This is the first Belted Kingfisher I have seen since last fall and he gave me an amazing, if brief, aerial show.
When I first spotted him he was hovering over a small pond. Before I could lift my camera he was gone.
He came back a couple minutes later and I got a second opportunity.
He hovered for several seconds.
Assumed the dive position
And dove. I never saw him hit the water, actually never saw him again, despite waiting another 15 minutes.
With an unmistakable silhouette, the Swallow-tailed Kite is an amazingly skilled flyer. From Cornell’s All About Birds: “Rarely flapping their wings, they soar and make tight turns, rotating their tail to steer.”
These images are cropped quite a bit; I didn’t get any close ups, but if you enlarge the photos you can get a bit more detail.
Guaranteed to make your neck hurt they are very cool to watch.
While doing all this acrobatic flying they grab flying insects with their feet:
Then pass the prey to their beak:
On this day an approaching storm and boisterous clouds added to the drama of the scene.
Their territory and numbers have dwindled in the US, and are continuously threatened by habitat loss.
There were several pairs of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks around the edges of a pond, mostly tucked into the vegetation. Neither one of this pair moved a bit after I spotted them.
From another direction this pair took flight towards another connected pond, showing off more of their striking colors.
This Great Blue Heron chick took a test “fly – hop” from the branch above his nest and over his sibling.
The sibling was less than impressed, but the flyer seemed pretty pleased with himself.
He liked it so much he climbed back up to the top and flapped his wings in the breeze.
I didn’t see him lift off again; he was content to watch the world from a higher vantage point.
Watching Brown Pelicans fly can be mesmorizing. They often glide in small groups along the shore line, gracefully and with what looks like little effort.
And with some secret signal they turn in unison.
These were taken at the end of the day and there wasn’t much light. This last Pelican was by himself and went right over my head, and yes I wear a hat.
I’ve commented before on birds’ desire to occupy the highest point. This applies even if it is just a clump of sticks in the pond. We’ve had a lot of wind lately and small branches and other debris is getting pushed around in the ponds. This Great Egret found an attractive twig collection to drop in on.
Then it started to sink and he took off, straight up into the air.
One flap of the wings and he was off.
Banking smoothly left he decided to try another spot.
After watching the relatively sedate Bonaparte’s Gulls Feeding at the beach a Forster’s Tern came along and showed off some different flying skills.
It was all about speed.
Hover, dive and repeat.
With the rolling waves and lack of contrast I didn’t get a full splash down image.
Yes, they are fast!
In between stronger gusts of wind the tern hovered higher over the water as he looked for food.
There is not much contrast in these images of a pair of Bonaparte’s Gulls feeding in the ocean surf. The day was dull and the birds coloration mostly matches the water, with only their black wing-tips and orange feet standing out.
However, they were fun to watch and gulls are great practice for in-flight bird photography due to their relatively slow speed and predictability.
It was also windy and this pair was expending a tremendous amount of energy for what was small food. Whatever they were catching they quickly swallowed without me seeing it.
They dropped in and lifted out of the water with ease and flew in tandem as they moved up the beach.
Myrtle Beach State Park, SC, 3/17/2019
About twenty Roseate Spoonbills circled around overhead appearing undecided on where to land.
Finally they picked their spots and veered off in twos and threes.
This pair headed for the tree line, and once out of my sight dropped down into an inlet.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area is crossed with dikes and canals that run between the old rice fields.
This Great Blue Heron took off over one of the canals and disappeared across the marsh.
March 3, 2019
