Tag Archives: Birds in Flight

Pelican Air Ballet

February 8, 2018 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

A fellow photographer spotted the Pelicans at quite a distance when we stopped to view some ducks along Black Point Wildlife Drive. We watched them approach for what seemed like several minutes but probably was only 30 seconds, hoping they would land in the pond in front of us.

Instead they treated us to an amazing aerial ballet, with the birds shifting position in the group, breaking apart and reforming, in an elegant flight display.

The American White Pelican is one of North America’s largest birds, with a wingspan from 8-10 feet (2.5-3 meters)!

As they glided by I could see that the individual birds adjusted their altitude as well as their flock position and no matter how close they got to each other there was no evidence of an in-flight bump.

Photographed at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida.

Click photos for larger view.

Birds

Northern Pintail

February 5, 2018 Ellen Jennings 1 Comment

A small group of various ducks and American Coots, about fifty or so, was gathered near the edge of the Black Point Wildlife Drive. They didn’t pay much attention to the birders and photographers that stopped to have a look on this morning.

This Northern Pintail pair found each other in the group…

…then went about their business.

Some of the pairs took off as others landed, a constant changing of the group throughout the morning.

This is the closest I’ve seen a Pintail and was delighted to see how gorgeous they are.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, 01/28/2018.

Birds

Touch Down

February 4, 2018 Ellen Jennings 7 Comments

He’s all lined up:

Landing gear extended:

A gentle splash:

Another successful landing of the pelican express.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Water Birds

Tundra Swans Taking Off

February 2, 2018 Ellen Jennings 5 Comments

We went back to Bear Island Wildlife Management Area for another try at seeing the Tundra Swans taking off from their overnight resting spot. We couldn’t get very close but we did get to see, and hear, a few.

These swans can weigh up to 23 pounds (10 Kilos) so getting into the air takes a huge effort and considerable runway distance.

The noise of the flapping of their wings echoing across the pond first alerted me. The ducks and other swans behind them paid no attention.

Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, 1/24/2018

Duck

Blue-winged Teals Winging Down the Pond

January 13, 2018 Ellen Jennings 6 Comments

There are small numbers of Teals, mostly Blue-winged, at the pond and there is plenty of duck weed to keep them fed. This pair decided to try the other end of the pond and took a low flight to get there.

Blue-winged TealsThe white line on the far shoreline is ice, the final remnant of our snow storm and cold snap.

1/10/2018

Wading Birds

Great Blue Heron Flight Path

January 6, 2018 Ellen Jennings Leave a comment

Great Blue Herons tend to use the same flight path down the side of the pond, even if they don’t have the same destination.

The light and background change considerably depending on where the photographer is standing.

Wading Birds

Great Blue Heron Long Approach

December 24, 2017 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

They can turn on a dime in flight but Great Blue Herons more often fly in graceful arcs, lining up with their landing target well in advance of the actual touch down.

I’ve often thought that they might just enjoy the flight as they cruise over the pond. It looks almost effortless.

Banking just a little to avoid a nearby island.

A perfect landing. Well, there was a face full of branches but the herons just ignore those.

Click on any photo for larger view.

Birds

Tundra Swans

December 17, 2017 Ellen Jennings 3 Comments

The real reason we headed out early yesterday morning was not for the sunrise of my last post, but to see the Tundra Swans take off. We did not get to see where they spent the night or lift off but did catch them in air well after the sun was up.

Around three hundred Tundra Swans are known to winter within South Carolina’s Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, likely descendants of a group that first came here in the 1970s with a flock of Canada Geese.

The Swans flew over us in small groups, mostly headed down the coast. During the day they spread out through the ACE Basin (Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto River Basin), 350,000 acres of mostly marshes and wetlands, to feed. They return to Bear Island WMA each night.

The Tundra Swans will leave SC by early March headed toward their breeding grounds in the Arctic.

Shore Birds

Shore Birds Standing in the Surf

December 5, 2017 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

I got another opportunity to photograph Black Skimmers last week when a small group along with some Terns visited the same sand bar where I saw them two weeks ago. This Royal Tern had a few things to say.

When I first spotted them there were some Pelicans in the mix but they didn’t hang around. The tide was nearly out and this group of smaller birds seemed content to let the water lap around their legs. I didn’t see any of them feeding.

After the tide turned they shifted as a group a few times, going into the air, doing a few loops and settling just a couple dozen feet from where they started. It was only when a couple of bicyclists and a family with a baby carriage came along that they left.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

Wading Birds

Late Season Spoonbills

December 3, 2017 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

We hadn’t seen any Roseate Spoonbills in weeks and suspected they had migrated south. What a delightful surprise to see a flock of about thirty when we visited the the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center on November 30th. This spot is slightly north of where we usually see the Spoonbills.

Our viewing spot wasn’t that great and this property limits the number of visitors so the birds have little or no acclimation to humans.

Still, it was Spoonbills. There were some Woodstorks in the same group but they flew off in the other direction.

Roseate Spoonbills in Flight

The Spoonbills did give a short show looping around while they decided on their destination.

Click on any photo for larger view.