Chincoteague Herons

The Great Blue Herons at Chincoteague seemed to be everywhere and were concentrating so hard on fishing that they stayed put for photographs.  I took over 100 pictures and have selected 9 for this post.

This bird was standing on one leg on the shore. It was a very chilly afternoon and his neck feathers appear to be slightly fluffed to keep him warm.

A very determined bird walked along the bank - intent on finding dinner.

A very cold looking bird standing in shallow water. He moved his head a little (the better to see us) but otherwise did not move at all.

Another actively hunting bird but in a tangled mess of branches

Using those branches to survey the possibilities for dinner

Perhaps mistaking his reflection for something edible.

A bird on the move.

A bird hiding

And emerging.

The look in the herons’ eye make it is easy to imagine the relationship of birds and dinosaurs!  

On the Way to Chincoteague

We made a weekend trek to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge this past weekend.  There were so many photography opportunities that I will showcase them in several posts over the next few weeks. This post will focus on the trek to get there: leaving home early, crossing Maryland’s Bay Bridge, and making a stop at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge, Maryland.

We started our drive by 7:30 AM - being glad it was a weekend and there would be no rush hour traffic. The morning was quite cold. Many of the leaves in our neighborhood had fallen in the past week but the pines along this road early in our drive seemed to have protected the deciduous trees growing with them. 

The Bay Bridge is less than an hour along our route. I always try to take pictures as we are driving over. There were no closures so traffic on each span was going one way. Note that the bridges are not the same.

When we got to Blackwater - it seemed like it was going to be too cold for anything to be moving. We walked to the end of short boardwalk and nearly gave up.

Then we spotted the Great Blue Heron standing like a statue. Then it started to hunt for a snack. Not that the neck looks a lot thicker in the second picture. He had been successful in his foraging!

There were ducks too. These mallards look fat - or maybe it is just fluffed feathers. I liked the curls of their tail feathers.

At the end of the wildlife drive there were lots of pines and colorful leaves. There seem to be more sweet gum trees than I remembered from previous visits. The brochure for the refuge explained that they are challenged with rising water levels. What was once marsh has become - or is becoming - open water. Some forested area has become too marshy for the trees.

The visitor center has been renovated since we were at the refuge last (in June 2013) and there is a Monarch sculpture in the garden area behind it. My husband commented that it reminded him of the way the butterflies crowd together in Mexico to keep warm!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - July 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for July 2014. I’ve categorized them into 4 groups: CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Howard County Conservancy, travel and outdoors.

CSA

Kohlrabi is a new food for me this summer. It has been included in my CSA share twice and I’ve enjoyed it nutty flavor in stir fries. I may even buy it from the grocery store produce section after the CSA ends in the fall.

Fruit beety has become one of my favorite treats this summer - it is a healthy splurge to celebrate summer…..and a beautiful color to savor too.

Turnips are foods that I liked as snacks growing up but had eaten very infrequently for 30 years. I’m celebrating the re-discovery of how good a crunchy turnip can be.

Howard County Conservancy

Fairy Houses - The Howard Country Conservancy had an event for families to build fairy houses in the woods. I volunteered to help out with the crowd….and it was a lot of fun. The children were very creative with the natural materials of available!

Views in the Forest Shade - I celebrated the natural jewels in the shade on a summer day.

Bugs - Insects and spiders - oh my!

Travel

Travel purse - I found the perfect purse for travel at a thrift store: a pocket on the outside for my Kindle and boarding pass, good closure so nothing can fall out accidently. I am celebrating the bargain!

TSA Pre - I celebrate every time I get a boarding pass with TSA Pre; it is so much easier to go through security with shoes on and the laptop in the backpack.

Outdoors

Heron on the Lotus Pond - The second trip we may to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Garden in Washington DC - there was a Great Blue Heron that was so intent on fishing that there was plenty of time for pictures. The scene of bird and lotus were the celebration of the day.

Blooming sweet potato - Previous sweet potato plants have grown lots of foliage and potatoes….but this year the plant has blooms too!

Heron in the Lotus Pond

Yesterday we made another trip to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. There were still a lot of lotuses in bloom but the storm mid-week had snapped some of the leaves, buds and flowers. I enjoyed taking pictures of lotuses and dragonflies again then focused on water lilies (the topic of post to come) but the high point of the outing was a Great Blue Heron. The water level in one of the ponds was low and the bird was taking advantage of the easy pickings. There were people taking pictures of the heron all around the pond; the heron was too focused on food to notice.

As we walked up - the heron caught a fish. My husband captured the image below with the catch before the heron flipped the fish and swallowed!

Enjoy the best of the rest in the slideshow below!