Some Recent Pictures

My recent posts on getting close to nature and interacting with wildlife struck a chord with many readers and I've had some nice observational notes sent to me by a number of people - thank you all for sharing with me. Lambert Orkis from Virginia told me a particularly touching story about an apparently injured Downy Woodpecker which seemed to be reassured by hearing a calm voice and allowed Lambert to experience some close moments with it.

Lambert Orkis sent me this great portrait of the amazingly obliging Yellow-breasted Chat that has been on territory at Higbee's Beach this year; Lambert writes " Tom Reed mentioned as he was co-leading us in a Belleplain Walk during the Cape Maygration festival, that he felt a certain frustration towards Yellow-breasted Chats as they were so audible yet hard to find. I mentioned to him the rather visible Chat at the First Field in Higbees Beach. He admitted that was the exception. Accordingly, because of the high visibility of this bird at First Field for me in the Spring 2010 and its high visiblity this Spring especially when the birding was slow, I would like to nominate this bird as the Official Spring-time Greeter of First Field. He is musical, colorful, and co-operative.

Another one of Lambert's recent photos seems to fit into my Nature Detective post. So what is going on here? Actually, I'm not sure, but three adults at one nest is not usual and its also of interest to note that the bird in the middle is carrying the fish the wrong way round! By the sound of it, this was a case of one Osprey trying to steal a fish from another and simply taking it too far!

I'm adding in this Cedar Waxwing photo from Kevin Inman for two reasons - one, because it's a nicely framed shot of two birds interacting and tweo, because Kevin took it from a kayak! Birding by kayak really is taking off  and the quietness of travelling without an engine certainly gets you closer to nature.

Finally, it was a fairly quiet walk in a cool NW wind at the state park this morning, but its good to be able to report that the Purple Gallinule is still feeding in its favorite pool just north of the second plover pond.