Red Squirrel Eating a Mulberry

Saturday Evening Creature Feature, Eastern Bluebirds

It is breeding time for the Eastern Bluebirds

Be sure to stop by Camera Critters today!

Forgotten Photo Friday, Icy Weathervane

Hold this thought as we go into July.

Great Blue Heron

I know that down in Florida it is easier to get on top of Herons and Egrets. Up here in the north they are very shy and do not tolerate people. A woman approached me on the trail and said that she had a heron walk down the trail in front of her. That’s pretty exciting. So I decide to walk up the trail where she came from and sure enough, I found a big wet bird pooh splat in the middle of the trail.

I walked a little further and there it was! No mind you that I shot this with my 24-84mm lens on a full frame camera. I was pretty close…too close.

It seemed to be onto something, so I swapped over to my 300mm on the cropped sensor camera. It struck and came up with a fish.

It took it down whole, as herons do. You can see the bulge in its neck.

It flew off down the shoreline and did some more hunting. Bam! It’s got another!

Papa Downy

I haven’t seen the female around and I’m not sure what’s up. I cannot find a reference for Downy Woodpeckers females leaving the brooding for the male. Here is Papa Downy foraging

All Saturday afternoon, I kept an eye on the nest. The female seemed to be missing. Undaunted, Papa Downy took good care of the brood.

He made numerous feeding trips all afternoon long.

He kept an eye out for predators.

Here he’s removing a fecal sac from the nest.

Many trips to the feeder. I’m letting the seed run low to force him to find insect food. I feed black oil sunflower seed and thistle seed for the finches.

Another quick inspection of the nest and another fecal sac to fly out into the woods.

I hope that the female is okay. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Tufted Titmouse tot

We have a lot of fledglings around the neighborhood these days. This Tufted Titmouse is still dependent on his parents for food.

Be sure to visit Wild Bird Wednesday!

The Front Yard

This is part of the front yard.

And this is a male Seaside Dragonlet. They like the salt marshes and mangrove swamps along the east coast.

Be sure to visit Our World Tuesday.

Ipswich River

We have received some rain here in Ipswich, which is good for the river.

Saturday Evening Creature Feature, Flying Squirrel and Downy Woodpecker

Our Flying Squirrel made another appearance the other day. 

He likes to hang out in the same snag that has our Downy Woodpecker nest. It’s about two holes above Downy’s newly excavated hole. But Papa Downy isn’t having any part of that.

Once the squirrel ducked back inside his hole and out of sight, Papa Downy could get back to feeding the chicks.

The Downy Woodpeckers seem to be doing fine. We can hear the chicks calling from inside the hole. The parents are feeding them from the entrance rather than going inside the hole now.  Papa Downy will fly back and forth from the sunflower feeder, so I let it run out during the day. That it forces him to go out and get some bugs for the chicks.

Be sure to check out Camera Critters today.

Forgotten Photo Friday, Tuna

It’s been six months since I moved off of The Fort in Gloucester. I do miss walking around the waterfront. Here is a shot of a tuna coming onto the docks.

Dragon season is here

Summer is here and it is time to go out looking for dragons. Each year I hope to get the perfect dragonfly image. Today I have a female Slaty Skimmer that I shot last Sunday.

Dig those crazy shades

Dig those crazy shades on these two bugs.

Female Common Whitetail

Female Common Yellowthroat

On a walk in the woods behind the Ipswich River I happened to find this female Common Yellowthroat in the top of a tree. I took a few frames and went about my business shooting dragonflies.

Then she came up with something tasty!

Visit Wild Bird Wednesday to see more birds from around the world.

Check out this guy’s rig

This is one way to get a brat in Frankfurt. Check out this rig. He has a fuel tank strapped to his back and a grill in front. It’s just too cool!

Be sure to visit Our World Tuesday.

Arrowhead Spiketail

This is the largest of the three spiketail dragonflies that are found here in Massachusetts.

This female Arrowhead Spiketail dragon gets its name from the distinctive abdominal pattern.

She grabbed some large flying insect and settled in the shade to munch her meal.