This past week brought a variety of birds.
One of the young herons came to our pond again. It always stands there looking lost. It sat with its mouth open like this and you could see the sides of its neck vibrate, but neither Mike or I could hear any sound coming from it. Don't know what it was doing.
It stood on our property for awhile and then went over to a neighbors and stood on their dock and walked around in their yard. Later it was gone.
We also had a lot of "little bird" activity....Hummingbirds.
This feeder hangs from the tree we were sitting under right in front of the swing....making a great place to take photos!
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds never seem to want to share. There was a great deal of buzzing around and chasing each other.
You can see the tip of the tongue here.
The other feeder up by the house was a place to get what I call "humming blurs".
This is the only shot of a male so far this year....see the red throat! I think it is strange that the wings look like squares :-)
You catch them in so many different positions as you snap away.
Looks like it is flying backwards....maybe it was!
About to give chase, I believe.
Then there were the unidentified ducks we saw early one morning while checking on the eagle's nest.
My photos aren't very helpful for identifying them.
In this one I can see a white patch around the eye. Female Wood duck?
The bill seems a different shape than on Mallards.
One of the young herons came to our pond again. It always stands there looking lost. It sat with its mouth open like this and you could see the sides of its neck vibrate, but neither Mike or I could hear any sound coming from it. Don't know what it was doing.
It stood on our property for awhile and then went over to a neighbors and stood on their dock and walked around in their yard. Later it was gone.
We also had a lot of "little bird" activity....Hummingbirds.
This feeder hangs from the tree we were sitting under right in front of the swing....making a great place to take photos!
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds never seem to want to share. There was a great deal of buzzing around and chasing each other.
You can see the tip of the tongue here.The other feeder up by the house was a place to get what I call "humming blurs".
This is the only shot of a male so far this year....see the red throat! I think it is strange that the wings look like squares :-)
You catch them in so many different positions as you snap away.
Looks like it is flying backwards....maybe it was!
About to give chase, I believe.Then there were the unidentified ducks we saw early one morning while checking on the eagle's nest.
My photos aren't very helpful for identifying them.
In this one I can see a white patch around the eye. Female Wood duck?
The bill seems a different shape than on Mallards.
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11 comments:
When it is very hot, the birds breath through their open mouths like that as it cools the mucous fluids and so cools them.
Great hummingbird shots, Mary! Mine are still too bashful to hang around long enough for a photo.
Great birds and shots Mary. I think the heron cools himself by flapping his throat. Looks like a wood duck to me!
Enjoy your day today!
...does look like a Wood Duck, doesn't it with that very large eye. Makes me think of a juvenile...so pretty.
Mary: Great shots of the herons and hummers.
Such good shots of your hummers. I put up a new hummer feeder this afternoon outside my computer room window..
How cool that the young heron comes to you.
B.
Getting Hummers in flight is not an easy feat,yours look pretty good.
Blessings,Ruth
Great set of photos, Mary. Was that a lucky capture of the tongue, or were you trying to get it?
Joan: I guess I don't usually see the herons do that and it wasn't that hot. Glad to know what he was doing.
Lindy: Once my hummers come they are pretty easy to photograph. I get my best shots from inside, but sitting there on the swing was a different perspective and they were so busy that day!
Eve: Glad to know that about the heron and the agreement about the wood duck. It was early in the day and the ducks were in bad lighting. I don't usually see Wood Ducks, so until I looked it up, I had no idea what it might be. The eye patch was the only distiction I could see.
Kelly: Thanks...hope I see them again for better shots.
Tom: Thanks!
Becky: I wish I had a window by my computer, since I spend so much time on it. Everyone around us has a small pond, so the herons have a lot to choose from if they stop by. The best fishing area of ours is on our side near the end of the dam.
Ruth: I usually can get them as they hover, but these were more distant and it was just interesting to see all the different positions of the wings. Sometimes photography is very useful to just study a bird.
Rose: No, I was just shooting as fast as the camera would let me :-) They like to flick it out when they have just eaten.
Mary..Herons, pelicans, cormorants etc.. do what is called a 'gular flutter' to cool off and there is no sound with it.(A cooling behavior in which birds rapidly flap membranes in the throat to increase evaporation; particularly obvious in cormorants, pelicans, and their relatives.)
The ducks are wood ducks and a couple of them look like young woodies, but I couldn't see the facial pattern clearly enough to see if what sex they were...Michelle
Love the series of hummingbird phtos.
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