Rookery

On Wednesday Steve Uffman and I visited a rookery near Ville Platte, Louisiana.  From a raised road we looked across a lake at great egrets sitting on eggs, but some where already with half grown chicks.  They feed the babies by regurgitating fish which is quite exciting to watch.  These chicks are eating and growing machines. Some of the egrets were still displaying their breeding plumage.  The fans of long white feather shinning in the early morning sunlight were beautiful.

Great egret on nest

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I will be teaching a workshop here in two weeks check out the Rookery Workshop.

The beautiful roseate spoonbill

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In the same trees were amazingly colored roseate spoonbills. These birds were a little behind the great egrets in maternal duties as they were mainly building nests, bobbing their spatulated bills for their mating dance.  I got a nice video of two spoonbills mating of which I will post on Facebook soon.

Eagle Reconnaissance

Last week Steve Uffman and I did our 64-mile bald eagle survey by boat in Terrebonne Parish. This was our fourth year. It was a beautiful, clear blue-sky day that started cold but warmed up quickly. We observed 25 adult eagles and got within a few hundred yards of 10 nests, of which at least 9 were active with an adult near by or sitting with chicks.  Seven of the nests had visible chicks.  The oldest nest I know of had no adult around it, but the nest looked like it had been repaired. One nest we have observed for the past three years was lost to the wind.  A storm must have broken the willow tree in half. We could see 8 more nests at a great distance in which we did not try to observe activity.

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Bald Eagle on nest

All but one new nest we have found are in black willow trees.  This tree is relatively short lived and can break in the wind much easier than a bald cypress.  The good news is the eagles are increasing and having to move away from the established territories in bald cypress swamps where birds are already established.  The bad news is they will have to rebuild nests, as the weaker trees will be lost more often.

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Spanish moss lights up at sunset

We also saw hundreds of hawks, flocks of white ibis and white pelicans among many other birds. Due to the previous day’s cold and wind, only two alligators and a few turtles were seen.  It was a fine boat ride preparing for the February 27 Eagle Expo in Morgan City, LA where I will be teaching a Photo Workshop on bald eagle Photography

Heading North

Image 140210-033.jpg American Coots take flight

Watching a flock of American Coots take off from Bayou Copasaw in the Terrebonne Parish marsh yesterday made me wonder if the birds were thinking it's time to go north and find their nesting grounds. Those chunky black birds use churning feet and short wings to take off the water like a turbo prop plane on a runway. They need to think twice before flying away, we got another cold snap here, and it's still icy up north!

I had the shivers in the damp cold yesterday even when it peaked to 70 degrees. We were traveling at 30 mph in Steve Uffman’s bay boat over water that was 48 degrees, burrrrr!

Snow and Goldfinches

Sunshine or snow, the goldfinches and other winter birds love my feeders. The birds have been voracious in this cold and icy weather. These colorful feathered friends are the perfect subject to try out my new GoPro camera with, especially with its Wi-Fi hotspot hooked up to my iPad. Gosh its nice sitting in the kitchen drinking hot tea as the temperature was slowly climbing toward 30 degrees while clicking the shutter remotely.

Image #140126-0029 Goldfinches feed before the snow on 1/26/14

The GoPro camera uses a super wide-angle lens to capture close up action images of surfers, skiers and mountain bikers, so it makes kind of distorted view of my feeders. The new device will have some practical uses in my new book project concerning Louisiana Landscapes and other natural subjects. I will be launching a blog about this project soon.

Image #140130-0400 Goldfinches on a morning of snow 1/30/14

In this cold weather I am having a greater variety of species at the feeders. Some like the blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker and white-throated sparrows rarely come. The last few days they too were hungry for my feeder's seed. When the yard was totally white, seven male cardinals in their bright red coats decorated the white and gray landscape with vibrant colors. I once read that the state of Maine uses more birdseed per person than any other state. I can see why, they need a little color in their long white winters.

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Eagles and Egrets

Bald Eagle perched in a bald cypress tree.

Blue skies and cold air greeted Steve Uffman and I as we launched at Bayou Black Marina to do a Bald Eagle Scout for my upcoming workshop at Eagle Expo March 1, 2013 in Morgan City. We saw our first bird 15 minutes later on nest #1.  She was hunkered down incubating her eggs.  Off we sped to the next two that are near the marina and found the same.  By the end of the day, all 14 that we got relatively close to had females on the nest.  Two nests had been rebuilt.  They were near last year’s nest that was blown down in one of the summer storms.  I had to ask Steve to slow down; 30 knots in his bay boat had my eyes watering so bad that I could not see well enough to look for new nests. Then we found 4 new nests.  Total count for the day was 18. Four we could not get close to.  One of last year’s was down with no sign of a new nest, but one bird was in the vicinity of the old nest.

CC releases a Great Egret after freeing her from a nutria trap. Photo Credit: Steve Uffman.

As we approached the area, I noticed a Great Egret struggling.  It was caught in a nutria trap of the leg hold type.  Steve edged the boat up to the bank, and I jumped out on the spongy marsh soil and tossed my jacket gently over the trapped bird.  Then I sprung the trap and checked out the bird’s foot.  It was bleeding slightly, but remarkably did not seem broken. As I held her carefully, I saw her wiggle her toes.  She had a couple of breeding plumes already, and her face had changed into breeding colors.  I released her to fly way with her legs trailing normally.  I think she will be fine, find her mate, and nest successfully. Another treat of the day were the numerous hawks.  I counted 75 over our 61 mile trip – mostly red-tail hawks.  I'll go back in a few weeks to see the eagles flying more.  They will make many trips to the nest to feed hungry young.

Sounds of the Wing

Black skimmers and sandwich terns in flight at sunset

I had just finished running and was resting with friends when I asked Julie about her recent trip to North Carolina.  She said it was so peaceful and relaxing, I even heard the sound of a bird flying. To me that’s a normal day. Whether it is the buzz of a hummingbird, the whistle of a flock of blue-winged teal or the quietness of an owl flying over my head at night.  But to her with a busy life in Baton Rouge, family and job it was unusual and refreshing. A serene moment to catch up on the way it feels to really live on earth. Our conversation made me think it would do everybody good to take a few minutes off each day to listen to the sounds of nature.  You don’t have to be in a cabin in North Carolina or in the Atchafalaya Swamp to do it, for even in most big cities you can find a place to experience a little something called nature.