Tag Archives: Water Bird

Resting American White Pelicans

March 15, 2018 Ellen Jennings 2 Comments

We had seen a few White Pelicans in the air earlier in the morning so weren’t too surprised to see them resting on the ground at the edge of a pond and happily stopped to see so many. They were quite a distance off the road but there was a clear view and I would say there were at least two hundred birds.

A number of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets were sprinkled around the periphery of the group, including this group looking like a police line up.

Most of the Pelicans were preening or resting. A few Coots were going about their business in the water around them.

One daring Great Egret landed right in the middle of small group of Pelicans. The Pelicans took no notice.

Photographed at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, 2/21/2018.

Duck

Splish Splash Mallards

February 28, 2018 Ellen Jennings 5 Comments

Mallards doing the Mallard bath in a pond, as can be seen throughout most of the United Sates and Canada. We rarely see Mallards in the other ponds we visit, but Magnolia Cemetery is more of an urban location where you would expect them to congregate.

The sun was perfect on this early February afternoon and the Mallards were enjoying an unseasonably warm day.

Female Mallard Bathing — Female Mallard bathing flanked by two males

After bathing they had a dead tree trunk to perch on, out of the water and with a good view of potential hazards. This pond does host a few Alligators, I have seen fox on the cemetery grounds, and a few Red-shouldered Hawks could be heard nearby.

Click any image for larger view.

Nature

Hooded Merganser Pair

February 27, 2018 Ellen Jennings 1 Comment

The same pair of Hooded Mergansers as yesterday’s post had places to go as they were out for a swim around one of Magnolia Cemetery’s ponds. The male gradually caught up to the female as they passed this group of Mallards on the edge of a small island.

The Mergansers weren’t in such a hurry that they chose to fly, but they didn’t divert even as the Mallards went about their preening and flapping.

The Mergansers continued on their way, the female in the lead, headed out into the middle of the pond.

Duck

Hooded Mergansers

February 26, 2018 Ellen Jennings 3 Comments

The Hooded Mergansers tend to be shy and I usually see them retreating shortly after I spot them. I happened to be sitting on a low wall watching a pond when these two swam by me, close enough to get a shot.

Hooded Merganser Female – click image for larger view

The brown reeds and grasses of late winter made a golden glow on the water, a nice complement to these gorgeous ducks. The male is certainly flashier, especially when he has his hood up, but the female is an understated beauty.

Hooded Merganser Male – click image for larger view

2/5/2018

Water Birds

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

I’ve Got a Secret

February 6, 2018 Ellen Jennings 10 Comments

Secret, secret, who’s got a secret?

Let me show you.

Now it’s gone.

Made me laugh!

Click on any photo 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

Birds

Grebe: Taking Duckweed for a Spin

December 27, 2017 Ellen Jennings 3 Comments

I spotted this Pied-billed Grebe as swam out of a patch of duckweed.

Usually Grebes will dive just as you are focusing on them and I fully expected this one to, just to clean off if not to get away from the edge of the pond.

Evidently the duckweed wasn’t bothering him because after a shake he continued paddling on his way.

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.