Visit to the Least Terns Again

Least Tern and Chick

Visiting the least tern colony at Horseneck Beach State Reservation in Westport, Massachusetts again to see what has changed.  There was less terns in the colony, however, what was interesting is that there was still a nest with eggs, small chicks and fledgling least terns.  In fact, there were terns spread all over the beach.  We had a great time photographing the activities of the little terns.

Least Tern and Chick

Least Tern Family

Fledged Least Tern

Fledged Least Tern Being Fed by Adult

Fledged Least Tern

Least Tern Chick Calling for Food

Least Tern Going to Sit Back on Her Eggs on the Nest

Least Tern, Sitting on Eggs on Nest

Remember, if you visit a colony of protected birds, stay behind the fence line and do not harass them.  Also, try to shoot them on their level which will give you the better picture.  Since shorebird migration has already started visits to the shore on an incoming or outgoing tide may give you a chance to see and photograph many different species.

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Plymouth's Nelson Park Ospreys.

Ospreys in the Nest

Nelson Park is located in Plymouth and on the beach for a number of years there has been an Osprey nest.  The adult ospreys are named Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton.  This year they have hatched four chicks.  The chicks are fully feathered and at least one has fledged and knows how to fly.  One of the other chicks is flap in its wings and trying to fly.  On Sunday morning.  We arrived around 8 o'clock starting to observe and photograph the Osprey chicks.  I met a friend who was leaving who had arrived at 6 o'clock and did see one of the chicks fly.  While we watched the nest two of the chicks were up and around and performing activities such as looking, calling preening and one of the chicks was trying out its wings.  Across the marsh, on a pole, the first Osprey chick was sitting.  We were hoping to see it fly back to the nest, but, it remained on the pole had only preened and flapped its wings.  One of the interesting facts is because of the nest location, the Osprey a very used to people, and are not really bothered by them.  In fact, when we left at 9:40 AM the beach was filling up with people sunbathing.  In fact, the parking lot was completely full, and there were a line of cars waiting for us to leave.

Osprey Flapping Its Wings

Osprey Calling

Osprey Trying out Its Wings

Osprey fledgling On the Post

If you are in the Plymouth area and you want to observe the Osprey's the best time is probably early in the morning before all the crowds show up.

Plus It's Fluffer, Than a Cotton Ball

Piping Plover Chick

We traveled to Allens Pond sanctuary early this morning, with the plans being to do some more macro photography, which we did until Lauren, one of the staff at the sanctuary told us that a pair of the piping plovers eggs hatch yesterday afternoon.  We went and changed lenses to longer lenses and went down to the beach loop and found the adults and the newly hatched piping plover chicks.  The adult piping plovers were very protective of their chicks trying to draw us away from the chicks by doing the wounded wing display.  We saw the chicks in front of us, and ended up laying down on the sand, watched the adults and chicks in their activity.  The piping plover chicks look no bigger than a large cotton ball, plus, they were faster than a speeding bullet.  It will be fun going back on a regular basis and watching the chicks grow up.

Adult Piping Plover

Piping Plover Showing Broken Wing Display

Piping Plover in Flight

Adult and Chick Piping Plover

Piping Plover Chick

Piping Plover Chick

Piping Plover Chick Hiding

Piping Plover Chick

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Eastern Phoebe Chicks and Post-Processing of a Sunset Picture

Eastern Phoebe Chicks

Today, I had to go out to the stone barn to pick up some items and while I was out there I went into the cellar and took some photographs of the Eastern Phoebe chicks.  The nest was located in a cutout in the foundation, which probably in the past had supported a beam.  The nest contained at least two chicks, one which slept the entire time, and the other who raised its head and opened its beak.

 

Eastern Phoebe chicks with one having its beak open

After we came home and downloaded the pictures, my grandson and I took one of his pictures that he took while we were in Bridgewater the other evening and we each post-process the picture.  I am going to post both pictures and they will be labeled number one and number two, and I would appreciate my readers to pick out which one they like and send me an email with the answer and the reason, or enter reply into the blog.  In a later blog out tell you who post process which picture.

Number One

Number Two

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An Other Morning With the Piping Plovers

Piping Plover Chick

I visited Allens Pond Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary, again to check on the piping plover chicks.  They are now running all over the beach and the parents are still keeping a close eye on them.  In order to capture the pictures, what my grandson and I did was sit down with our cameras and lenses low on our tripods and just wait.  Eventually, the piping plovers got used to us, the adults were feeding on the shoreline, 10 feet in front of us and the chicks came within 15 feet of us.  The piping plover chicks are still little fuzz balls with long legs, and what they used to say about Superman faster than a speeding bullet.  The chicks would stopped and feed and then dash further along the beach, into the rocks, picking up food and looking like they had a great time.

Please remember, if you visit a beach that have piping plovers nesting on it, watch where you are walking, they are now feeding anywhere on the beach.

Piping Plover Adult

Piping Plover Adult Scratching for Food

Piping Plover Chick Among the Rocks

Piping Plover Chick At the Shoreline

Piping Plover Chick Looking for Food

This Year's Piping Plover Chicks

Piping Plover Chick

My original plan was on Wednesday morning to travel to Allens pond to observe if the piping plovers eggs had hatched, however, because of the heavy rain, I postponed it until Thursday.  Arriving at the beach loop, to my surprise there were the adults right in front of me calling and displaying their wounded wing display.  Looking around, there were two chicks running all over the sand and rocks.  They blended in really well.  I knelt on the cobbles, with my tripod and camera down low.  Good thing I had a gimbal head, because the little ones didn't say still very long, and they were hard to follow because of their speed.  Remember, if you go to a beach that has piping plovers on least terns nesting, watch where you step and do not harass the animals.  By me being low to the ground and not moving much the adults, accepted my presence and continued to watch over the chicks.

Piping Plover

Piping Plover

Piping Plover

Piping Plover Chick

Piping Plover Almost a Full Frame photo, the adult looked me in the eye

Piping Plover Chick

Piping Plover Chick

Red-shouldered Hawk-week two

\Here is a one-week follow-up on the red-shouldered hawks. The chicks have definitely grown and is starting to develop real feathers and are much more active in the nest. The chicks have not started eating on their own and I watched one of the adults feeding them. I only have a few pictures from today since it started to rain and thunder. Stay tuned for next week's episode.

Chicks in the nest

 


Chicks in the nest



 look how active they are

The adult feeding the chick

Thank you