Learning About Birds . . . Great Egret

It's been quite a while since I've done a Learning About Birds post so after seeing the green lores on this Great Egret shot I took at Springbrook the other day I thought it might be cool to show the difference. Here are a couple neat facts about these birds.


- The longevity record for a wild Great Egret is nearly 23 years.
- Aggression among nestlings is common and large chicks frequently kill their smaller siblings.
- In high breeding, the bill becomes orange-yellow and the lores become lime-green. (Lore, region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head.)

Here you can see the green lores:



For comparison sake, here is a shot of Great Egret taken down in Florida a few years back. You can see that the lores are not green in this shot:







If you are interested, here is a link to all my posts on "Learning About Birds".

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Continuing on my Springbrook Nature Center walk from Monday, here's yet another post from that night. (I've got one more post after this . . . just in case you were wondering.)

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak (in my opinion) is one of the prettiest birds around. It has a wonderful song and when it's in Spring plumage is just a striking bird. Well . . . you can judge for yourself! :)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak:









PS I recommend clicking on the photos to see the larger versions over at my flickr site.

Here's a previous "Learning About Birds" post on Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

Least Flycatcher and Kinglet

So the Least Flycatcher is also a new bird for me which is very cool. I initially thought this was an Eastern Phoebe by the way it flew, but as soon as it landed I knew it was something else. I was lucky enough to get this shot.


Least Flycatcher:




Well after last weeks attempts to get a shot of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, I was really happy to get this shot. I'm pretty sure that these birds never actually stop moving.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet:

Northern Waterthrush

Well, since the weather is likely to turn ugly again I ran over the Springbrook again after work and had a pretty good evening. In fact, I saw and photographed a new bird (for me that is)! I saw this Northern Waterthrush for only a brief period and I wasn't even sure what it was as I was taking the shots. I took some nice photographs of a Least Flycatcher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Here's the Northern Waterthrush:

Springbrook Nature Center

Here's the last post from Friday's trip to Springbrook. I have a friend that likes shots with reflections so here are a couple shots with reflections that I thought turned out nice:



Mallard:





Canada Goose:

Springbrook Nature Center (Continued)

The Yellow-rumped Warblers were most abundant around the water, I'm guessing this was due to the larger supply of bugs. I watched them spend time swooping towards the surface of the water and then back up the cat tails. It was a behavior I've witnessed earlier this year up at Carlos Avery, but I'd never seen it prior to that.

Yellow-rumped Warbler:





This Kinglet landed only about 3 feet from me and then continued to jump from branch to branch staying in each spot for only about 1 second. I could not get a decent shot of this bird. I had the feeling it was just taunting me. Here's the only shot I got that was even close to in focus. I think this bird was giving me the bird.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet:

Springbrook Nature Center

I stopped by Springbrook Nature Center today after work and saw a fair amount of birds: Brown Thrashers, White-throated Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks as well as a number of other birds. I'll post some more of the shots from this evening over the next couple of days. The Brown Thrasher is a very cool bird but is quite difficult to photograph because it generally stays near the ground in the under brush. He popped up for a bit and I snapped off this shot.

Brown Thrasher:


These Mourning Doves looked really good in the sun and I certainly can't pass up a shot like that now can I?

Mourning Doves:

Springbrook Nature Center (Continued)

Here are a few photos of a very cooperative Cardinal (note the band on his leg):

Springbrook Nature Center

I was able to get out for a walk at Springbrook today. It was a wonderful sunny day for a walk through the park. I was able to see a few birds, including a couple firsts for the year: Scaup(Not sure if Lesser/Greater, they were to far away), American Coot, and the Eastern Phoebe's are back in our yard again. Every year we have a nesting pair that lays claim to a motion light we have on the front of our house. Here are few pictures from today at Springbrook (I'll post some more tomorrow.)

Eastern Bluebird:


Canada Goose:


Red-winged Blackbird:


. . . I also discovered a nesting pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers in our yard! Very Cool!



You'll notice in the picture that there are 2 holes in the tree, the one occupied by the Woodpecker, and another one above it. Does anyone have a guess as to why there are two holes? I'm certainly not sure . . .

Learning about birds . . . Rose-breasted Grosbeak

A saw my first Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this last summer. Below is a shot of one that I saw at Springbrook Nature Center.

- The nest of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is so thinly constructed that eggs often can be seen from below through the nest.
- The Rose-breasted Grosbeak will mate with the Black-headed Grosbeak where the population densities of both species are low
- A group of grosbeaks are collectively known as "a gross of grosbeaks."

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird (...from this summer)

I was going through a few photos from this summer and I found this one. This was taken at Springbrook Nature Center while I was watching a nesting Red-winged Blackbird. Anyway, I thought I'd put here since I don't have much else considering I haven't really gotten out.

Springbrook Nature Center Part 2

I really did have a great time at Springbrook yesterday. There weren't a lot of people, so I was able to walk quietly and see plenty of birds. I have to admit that as much as I like photographing birds I missed quite a few shots yesterday just watching. I guess that's a pretty good sign that I was having a good time! Here are a couple more shots that I took:

Yellow Warbler:


Brown Thrasher:


There were plenty of Swallows as well . . . including one rubbing his head on his perch:

Tree Swallow:


I had initially ID'd this as a Tree Swallow, thanks to those that helped me correctly ID this bird.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Rubbing his head:

Springbrook Nature Center

I was able to leave work early yesterday and I made a run up to Springbrook Nature Center. I had a really good evening and was able to get shots of a number of birds, including 2 new birds for my photography life list (Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Brown Thrasher). I would also like to thank Ivars for his help in locating this Red-winged Blackbird on the nest. Thanks Ivars! I'll be posting more photos of my evening over the next couple of days.

Red-winged Blackbird on the Nest:

Rain . . .

The weather over the last few days has been pretty dismal and I haven't gotten out, so I thought I'd post another photo that I took at Springbrook. Maybe we'll get a bit of break in the weather this weekend and I can get out for a bit.

Cardinal (male):

Springbrook Nature Center

I went to SNC yesterday with my wife and had a really nice day. There was a fair amount of activity in terms of birds with weather being as nice as it was. We really had a nice walk and it's a birding spot that I'm sure I'll go back to again. Carlos Avery still has the gates shut so this was a nice alternative for me. Here is a shot of a female Cardinal that I took. It's probably the nicest shot of a female that I've taken.

Cardinal (female):