Bird of the Week

**chrisa62401** · 04-24-2012, 11:49 AM

From lunch time today.

**GWashington1732** · 04-24-2012, 10:36 PM

I finally got my new lens and a nice day to try it out.

Tree Sparrow

Tree-Sparrow.jpg

Osprey sitting on a branch eating a fish.

Ospreyinatree.jpg

Osprey Flying.

Osprey-flying.jpg

I don't know why, but this goose was really pissed off at the other two. It's a male that was guarding a nest I found today, different from the one I already knew about. This thing came flying right over me and started attacking two geese that were sitting 20 feet away and it didn't let up when they ran off either.

Pissed-Off-Goose.jpg

It just kept smashing into the other two, they must have had the radio too loud or something.

Goose-Attack.jpg

Still no baby geese from the nest I've been watching.

**jasonp** · 04-24-2012, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by chrisa62401

From lunch time today.

great shot!

**w9trb** · 04-24-2012, 10:58 PM

Here is a recent one taken at a local pond.

**GWashington1732** · 04-25-2012, 03:54 PM

Went out to the wildlife refuge for my ornithology class today.

Tried again for the peregrine falcons with my big old lens, it's not much better than the last one but you can see more this time. One is perched up on the post, all the way to the left, the second is right under it. There are also two chicks in front of the dog house, they look like little fuzz balls.

Perigrine-Tower.jpg

Red winged blackbird.

Red-Winged-Blackbird.jpg

Snowy Egret.

Snowy-Egret.jpg

Forster's Tern, there was a swarm of them flying around and diving for fish.

Tern.jpg

Diving Tern.

Forster's-Tern.jpg

**Jakeboy** · 04-25-2012, 05:44 PM

That diving Tern shot is outstanding!!

**GWashington1732** · 04-25-2012, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by Jakeboy

That diving Tern shot is outstanding!!

Thanks, I've got a few like that. But they were kind of hard not to get pictures of.

And that's not even all of them.

Termswarm.jpg

In other news, they've hatched! I rode my bike past one of the goose nests I've been watching, the one with the mean goose, and the female was not in the same spot. I listened and heard "peepeepeepeepeep," so I looked at the nest and saw this little yellow fluffball hopping around in there. I only saw one but I heard at least three, I'll get pictures tomorrow morning when it's light out and they're feeling a little more adventurous, they literally had to have just hatched this morning, because they weren't there yesterday evening. Also I didn't want to get too aggressive around that male goose, trying to get in closer, not after seeing it beat the crap out of those two geese yesterday. The other nest still hasn't hatched, maybe tomorrow.

**TomTerrific** · 04-25-2012, 07:55 PM

Originally Posted by Jakeboy

That diving Tern shot is outstanding!!

Indeed.

I really enjoy the pics.

**mossyhorn** · 04-25-2012, 08:11 PM

I took these while on a hike this afternoon. I didn't have a good camera with me and the photo is shoddy. It is unusual to see a great blue heron and a great egret in such close proximity to each other.

**GWashington1732** · 04-25-2012, 09:13 PM

Two more for today.

A Tern that actually caught something.

Ternwithfish.jpg

A male Willet (right) doing a mating display. The female (left) wasn't interested.

Willet-Mating-Display.jpg

**GWashington1732** · 04-26-2012, 02:14 PM

There were five. This morning I finally got some pictures. I had a hard time finding a spot to sight through the bushes so I climbed a tree and sat with a branch digging into my chest for an hour. Six people walked by and not one of them looked up from their phone. Here's mommy and daddy goose taking the little baby geeses on their first swim around the little island they nested on.

baby-geeses.jpg

I'll post more once I've sorted through them.

**TomTerrific** · 04-26-2012, 02:42 PM

GW1732: Where were these pics taken?

**Gevonovich** · 04-26-2012, 06:08 PM

GW...thats dedication my man. Great shot.

**GWashington1732** · 04-26-2012, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by TomTerrific

GW1732: Where were these pics taken?

The shots from yesterday were at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, my ornithology class went out there since its only ten minutes down the road. The geese were on campus, I'll be checking on Monday to see if the other nest hatched, it was too flooded to walk there today.

Originally Posted by Gevonovich

GW...thats dedication my man. Great shot.

Thanks, it'd be a lot better if that branch wasn't in the way causing that shadow over the male goose. I've got to sort through the rest but I'm unpacking right now.

**TomTerrific** · 04-26-2012, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by GWashington1732

The shots from yesterday were at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, my ornithology class went out there since its only ten minutes down the road. The geese were on campus, I'll be checking on Monday to see if the other nest hatched, it was too flooded to walk there today.

Thanks.

George Lowery at LSU got me started in birding. As an ornithologist, you probably have heard of him.

**mossyhorn** · 05-01-2012, 06:55 PM

I captured the whole brood in this photo.

**GWashington1732** · 05-02-2012, 09:04 PM

Today in Cape May. A Ton of double crested Cormorants.

Cormorants.jpg

The Downy woodpecker that's nesting in my back yard.

Downey-Woodpecker.jpg

Gosling in the nest from last week

Gossling.jpg

All except one gosling from last week, the fifth isn't in this picture.

Gosslings.jpg

Great blue heron from Monday.

Great-Blue-Heron.jpg

I tried to get some turkey chick pictures today while I was waiting for them to cross the road, then a big redneck truck came by and ran three over *cough* jerk *cough, cough*. They must have missed the tires by like an inch because they were still alive, they just got thrown around by the gust of air. I got out and picked up two off the road and on off the hill on the other side and helped them get over over by the adult. The only picture I got is a blurry one from when the truck passed though.