birds – ToadMama.com

January 31, 2016

Few White Faces at Blackwater

I went to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge yesterday with hopes of seeing big flocks of Snow Geese. I’ve been thinking about visiting that place since October, when I failed to see Snow Geese during my visit to Chincoteague. It’s a three-hour drive from my house, though. Sometimes it’s hard for me to justify — to myself — investing an entire day just to go see a bunch of birds.

So, when I learned of a dog transport passing through this area, I figured I could multi-task again. I could help transport the dog AND drive to Blackwater.

ellie's map — Ellie’s Transport – Rustburg, VA to Whiting, NJ (not the actual route)

Originally, I was supposed to take Ellie from Warrenton to the other side of DC. But I figured if I carried her to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the folks on the NJ end might appreciate traversing ruralish highways instead of Interstate 95.

I was right. 🙂

Ellie with her foster Dad, Bob Fairbanks

So, after handing Ellie off to her foster parents in Queenstown, MD, I drove about another hour to Blackwater.

It was around 3:00 when I got there, and there wasn’t a whole lot of daylight remaining.

Unfortunately, there were few Snow Geese to be found. I did get lots of other cool pics, though, and quite a few crappy ones.

Before I share my captures, I will say this… I am no bird photographer. I take pictures of birds, but I don’t have the right equipment, i.e., a big-ass, expensive zoom lens and industrial-strength tripod, to capture technically good bird photos. I just take snapshots.

I also have to say that it was very windy and cold there yesterday. Temps hovered around 40 degrees F (about 4.5 C), but the wind made it feel much colder. The wind also wreaked havoc on my focus. Using a zoom lens requires a tripod and/or a very steady hand. Although I had taken the tripod along, I didn’t bother setting it up because of said wind.

The first set of pics was taken with my point-and-shoot camera.

Blackwater — a tidal wetland — is a pretty place.

Cool — and mysterious! — pattern in the ice.

I really like my captures of this pattern in the ice. I’d hoped the folks at the visitors’ center could explain how it was created, but they were equally intrigued.

A bit of grass in the foreground, while blurry, makes this shot, I think.

My point-and-shoot — a Canon G16 — is a higher-end camera, and it has pretty good zoom capabilities, but digital zoom is only good if the light is bright and the camera is very still. Remember, it was windy. And daylight was fading fast during my visit.

The pics shared below were all taken with my DSLR camera, equipped with a zoom lens.

This image of a Great Blue Heron is blurry, but I think that adds to the shot.

I like how you can also see the bird’s feet in the second picture.

I saw quite a few herons yesterday.

I like the blurry marsh grass in the foreground.

This guy (or gal?) was kind enough to land right in front of my car.

I’m a sucker for interesting reflections.

There’s that interesting pattern in the ice again.

I stopped at the visitors’ center for a potty break, to warm up, and to ask about the Snow Geese. I was starting to think they’d all flown north already (Blackwater is one of several over-wintering spots for them on the East Coast).

That’s where I captured this eagle shot, which I posted to FB with the caption, “Got really close to an eagle! That’s a phone pic, no filter.”

Of course, the prankster in me left a few important details out of that caption. It was a real, but dead, stuffed, and mounted, eagle in an exhibit.

The volunteers at the visitors’ center told me the Snow Geese were spending their day in nearby fields, off-refuge, eating. While there was still sufficient light, I set out to see the elusive Snow Geese.

Snow Geese (some were quite far from the road; see the white dots in the background?)

After observing them for a bit, I drove back to the refuge, hoping maybe they’d return before dark.

Note, I did NOT say Canadian Geese. They’re CANADA Geese, people, not Canadian Geese. That’s one of my pet peeves when people talk about birds.

Along Wildlife Drive at the Blackwater Refuge.

If you look at a larger version of this image (just click on the picture) you’ll see that its neck feathers were blowing in the wind.

I captured quite a few nice sunset shots, which I’ll share in a separate post.

The Snow Geese did return to the refuge, but not until after sunset. I DID capture a few shots with the point-and-shoot, but they were blurry.

One blurry, dark photo of Snow Geese in flight.

The pics I captured during my previous visit are better. The first image shown below is a good pic from my visit in 2011, when I still had a separate moto blog.

It’s really pretty amazing to see — and hear! — hundreds of geese in flight. I guess if you like that sorta thing.

If you’re curious, here a link for more info on about Snow Geese. And here are some nice pics captured by someone else — found via Google — that clearly show Canada Geese beside a Snow Goose.

I must say, it was nice being out in the world for a change. I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit. 🙂

February 13, 2012

For the Love of Pete

We’ve had some rather odd weather this year. Springlike. Which would be okay if it weren’t January and February.

The birds are confused. All the American Robins have emerged from the swamps. There are bulbs sprouting everywhere. It’s just weird.

Of course, it couldn’t last. Saturday night, a cold front swept through to bring us back to reality. It was 20 degrees when I walked the dogs this morning.

Brrr.

I’ll take it, though. Sunday morning was colder than that.

At one point, I walked past the front windows and noticed that the yard was full of birds. And there was this one industrious little Black-capped Chickadee that fascinated me.

He (or she) was quite intent on getting food off of this bush, which I think is some sort of holly. But I could be wrong.

I know these pictures aren’t great, but considering I was shooting through a window and a screen at full zoom, they’ll do.

I really like that shot. It’s as if she (or he) were smiling at me.

Since they’re typically thought of as the first signs of Spring, most people don’t realize these birds don’t really migrate. They tend to hang out in the woods and swamps and stuff during the winter.

It wasn’t long before my shadows noticed the birds, too.

They are bird dogs after all.

They seemed happy enough watching from the window. But I think they, too, are anxious for Spring.

Which is where my title came from…

For the love of Pete, come on and get warm already!

December 13, 2011

Girlfriend Getaway Continued

I think 2011 has been the most irregular blogging year for me ever. It’s been a crazy, hectic year. But a good year in many ways.

For those of you who haven’t given up on me… as mentioned in my last post, I have lots of pics from my recent girlfriend getaway weekend.

I always take lots of pics, but this time I had an ulterior motive. My girlfriend Tracey, who hosted this year’s shindig, is also the host of the Granny Trace Scraps and Squares blog. She doesn’t have lots of time to take pics around the home place. And doesn’t know how to edit pics like me. So I figured I’d capture some blog material for her.

I love a good excuse to take even more pics than usual. 🙂

Tracey’s house is like a country craft store. Except nothing is for sale. Oh, and you don’t need to walk around in fear of breaking stuff. The place is cozy, warm, and full of love.

I’m not exaggerating. Not even a little bit. See for yourself.

IMG_5191_family_room — The Family Room Fireplace

IMG_5200_santas — A Small Portion of Her Santa Collection

IMG_5204_piper — Piper Looking Out the Window

That Piper is one photogenic pup, isn’t she?

I even managed to get a few nice shots of Tracey.

IMG_5198_chicken — Tracey with Her Christmas Chicken

That’s one of my favorites, ’cause she’s showing off her Christmas chicken. I found that months ago in an antique store. As soon as I saw it, I said, literally, “Oh my God, that chicken has Tracey’s name written all over it!”

Now, some folks might be all like, “Oh, nice. You got me a used cookie jar for Christmas. And it’s a chicken.”

Tracey loved it. Because she likes chickens. And old stuff. Besides, that cookie jar just happens to look like Big Joe, her largest, most rambunctious rooster.

Tracey has lots of critters.

There’s Piper, of course.

IMG_5304_piper — Piper Chillin' in the Sewing Room

There’s turkeys.

There used to be more, but this is December. Thanksgiving just passed. And these birds are thankful they didn’t end up on someone’s table. (Tracey is planning on growing her own turkeys next year, so she needs to keep these alive.)

There are quite a few chickens, too. I didn’t count when I was there, but just this morning her blog said she has 37.

Thirty seven chickens!

At first, these birds were camera shy. Of course, it was towards evening when I made my first attempt at capturing some shots of them. Maybe the flash freaked them out? Who knows. But, by the next day, these bad boys were all about getting their picture taken. Really.

In that shot, Joe is looking dead-on at the camera. Here’s a close-up of his face.

See what I mean?

IMG_5341_moses_and_hens — Moses and Some Hens

And Moses, the rooster with white on his wings, who had run previously every time I even though about touching the camera, was posing like there was no tomorrow.

I even managed to get a nice little group shot.

The hens have names, too. I just can’t remember them.

If you’re wondering how Tracey can name critters she’s planning on eating, don’t fret none. She only names the critters they aren’t going to eat.

IMG_5287_dinners — Those Who Shan't Be Named

That unfortunate flock confined to the coop is the “dinners.” Those are the eatin’ chickens.

And that’s it for your tour of Tracey’s lovely country home and the critters of Turtle Tree Farms.

Now, I think I’ll go make myself a nice egg sandwich…

February 20, 2011February 20, 2011

Back On Track

I haven’t paid much attention to the computer over the past week. Except for work stuff. I am woefully behind in my blogging. Not just writing my blogs, but reading everyone else’s. I’m hoping to get caught up this week.

The week wasn’t particularly eventful, I just didn’t have anything to say.

It was Shannon’s week to cook so at least I got a break from dinner duty. Monday she made a pasta and veggie dish. Tuesday’s meal was Hoppin’ John, which wasn’t very picturesque, but tasted really good. Hubby and I had never had that before. Wednesday she fed us Thai Red Shrimp Curry, which is one of our favorite Shannon-dishes. It’s basically shrimp and veggies stir-fried in a mildly spicy, coconut milk-based sauce. Served over rice. It’s delicious AND colorful, which is why you get to see a picture of that meal.

Thursday was Thirsty Third Thursday, which is the one evening each month Shannon, Amy, and I get together for a girls’ night. Since Amy’s husband has been deployed, most TTTs have been at Amy’s house. This month we decided to actually go out instead for a change of pace. We were going to do it on a weekend and celebrate our birthdays at the same time (mine is February 6 and Amy’s is March 1), but that didn’t work out. Amy wasn’t able to get a sitter on a Thursday night, but Shannon and I really wanted to go out, so we went without her. It wasn’t the same, of course, but it was nice to be out nonetheless.

We started out at Max’s on Broadway in Fells Point (a neighborhood in Baltimore City), but weren’t getting a great vibe there. Plus the beer was pretty expensive. So we walked down the block and up Thames Street to John Steven Ltd. We ended up staying there until about 1:00 AM. Good thing I had the day off on Friday.

Wanna know why I had the day off on Friday? Because I knew it was going to be 70 degrees and took an emergency mental health day off from work.

My bike on the first 70+ degree day in 2011.

Since we didn’t get home until about 2:00 AM, I got a later start than I originally intended. I did eventually get out though and spent all day out and about on the new motorcycle. It was fabulous. I actually went east for a change across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Normally, I’d head north or west, but I’d been wanting to get to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge for some time to see the Snow Geese. These geese over-winter at the refuge. I get a big kick out of seeing and hearing thousands of big, white geese as they take to the sky.

It really was a gorgeous day. And the refuge was practically deserted. So I got to take my good old time observing the estimated 3,000 Snow Geese that hang out there. There were Canada Geese, too (of course). I also saw a couple of Eagles.

I’m glad I finally got to pay the geese a visit. There’s just something special about those white birds.

In my next post, I’ll bring you up-to-speed on the WV kitchen project. For now, I’m pooped and headed off to bed.

May 22, 2010May 22, 2010

I Gotta Get Out of This Place

Yesterday was one of those I-just-can’t-stay-in-this-house-today days for me. That’s okay in a way because it was my day off. I have plenty of stuff that needs to be done around here that I could have done instead. But the weather was supposed to be in the 80s and not very humid. I figured I could do my chores on Saturday and Sunday when it’s supposed to be rainy.

So, I threw my camera equipment into my backpack, grabbed the keys to Shannon’s car, and headed out for the day. Her car hasn’t seen much use, so I figured it could use some exercise.

I wanted to do something different. Something urban. Don’t ask me why I decided to be among people. I’m not usually a city girl. Maybe it’s because I was driving Shannon’s car. She is a city girl. Since we almost never go to Washington, DC, despite the fact that it’s only about 30 miles away, I decided to go there. The last two times I was there, I went to the National Mall / Capitol area. So this time I decided to head to Georgetown. I thought it might be cool to see this end of the C & O Canal (as opposed to this end).

Mid-afternoon temps hit 92 degrees (taken at just one of my MANY traffic stops).

Bad idea. Bad, bad idea.

I was totally not prepared. I mean, I pretty much knew how to get to Georgetown. But on the whole, I don’t know DC very well. I didn’t take a map. I also didn’t bother to check out what was going on in Georgetown yesterday. As I learned later, this is graduation weekend at Georgetown University which, of course, is in Georgetown. Traffic SUCKED. Traffic was heavy all of the way through the city, but it got really bad in and around Georgetown.

I made one wrong turn on M Street and ended up heading away from the main shopping area. No worries, though. I have a great sense of direction and knew I’d get back there eventually. I was almost back to that spot, though, when I made another wrong turn and ended up heading across the Potomac into Virginia. I could have just turned around and headed back at that point, but opposing traffic heading back into Georgetown was backed up all the way across the bridge. I’d already had my fill of the whole stop-and-go scene, so I hopped onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway, instead. It pretty much parallels the Potomac River from Great Falls, Virginia (northern end) to Mt. Vernon (southern end). Because one of my Flickr contacts (Nikographer [Jon]) has shot lots of great critter pics there, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to head to Great Falls National Park. I’d never been to the Virginia side before.

Aside from the kamikaze commuters doing 80 mph on the GWMP, my drive to the Falls was without incident. NOTE: click on any of the images below for a larger view.

Great Falls National Park in Virginia has three “official” overlooks providing views of the river. You can see it from many more spots, too, where some of the gazillion visitors over the years have blazed their own paths to the river’s edge. An average of seven people die from drowning here each year. Not all, but most of them fall into the river after blazing or following one of these paths and climbing on the rocks. Idiots. I stuck to the overlooks (a sure sign of impending old age!).

I didn’t realize until I was at the Falls that I’d left my zoom lens at home. I was so bummed. There were Great Blue Herons all over the place, fishing for lunch. Luckily, I had my doubler (doubles the power of a lens). That did allow some degree of closeness. But I would’ve ended up with much better bird shots if I’d had the zoom lens along. These are just snapshots to give you an idea of what I saw.

That Great Blue Heron was on the rocks right below the overlook. I got a couple of half-decent snapshots of him (or her).

There were a lot of international visitors there, which surprised me. I never knew Great Falls drew tourists from afar.

Another thing that sort of surprised me were how many people would come to the overlook, “ooh” and “aah” about the water, but not even bother to notice the birds. These are BIG birds; they’re 3.2 to 4.5 feet tall with wingspans of 5.5 to 6.6 feet.

When I left the park, I was not at all happy to discover that traffic on 495 was stopped. I wouldn’t have needed to be on there for long, but I didn’t feel like sitting in traffic. So I just stayed on the Georgetown Pike. I’d never been on the road before, but I figured with a name like that, it HAD to lead back to Georgetown. I was right. But it was even more crowded and congested than it had been earlier in the day. So I just decided to get out of the city. Remember, I don’t know my way around DC. So I just drove. When I saw a road name I recognized as a route to the suburbs (New Hampshire Avenue), I followed it. Easier said than done. It’s not a straight road. And the traffic! Ugh.

I followed that route until I saw a sign for 193 heading east, which was the direction I was seeking. I recognized that road name, too, so I followed it for a while. Another mistake. More heavy traffic. When I got to US-1, a road I know runs north/south and passes relatively close to my house, I turned right. Yet another HUGE mistake. That right turn not only put me on US-1 south (the wrong direction), it put me into the heart of College Park.

The University of Maryland is based in College Park. And guess what yesterday was at UM? Graduation day. Crap. (That’s not the expletive I chose, I’m just keeping things clean here.)

I should have known it was graduation day there because a close friend of the family actually graduated from UM yesterday.

jaime_and_nadya — Jaime Gibbons (the graduate) and her sister, Nadya Spice.

Anyway… traffic CRAWLED through College Park. It was awful. I was so happy to see signs for the Capitol Beltway. But then, of course, the Capitol Beltway was stop and go, too. I got back onto 193, heading east again, to get to the BW Parkway. Traffic was stopped on that, too. So I just stayed on 193.

By that point, I’d spent most of my day in the car. I still wanted to get OUTSIDE. So I headed for the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge. The last time I’d gone there was in January. I am still kicking myself for not having that zoom lens with me, but I got some neat shots anyway.

IMG_2801 copy — A toad! How appropriate.

The first time I have EVER actually seen a duck coming out of one of these boxes here or at any of my other many visits to wildlife refuges all over the country.

A Blue Grosbeak; first time sighting for me.

IMG_2812 copy — Lily pads and other aquatic plants.

It was a LONG day. It wasn’t nearly as relaxing or refreshing as I’d hoped it would be, but you know what they say… even a bad day off is better than a great day at work.

Visit my Flickr page to see the rest of yesterday’s photos.

April 7, 2010April 7, 2010

Holy Cow

When Hubby and I visited Alaska a couple of years ago, the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka was one of our stops. Actually, it’s one of the reasons Sitka was added to our itinerary. I’d read about their Bald Eagle rehab program and thought it would be a cool place to visit. It was. Very cool actually.

It’s really interesting to see these magnificent birds up close. The one pictured on the right is a Golden Eagle. As explained on this Web page done by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Golden Eagles are common in western North America, but rare in the East.

You’re most likely to make a rare sighting during the winter in the Mid-Atlantic region, which is where some Golden Eagles and many other raptors go to escape the harsher weather of their summer breeding and year-round ranges.

Hubby and I did see at least one Golden Eagle in the wild when we were at Denali National Park. But I haven’t seen one here.

Why then am I telling you about Golden Eagles? Because one of the people in my computer recently did a blog post about them. Before I tell you more, here’s a little info you should read about the differences between Bald and Golden Eagles.

American Bald Eagle description (from the American Bald Eagle Information Web site): A female bald eagle’s body length varies from 35 to 37 inches; with a wingspan of 79 to 90 inches. The smaller male bald eagle has a body length of 30 to 34 inches; with a wingspan ranging from 72 to 85 inches. Their average weight is ten to fourteen pounds. Northern birds are significantly larger than their southern relatives.

Here’s what that same Web site had to say about Golden Eagles: Length of about 3 feet (.92m). Weighing up to 15 pounds (7kg), with a wing span of up to 7 feet (2m). Golden eagles are larger than bald eagles in average height and wingspan, but there isn’t much difference in average weight.

After watching the video I’ll tell you about shortly, I thought Golden Eagles have to be way bigger than Bald Eagles. But they’re not.

You’ve just got to check out the very short video on my Flickr friend’s blog that shows a Golden Eagle hunting a deer. Yes, a DEER.

When I saw it, I exclaimed, “Holy cow!”

Usually, if Hubby overhears me commenting out loud about something I’ve just seen on the Web, he’ll say, “What?”

This time, he immediately grabbed his glasses and headed toward me saying, “Anything that warrants a ‘holy cow’ must be good.”

I hope you are similarly astonished.

While looking for that Golden Eagle picture, I saw this shot of me Hubby took in Alaska that I thought was cool…

toadmama-scoping — ToadMama Looking for the Perfect Photo Opportunity

You can see Sitka in the background. It’s a town on one of the islands in Alaska’s famous Inside Passage.