Bald Eagle Nest- A Work in Progress

Made my first exploratory visit to a Bald Eagle nest that is at eye level.  That's really a special opportunity.   It's going to take time to get the images I want.  Today's results were okay, but fishing seems slow at present due to muddy water in local rivers.  So there was no active feeding in 3-1/2 hours.

Here's an adult at the nest checking on the two chicks.  They are nestled down with only one head visible.

And here are two chicks.

Appears to me that the front chick is the dominant (alpha) one.  I expect they  have another four weeks before fledging.

Paul

Following an Osprey Nest

Ospreys have made a dramatic return to the Finger Lakes where the fishing can be very good. They are a graceful bird that is fun to watch.

A favorite nest site is the top of an electric pole.   If the pole has double crossbars, Osprey can erect a pretty stable structure.  Last fall I was on a bicycle trip with friends along a local river with no thought to birding; I looked off the elevated road to find an Osprey nest in the field below.  The road's elevation put me right at eye level to a nest. Usually nests are too high to see into. I made a note in my calendar and went back in early March.  There was a lone male Osprey beginning to rebuild the nest with new sticks.

Through March, I returned to see if he had found a mate.  He would call "Pee-Pee-Pee-Pee-Pee" with added excitement if the passing bird was another Osprey.  He got no takers.  By April, I wondered if he lacked charisma and I checked less often. Returning on May 14, I spied a female in the nest.  Finally!

On May 26, I could finally see a tiny head in the nest of sticks. Below you can see the female deep in the nest just after the male brought in a small fish.  The chick's head is the little dark object at the female's bill.  How many chicks?  I could finally see a head with my binoculars.  This is getting interesting.

The pair's duties are pretty well divided.  She is on the nest nearly always, and he is fishing for the next meal or perched nearby on guard.   As I watched the nest, I wondered what would happen to the remains in the nest.  It was answered maybe fifteen minutes later when the male returned (without another catch), and within a few minutes carried the rest of the bullhead away.  They've got the details figured out.

 Two weeks later, the chicks were considerably larger.  And, I could see three.  Beautiful!

You may wonder how I can be so sure of which is male or female.  See below the two adults on the nest.  The female is always larger, and the size difference is pretty substantial. 

Observation tells me that the female runs the show.  When the chicks are hungry, and the male is perched nearby, she rather emphatically tells him to get fishing.  Yesterday, when he flew over the  nest with no catch, her calls were almost to the alarm volume.  His duty is catching a fish.

In the photo above, the male had just brought in a fish and she is  inspecting it.  (Note the chick just in front of her legs.)  She moved it to the right side of the nest.  That seems to be her feeding station.  Seen below, the male quickly leaves to resume his fishing.

Now it is time to feed the chicks.  It seemed to follow a pecking order, with the dominate chicks always getting fed first.  The third chick seemed to rarely get much.

Occasionally, the female does fly away.  Twice, it has been to return in only a few minutes with fresh nest material.  Yesterday, she returned with what looked like dead corn shucks.

I wish I could close with images of the young Ospreys testing their wings and taking a first flight, but my calendar commitments suggest I will miss those moments unless their timing goes a bit slow.  I wish them a successful first flight.  Hopefully they will survive the year to begin their own nesting.  I'll never tire of capturing an Osprey in flight.

Now for some acrobatics- Gentoo Penguins

After a day trip to Volunteer Point near Stanley in the Falkland Islands, we flew to Saunders Island and took Land Rovers over a rough track to the Neck.  This is a popular 3-hour landing for ships making the circuit from Ushuaia (Argentina) to South Georgia Island and hence on to the Antarctic Peninsula.  Two days at sea to get one or two 3-hour zodiac landings? We were in camp there for three full days.

That's our little camp at the right overlooking colonies of Gentoo and even a few King Penguins.  It was a reasonable walk to find Rockhoppers, Magellanic and Black-browed Albatross nesting sites.  Just plain wonderful.

This was my first good chance to observe the Gentoos in an unhurried setting.  A lot more was revealed than a short ship landing could offer.

At the beginning of December, Gentoo eggs are hatching, and the female has typically returned from an extended time at sea with plenty in the hold to feed the new chicks.

The Gentoos often return from  fishing in packs. They seem very nervous.  That may be wise; Sea Lions and Orcas were spotted along the beaches.

As they approach the beach, they porpoise to look towards the beach for a safe landing spot.

Then it becomes interesting. If the sun is positioned to good effect, one can follow these dark shapes in the water swimming under the oncoming swell, and .........

.... often erupting through the crest of the wave.

It was easy to spend an hour or more watching this and trying to be pointed to the right place when the Gentoo popped up.  And, they really do pop up sometimes.

They can be quite acrobatic, like this one.

But, on to the reason for all of this.  It is about the chicks.  Once ashore, the Gentoos begin a trek to the rookery, often some distance from the beach.  Notice how clean they are.  They've been at sea. After a few days of feeding the chicks, their white apron will be pretty soiled.

The rookery is a pretty densely packed area that is stripped clear of any thing that may be used to build a nest. This includes any grasses, bushes or even small pebbles.   The wind is always blowing, so even a small pebble added to the rim of the nest will help shield the chick from the cold wind.

The parent below is placing pebbles around the chicks.  There is a pretty constant  commotion as  penguins wander about attempting to steal pebbles from neighbors.

Of course, the main action at the rookery is a combination of feeding, plus protecting the chicks from the wind and from the marauding Striated Caracara and Skua birds seeking to steal a meal. The chick seems to gain enough strength to lift its head. This will trigger the parent's feeding which begins with beak contact.

Then the parent presents an open beak for the exchange. It happens pretty quickly.  Seemingly exhausted, the chick then returns to rest.

It seemed two days later that the chicks had ballooned to three or four times what I saw initially. With seventeen hours of daylight, there is a lot of feeding.

Just like the action at the beach, I found myself drawn to the colony on a daily basis to watch from a distance the behaviors, which included being on guard for the predators' attempts to snatch a chick.  This did happen.

A key challenge to this photography was due to the denseness of rookery.  It's that way to provide safety from predator birds.  Getting this simple view required lying on the ground.

At the beach, it was still the same for a different reason. When you get REALLY low to the ground, the background is more distant and more out of focus.  The subjects are better defined.  So, our leader set a good example for us. That's blowing sand.  Maybe 30 mph wind - very typical.

Following his example, I made this sunset image near the Gentoo rookery.

Gentoos were clearly the most entertaining penguins to see come ashore.  Kings, Rockhoppers and Magellanic all seemed to just slide on shore with no theatrics. I will have more on the latter two in a few days.

Paul Schmitt

Blue-headed Vireo

A young friend relayed to me the location of a nest of Blue-headed Vireos a few weeks ago.  I waited until I expected there to be good sized chicks.  The nest is ideally located above a hiking trail and only maybe ten feet high.  (Thanks, Alex!)

Made the three-quarter mile hike into the nest on this humid morning. It was worth the effort down the hill, and I guess the uphill was tolerable.  The pair were pretty actively feeding their two young nestlings.

Did I say two?  Sure did.  Don't recall which swallowed that large grub.

Sometimes, an adult would sing from a nearby tree before flying in. That excited the chicks greatly.  What a big mouth for so small a chick.

I was there for about two hours but the time passed quickly. I saw action that I wish I could have captured.  A Pileated Woodpecker foraged on a downed tree and a Brown Creeper busied itself on another tree.  Perhaps the best was when a young robin ventured too close to the nest. The little vireo attacked with amazing furor and the robin fled with cries of terror.  All were out of reach of my camera or happening while I was shooting video. It is amazing how much you see if you stop moving and just sit in one place.  It seems that the less I move, the more I see.

Paul Schmitt

Stay Away from My Nest!

Anyone who had been around marshy areas in summer has seen the male Red-winged Blackbird raise the alarm when something wanders too close to his female's nest. It's happened to me, but I have never had the male actually attack me. They readily rise to harass passing hawks and crows, often striking blows on the tail of the passing intruder.  Recently I was on the wildlife drive at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and witnessed an attack that still surprised me a little.

Many groups of Canada Geese with goslings are present in the refuge in early July.  Close to the start of the drive, a channel runs along the drive.  It is rich with duck weed.  That is prime food for a wide range of  waterfowl including geese. There was one goose with four goslings working along an edge of cattails and as she led them forward, one male Red-winged Blackbird became upset with the goose.  The blackbird hovered overhead and raised its voice until the goose took notice.  I've seen this before.

Then, things changed.  He went on the attack.

In he dove on his target.

 Through this, the goslings seemed unaware of the situation.

 After a few choice blows with his beak, the Red-winged Blackbird returned to his cattail perch, and the goose led her four goslings a little further out from the cattails.  All returned to being peaceful. 

Paul Schmitt

More on the Red-headed Woodpeckers

Left  home at 5 am the other day to get to the nest of Red-headed Woodpeckers while it was early.  The sunrise was beautiful, but I would not pause on the long drive for fear of  missing some early feeding at the tree cavity.  I was not disappointed.  The pair were often exchanging places.

Typically, the adult in the nest immediately exits to catch the next meal.

As the morning progressed, it seemed to take the adults longer to come up with food, and the nest was left to the chicks.  If the adult stayed in the nest for awhile, it was often to do some house cleaning as seen in this photo.

   

It was a pretty rewarding morning. Eager to see the next stage in this saga.

Paul

We're hungry here!

Some opportunities cannot be delayed, so I was awake before dawn because I knew that fledglings in the Pileated Woodpeckers' nest cavity were likely to leave the nest very shortly.  Ignoring the mist and fog, I arrived at 7 am to meet my friend for the 1/2 mile hike in to the nest in the dead maple.

We arrived and set up just in time to see the male Pileated Woodpecker arrive to feed his pair of chicks. (Enlarging the image massively shows a red pale red patch behind the beak, a sure sign of a male.)

The female was nearby but did not come in to feed the pair.  The adults left and the young were seemingly unsatisfied with the amount of their early morning meal. Note that the pair have been foraging to gather double the food they would need to sustain themselves.  It has to end.  Over the next hour, it seemed at least one of the pair was at the opening looking for their parents. They seemed to alternate.  They became vocal, calling in a full voice just like an adult. There came no reply from their parents. It seemed that as the clock advanced, the chicks edged further out of the opening.

I had seen this behavior last year at another nearby location. I assume it is the same pair of adults as then.  Last year, one of their chicks was outside on a nearby tree. It was being fed. The remaining chick in the nest got a brief feeding, and the female then claimed a nearby tree and called to the holdout.  My guess is that the adults refuse to adequately feed the chick until it leaves the nest. The chick would nervously teeter at the edge of the hole but could not bring itself to leave.  Darkness came and I assume the chick was left hungry for the night.  Surely, hunger convinced it to fly in the morning.

So, I believe I was seeing the same fledging process this year. In the second hour, both chicks were simultaneously at the opening, with one or the other calling for the adults. On occasion, we spotted an adult in the vicinity but it was silent.

No feeding occurred. The chicks' searching the woods for help built up in intensity.

I wish I could end this story with evidence of how the young successfully made their leap, but an appointment called and the nearly constant drizzle was making it impossible to stay.  I'm sure they made it.

It was an entertaining 2-3/4 hours of watching this behavior.  I am sure if I returned on the next day, the nest would be empty and this pair would be making the next steps of learning to forage among the trees with their parents.  It was a privalige to see part of this process unfold.

Paul

Sandwiched!

Looking at some of my blogs, one might conclude that every outing yields results, but what could I show on those days when I am blanked? On some rare days, the opposite happens and I am sandwiched between good subjects.  That happened recently when I had returned to the previously shown Red-headed Woodpecker nesting  cavity.  I'd known that there were two Baltimore Oriole nests nearby; one on each side of the woodpeckers. I found myself timing the activity at each nest and anticipating where I should (literally) focus.

At the woodpecker nest, one adult is incubating inside, and  peers out the opening every five minutes seemingly looking for the next shift to report.

After several scans of the area, it  exits the cavity and takes a series of long stretches, alternating which wing is extended. It then quickly re-enters the tree.

When this is over, I realign to the Baltimore Oriole nest hanging high over the road in a Cottonwood tree. The male comes streaking in at a speed that makes it difficult to anticipate when to capture the bird in flight.

Look closely and you can spy a juicy spider in its beak.  Could they be feeding chicks?

He approaches the intricately woven nest.  This is so exciting that I am forgetting about the woodpeckers!

The male drops deeply into the nest and after several dips inward and outward, his task must be complete....

..for he is away in a flash.

Now, perhaps I have not missed anything at the other nest.  Back to it.  That adult repeats the exit and stretch, this time  becoming vocal.  I think the message is clearly for the other woodpecker.  So, I bounce back and forth between the two nests, hoping to capture the birds in flight.  Just before leaving, the second woodpecker arrives.

Pretty amazing day.  Still, I must note that my next stop is a zero.  It's about patience, persistence and preparation.  Remember the successes; accept the waits and failures.  Know the equipment, so mistakes don't prevent the successes.

I will re-read this blog on days when I come home empty (like yesterday's search for a Pileated Woodpecker nest).

Paul