Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Family in Maine

While I never found the nest cavity where the brood was hatched, a pair of yellow-bellied woodpeckers had raised their young, and, had found a wonderful place, apparently, to eat, right in the yard of my in-laws in Maine. Quite honestly, I have no idea how the tree is still alive, but it showed no signs of distress.  Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are given this name because they actively make small holes in trees to eat the sap and to eat insects attracted to the sap; I've read that the round holes are deeper, while the square holes are shallow. It's a bit tough to tell the difference between them above- most are somewhat intermediate to my eye.

Once I realized the sapsuckers were around, it didn't take me long to figure out that they were frequently this tree nearly all day, but especially in the morning and evening.  There were at least two, maybe three, young-of-year hanging closely to their parents, perhaps learning what it takes to be a sapsucker.

The yellow on the belly is subtle- Through binoculars or a long telephoto lens, it's visible, and in the hand, I'm sure it would be quite striking . Remember, when most of our North American birds were named, high quality optics didn't exist, so the tool of the earliest ornithologists were shotguns!  The yellow tinge is just visible flanking the female's dark patch below the throat.

In males, the white throat patch is replaced with red, which is stunningly spectacular in person.  This was the first opportunity I've had to photograph a male.

What an incredible bird!  As you can see here, there is in fact yellow on the male's belly, but it is subtle, easily overlooked if you are not looking through binoculars.

This was just another of family of baby birds that was frequently Little Pond.  Without having to leave the yard, we were treated to wonderful looks at multiple species of baby birds. Ahh, to be in Maine again!

-Tom

This Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Has Got Game!

The first thing that alerted me to the presence of YBSA at Little Pond was the crab-apple tree that was riddled with holes in its bark.  The second was the piercing tapping sound that I heard from around the other side of the house while I was photographing near the feeders.  Ah, a yellow-bellied sapsucker!  Hey, if you're a male YBSA, I couldn't think of anything much louder to drum on and announce your territory than this old basketball backboard.  I imagined the metal roof pictured in the background was just a little too slippery for him to get a hold of.  For us in Ohio, these are rare breeding birds, but they do show up with regularity in the winter.  I've even had them in our backyard bur oak and I've photographed a female at Delaware Preservation Parks' Deer Haven Preserve.

-Tom

The Baby Birds Would Not Quit!

So, this isn't a dinosaur or some strange quail- it's a song sparrow that has lost its tail feathers, probably due to a natural molt, but I'm not an expert in this area. We just kept remarking on how many baby birds were seeing around Little Pond.  I just kept getting great shots.  The song sparrow is one of our most common here in Ohio (at least of the native sparrows), and I regularly see and hear them in our suburban yard in Worthington.  They also call Little Pond home.

-Tom

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Another bird known to Ohioans as a somewhat uncommon winter visitor, the red-breasted nuthatch is quite common around Little Pond, Maine. I could sit in a lawn chair with my legs outstretched and pressed against this big white pine, and the nuthatches, red-breasted and white-breasted, had no fear of me.  I had some come so close that I could have reached out and touched them had they been inanimate.  This one may have not been the prettiest individual (perhaps it was a young-of-year?), but they were sure fun to watch.

-Tom

Drought in Maine; Male Purple Finch

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd never seen the area around Little Pond so dry.  A quick look at the U.S. drought monitor revealed the following graphic:

U.S. National Drought Monitor Map for Maine, July 12, 2016

Little Pond is in Oxford County, the large county forming the western border of the state.  Nearly the entire county is listed as yellow, which according to the drought monitor is considered abnormally dry.  Little Pond is on the little southeast nub of the county, and very near the tan color, which is one step drier on the scale and is considered to be an area of moderate drought.  It definitely showed on the landscape, primarily in the form of the white pines looking quite thin and even brown in places, reaching high up into the trees. The brown needles littered the forest floor, which was crunchy with drought compared to its usually soft touch underfoot.  It took a while to get used to!

The local newspapers were recounting stories of wildlife in search of food from people, especially bears, because of the poor fruit crop (think Maine blueberries- yum!) due to drought.  I noticed that there were more birds than ever at the feeders this year, perhaps responding to the low fruit production as well.

One bird that I saw more than ever, and that that I enjoyed watching was the purple finch.  I've never seen one in Ohio, but they are around, especially at feeders in the winter.  Many Ohioans mistake the house finch for the purple finch, but the latter is a much more colorful bird.  This year in Maine, several pairs readily came to the feeders.  I happen to catch this male displaying with wings open and moving rapidly up and down and crest straight up.  Was it for a female?  I believe so, but I was focusing on the bird and not what he was trying to attract!

Male Common Yellowthroat

Boy, what a stunning little bird.  Common yes, but one of my favorite warblers!  These are frequent in the bog at Little Pond where they nest, but I've never seen one venture up the hill to the bird feeding station, where I was planted in a lawn chair with my camera.  I imagine this guy wanted to catch the warmth of early morning rays a little earlier than they would reach the shaded bog below. This photo really shows off that yellow throat.

-Tom

Drop it right here Mom!

The theme of our visit to Little Pond this year?  Baby birds.  And I mean a TON of baby birds.  To the extent I've never seen so many fledglings.  I spent about 20 minutes photographing tree swallows before I figured out what they were doing.  The youngsters were just hanging out in the tamaracks on the edge of the pond, waiting for a quick transfer from their parents who were hawking insects above the water.  Wow, what a cool nature find.  With rapid fire action like this, I really had no idea until I looked at this series of photographs.  This one told the story!

-Tom

The Magically Appearing Blueberry

And we're back from Maine!  We've actually arrived back in Worthington Monday afternoon, but I've barely had to to look at my nature photographs from my twenty-seventh trip to the Pine Tree State.

The sun breaks the horizon at 5:00 a.m., so I set an alarm to get up early.  While walking down to the dock, I'm prepared for landscape photography.  I typically head out in the canoe to capture the sunrise before switching to the long lens for bird photography around the edges of the bog.  But on this morning, my second there, I believe, two cedar waxwings caught me by surprise.  These photos were taken in rapid succession at 5:09 a.m. in very, very, low light.  I knew the bird on the left was a young-of-year begging for food, but it wasn't until I examined my photographs this evening that I understood what had transpired on that so very early morning.

Uh, Mom, aren't you going to feed me breakfast?

Hmmm... Let me see what I can find.

Yep, I've got something for you.  Just hold on.  Quit flapping your wings!  Be patient.

Oh yes, is that a blueberry Mom!?!    Yes, fledgling, yes it is.  Now just let me get this into the right position.

Mom!  That looks delicious!  I Can't wait!

There we go, are you ready? Put your wings down!

It's coming!

There you go!  How's that?  And I'm evening sending over a little string of  bird saliva!

Oh Mom, that was delicious.  Can I have another?

Let me check....

Hmmm....

Nope, I got nothing.  It's been dry around here this year, and there aren't many blueberries!

Like she said- it has been dry this summer in Maine.  In fact, the driest I've ever seen it since I've been coming here regularly since 2005.  All in all, we had a blast, catching lots of great critters at Little Pond and photographing many more.

-Tom

Black-throated Blue Warbler in the Bur Oak

This year, I've really been diligent to glass the bur oak each day.  Earlier in the week, I saw a black-throated blue warbler, a first for the yard, during a quick morning scan.  I had to get to the office though, and didn't have time to photograph it.  Fortunately, later in the week, I had the opportunity to watch and photograph this wonderful warbler once again.

-Tom

A Morning Mourning Dove

I spotted this mourning dove through the kitchen window yesterday morning as I was preparing for work. I've been successful recently to tighten up my morning routine. On this morning I had a few extra minutes to run upstairs, grab the step stool, open the small bathroom window, and get a few shots at this inquisitive visitor before it was time to head to the office.

-Tom

Purple Martins at Slate Run

Two pairs of Purple Martins- The males are midnight blue, the females are much more drab.

It had been a while since we last visited the historical farm at Slate Run Metropark.  Sometime since, several purple martin trees had been installed.  Our largest swallow nests almost exclusively in artificial nest structures in the east, while in the western part of their range, they nest in abandoned woodpecker holes.

It's been nearly a decade since I've photographed this species- the last opportunity came on North Bass Island before I had any decent telephoto lens capability.  Although the light was fairly atrocious on this day, I managed to capture a few images I liked.

What I noticed about the martins is just how large they are.  They forage quite high in the air, and even when viewed from a distance, they're noticeably bulky.  If I hadn't known they were around, it probably would have taken me a while to figure out what they were from their in-flight silhouettes alone.  Viewing my photographs after the fact, it's easy to see the blue colors of the males, but through the binoculars, I was pretty much only seeing their outline.

-Tom

Barn Swallows

I don't believe this male barn swallow realized that it was Mother's day yesterday.  If he did, he wouldn't be scolding her like this.  At least that's what he appears to be doing.  Maybe he's just trying to impress her with his wide gape?

Slate Run Metropark, just south of Canal Winchester, is really a great place to photograph barn swallows.  They nest in the big red barn, and they're quite used to people.  Wait long enough, and they're sure to perch on the fence rails just behind the barn. Fair warning, however- if the wind is blowing just right, you may be standing directly in the path of the malodorous pig pen!

-Tom

It's Been a Birdy Week

The migration is on here in Central Ohio!  I have photographed black-throated blue warblers, tons of yellow-rumped warblers, one orange-crowned warbler, a black-and-white warbler, palm warblers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, orange-crowned warblers, and even an American redstart.  All these encounters happened not in a high quality natural area somewhere, but either on the grounds of the office or in my backyard.  But perhaps my favorite image from the week is of this female red-winged blackbird.  I sometimes forget the nature photography opportunities that I have at my disposal on the grounds of my north Columbus office complex.  We have two female red-winged blackbirds that have carved out a territory on our cattail marsh.  There's used to people walking by, so getting close to them with the camera is as easy as it gets.

-Tom

Birding at the Racetrack

Megan and I use an incentive system for the boys. When they do chores, behave well, etc., they get a marble placed in a mason jar.  When the jar is full, they get a reward. Weston has been wanting to go try the go-karts for a long time, and finally we had a perfect day for it.  He had a blast.

The track is situated right next to the I-71 corridor, a habitat that is often frequented by red-tailed hawks.  What luck that a beautiful bird soared right above our heads while waiting in line.  I just happened to have my telephoto lens and camera all set up for action shots.  The red-tailed hawk had eluded me for quite some time.  I just didn't have any great photos of this common bird taken in Ohio. Not anymore!

-Tom

Building My Nature Photography Archive

My new landing page at tomarbour.smugmug.com features every bird photography, nearly 500 images.

At the beginning of the year, I came to this realization that the body of my work was sitting on my hard drive, very difficult to access.  Yes, this blog is a record of my natural history activities since the mid-2000's, but it's sequential- not well organized by taxa, or natural history subject, for example.

And after nature blogging began its big decline starting around 2010, most of us turned to Facebook to share our natural history images.  While some photographers curate their own wonderfully organized galleries, most imagery on Facebook is ephemeral.  Social media good way to give a dose of "nature porn" to our friends, but it's quite horrible to serve us, each of us as nature photographers, as a place to catalog and archive our body of work. Which, in order to become better photographers, more complete photographers, we need this.  At least, I came to the revelation a few months ago that I need it.

I need a place that is my own.  That I can display my work.  A place to help me better focus my field efforts, so that I'm bringing home photos of things that I haven't photographed particularly well before.  A place that I can catalog the wide range of nature subjects I choose to photograph.  A place where photos won't get buried over the years. A place where the photograph itself takes precedence. A place that I own, that I can design, and call my own.

While I never would have guessed just how much time it would take to complete such a site, I also underestimated the end value that this effort would have.  Take my bird photography gallery, which is now complete.  Who knew that I have never photographed a hairy woodpecker?  Or have any decent imagery of other common birds, including the northern flicker, indigo bunting, and red-tailed hawk?

I have a long way to go, but I know that my photography will improve for it.  I encourage you to visit tomarbour.smugmug.com and take a look.

-Tom

J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

After our two hours of paid parking at Sanibel Island's Lighthouse parking was up (parking there is $4 an hour), we headed to the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge's Wildlife Drive. The birding got better as the tide dropped throughout the day.

White Ibis is perhaps the easiest bird to photograph in Florida.  They're plentiful, fairly tame, and can be found near almost any body of water.  I only photograph them now when they're doing intertesting things, like holding a strange fish....

Or fighting... I assume these are two males.  I've never had the pleasure to photograph this behavior before.  These two engaged in mid-air combat for about a minute, with the bird on the left eventually chasing the other individual off.

Piping plover?  Semi-palmated plover?  

Pied-billed Grebes are frequent in most still water bodies in southwest Florida.

This was just one slice of a massive bird panorama.  I estimate there were over 1000 white ibis, herons, egrets, and roseate spoonbills.  Truly a magnificent sight.

Willets are another bird that I have photographed quite a bit, so I turn my camera to them in situations where they're showing interesting behaviors, like eating a small horseshoe crab.

Short-billed Dowitcher?  I'm going solely on Sibley's advice that they occur mostly on tidal flats, as opposed to the Long-billed Dowitcher preference for freshwater ponds. 

Surprise!  This large, awake American Alligator was being guarded by a refuge volunteer.  He didn't want anyone going too close.

Birds on the Beach- Sanibel Island Lighthouse Park

Ruddy Turnstone

Snowy Plover

Snowy Plover

Great Black-backed Gull

Red Knot

A bonanza of sea life washed onto the Sanibel beaches after gale force winds and multiple days of rain.

-Tom

A few more things from Days 1-4

I left out a few things from days 1-4 that I wanted to share, and then I'll get to Sanibel, which was like a different world, simply because it wasn't cloudy or raining.

Here's one I missed posting yesterday taken at Lovers Key State Park- a Wilson's Plover, which was a first sighting for me.  There intermediate in size between the much smaller piping and snowy plovers (they're coming) and the Black-bellied Plover, which is giant.  I observed three of these birds on the sandflat.  They pretty much either stood or ran.  I didn't observe them eating, unlike the nearby Least Sandpipers, which never stopped foraging. 

Here's proof that not every gray and yellow warbler is a Palm Warbler.  This Yellow-rumped Warbler was quite curious of my presence at the Rookery Swamp boardwalk. 

Photographing Bald Eagles is nice in Ohio, but there's something special when one is perched in a tree full of Tillandsia bromeliads. Can't get that shot in the Buckeye State.

When I visited Florida in late January, 2015, the television weather people were lamenting the lack of rain.  Not this year.  El Nino typically means cold, gray, and wet winter weather for Florida.  While I was there, the local airport beat its previous record for most January rain, topping somewhere over 10".  An inch or so for the month is typical.  Luckily, I rented a compact SUV that had no problems going through the "roads" that had become rivers.

The Everglades are a giant river, flowing roughly, from North to South.  The many roads across the system act as endless low head dams.  Yes, there are culverts under the road, but when there is too much water, the roads flood.  Take a look at the video below- the water couldn't wait to get past this road.

-Tom