One of my favorite ways to view wildlife is in my canoe. I can’t even begin to guess how many miles my 14-foot Radisson has in it. There will be more exciting photos coming up from a recent canoe trip, but for now here’s a cool shot of a red-winged blackbird.
Here’s a shot from the close-up meadow series I did for the Darien Land Trust five years ago. I came across many strange things during my time in the meadows that summer. It’s amazing what you find when you tune out everything except your immediate surroundings.
Treehoppers, not to be confused with planthoppers, are often called “thorn bugs” because of their appearance.
Here is a link to more information about treehoppers.
In case you’re interested, here’s what a planthopper, not to be confused with treehopper, looks like.
Here’s another shot of the volunteer sunflowers I have growing in the backyard. Here’s the original story in case you missed it.
I’ll be venturing out of New England for a few days and don’t want the birds here to think I forgot about them so I’m instituting my own Hummingbird Week. Each day this week I’ll post a new or old photo of a ruby-throated hummingbird, the only hummer that occurs regularly in New England. There is no such thing as too many hummingbird photos, after all. Each day will also include a joke or fun fact about hummingbirds.
Fun fact: Their wings aren’t the only things that move fast as a hummingbird’s tongue can sip from a feeder at 13 times per second.
Here’s the photo version of the story about freeing the eastern kingbird from abandoned fishing line. The original story may be found here.
Pondering the first move …
A pretty pathetic sight …
Getting the branch within reach …
Getting the knife ready to cut the line …
Cutting the line a safe distance above the bird …
The scared, agitated kingbird. Kingbirds have a red or orange crown that is rarely seen …
Checking for a hook and untangling the rest of the line. It was released, line free, a few moments later.
I was glad we were able to find and free this bird. Who knows how many birds perish unseen in such a slow, painful manner?
Here are a few shots of my favorite, shade-loving plant: Jack-in-the-Pulpit. They can be grown from seed in a shady garden, but I have always just randomly come across them in the New England woods. They are interesting to see and have a unique life history. (More about the plant may be found here: https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/arisaema_triphyllum.shtml )
Being a plant, Jack-in-the-Pulpits make for cooperative photographic subjects. These shots were taken with an iPhone during my recent camping trip to New Hampshire.
I’ve posted the loons and other birds from a recent camping trip to Pillsbury State Park. Here are a few shots of some Continue reading
I think I shared enough loon photos for a while, so here are some of the other birds I saw during a recent camping trip to Pillsbury State Park in New Hampshire. I saw plenty of birds, but wasn’t able to photograph many as the leaves are out in force and a foot injury limited my mobility. (Enough excuses for you?) Anyway, here are a few other Continue reading
Stop posting photos of loons, said no one ever. So, to celebrate Father’s Day, BirdsofNewEngland.com presents a common loon bonanza. Every hour on the hour, a new loon photo will post. All photos were taken earlier this week at Pillsbury State Park in New Hampshire. Happy Father’s Day. Enjoy the loons.
An eastern phoebe finally built a nest on a large piece of wood I had nailed to the underside of my porch three years ago.
Unfortunately, a brown-headed cowbird egg is among the five eggs currently in the nest. Brown-headed cowbirds are brood parasites and lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. Conventional wisdom says to remove the egg, but that would likely result in the vindictive mother cowbird coming back to destroy the other eggs.
Also, a new line of thinking says to let nature take its course and not let human values interfere with nature. It’s difficult, but I’ll leave the nest alone. I’ll check it daily to see how this all shakes out.
The first egg was laid on Tuesday, June 11. On Wednesday, another phoebe egg and the cowbird egg was discovered. Thursday and Friday brought one phoebe egg each for a total of four phoebe eggs and one cowbird egg.
Here’s the progression of the nest …
Birds of New England.com 