluebirds! April 7, 2021

Our bluebirds, Barry and Jeans,  have returned to claim their nest box for another season! Barry has been checking the box several times a day for the last week. On April 6, he dragged a few stalks of grass into the box. This morning, things got serious when Jeans stepped in and put her talents into organizing the building of the nest. 

We’ll see Jeans come and go from the box and watch as she starts to form the cup in the nest with her breast. 

Barry and Jeans have nested in the box the last two seasons. They’ve raised three broods and fledged 12 chicks. (Well, two bluebirds that look like Barry and Jeans… we have no way of knowing if this is the same pair. We just hope they are.)

We’re watching eastern bluebirds inside a nesting box in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without bothering the birds. I’ve edited the video to cut out time when nothing is happening, you may notice the video jump a couple times. 

Mrs. Bluebird Continues Sitting, April 25, 2021

Mrs. Bluebird spent another day sitting on her eggs. We’re expecting them to hatch sometime between May 2 and May 10. Watch as she stirs, turns the eggs, then settles back in for a nap. 

We’re looking inside a nesting box with the bluebirds in West Newbury, Vermont. The camera is permanently mounted in the box and we can watch without disturbing the birds. 

Loon Fight!

Loon families need a sizeable territory to successfully raise their chicks. A loon family with a pair of chicks will eat something like a half ton of (mostly) fish during the season. Loons will fight to defend their territory. One result of the growing loon population is more frequent disputes over territory. Most of these are settled with some vocalization and displays. Some get more serious and some are serious enough to kill one of the combatants. Here are a few shots from an all-out fight on the Weston’s pond in May 2019. The home team was an established pair with a egg in their nest.

After some posturing, one loon went after another – hard to tell who is whom since they all dress alike. This is the loon being chased, ‘wing rowing’ across the water with his wings (or ‘wing oaring’ if you’re from across the pond). 
More wing rowing.
Eventually, the chasing loon caught up with the chased and they fought, trying to drown each other. 
One of the loons has the other by the neck and is trying to get on top of him to drown him.
One of the combatants breaks free and tries to escape.
The pursuer catches up and the fight continues.
The fight was viscous, but hard to tell who was winning.
Someone has his head underwater.
While watching, I thought that one had succeed in drowning the other. They’d been fighting not far from shore, both went down and only one came up. The second eventually appeared from under some of the brush along the shore. Fighting resumed and one was chased about 25 feet up the shore. It rested there for many minutes before slowly making its way back to the water. Once afloat, it took off and left the pond. I believe the original pair had successfully defended the pond. The pair that remained on the pond laid a second egg and eventually hatched two chicks. 

Eagles at Conowingo Dam

My travels took me through Aberdeen, Maryland, recently. It was just at the start of eagle season at the Conowingo Dam, so I felt that required a visit. I was able to spend a few hours over a couple days in along with a couple hundred of my closest eagle photographing friends.

The Conowingo Dam dams the Susquehanna River on the line between Cecil and Harford counties, MD. The original town of Conowingo is now under the reservoir above the dam. Conowingo is famous among photographers because something like 250-300 bald eagle winter in the area. The dam keeps the water open. Fish that would prefer to stay deep underwater get stirred up (or even injured) going through the dam and make easy pickings for waiting eagles. The eagles have learned that the lights and siren to alert people that the dam is about to increase the water they’re releasing means dinner is served.

Along with the eagles, there is a large flock of black vultures, several varieties of gulls, a gulp of  cormorants and even a pair of peregrine falcons. Photographers new to the dam are allowed to shoot a few pix of the non-eagles before they are roundly abused by their fellow photographers.

Here we’ve got a black vulture flying over the river. The vultures are a problem for visitors, they’ve been known to eat windshield wipers and any plastic part of a car they can get their beaks on.
The fishing is pretty good for everyone. Here a double-crested cormorant has caught a nice catfish.
Of course, you can always try to take what someone else has caught….
But, the real action is the eagles. When I was there, the winter crowd was just beginning to arrive. The local birders estimated somewhere between 50 and 75 eagles had arrived. Many of the eagles were juveniles.
You get frequent close looks as they fly over.
But, the real attraction is the mature eagles.
Looking down from the parking lot on a mature eagle with a meal.
Another fly-by with a meal tucked up under.
Bald eagles often seem more interested in stealing fish from other birds than in doing their own fishing. A successful catch often leads to a chase. Here a couple juveniles tussle over a fish, look closely under their wings and you can see the eagle on the right has dropped what should have been his meal. There were several skirmishes between adults and adults and juveniles, but they usually took the fight over the trees along the river and out of sight.
There were good views of eagles fishing; this eagle has spotted a fish below and is banking to line up for his dive.
There were several flybys with eagles showing off their catch as they headed to perch in the trees behind me.
He’s got a good grip on that fish.
And, I was lucky enough to catch a few well-lit fishing sequences.
Look on the right side of the photo, that’s a fish breaking the surface and about to become breakfast.
He makes the grab!
He’s made the catch!
And, like all fishermen, he wants to show off his catch.

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