Yellow-crowned Night Heron Brief Spring Courtship

 This morning, my friend Sarah texted me that she saw a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in the park at the end of our street here in Falls Church. This migratory heron comes to our area in spring looking for love and looking to breed. Dan and I were very lucky to catch a brief but very cool courtship display by the male. Here is the brief but beautiful love story...

In the small muddy creek off the raised boardwalk, we first spotted the female doing a little fishing.

Keeping a respectable distance we watched her checking out the creek but she decided to fly up onto the railing. This was very nice for us as we stood so still as she decided to walk toward us on the railing. I already had my camera raised and got these shots which didn't phase her one bit. She even allowed me to get a close up of her beautiful eyes.

Crayfish are a favorite food for these elegant birds and we must have not looked like crayfish so she dropped down into the creek on the other side of the boardwalk. That was when we noticed there was a male Yellow-crowned Night Heron skulking in the grasses a short distance from her. My long camera lens wouldn't capture both of them, so I snapped a quick bad photo on my i-phone.

See him back there? The female was clearly fishing as she slowly walked along the creek bank.

The male decided to walk through the undergrowth toward her. Then in a flash he raised his feathers in a full-on courtship display.

I captured it just before the male took a leap onto the female which lasted less than a blink before she flew off and perched in a tree about 15 yards away.

 

Meanwhile, the male stood dejectedly on the creek bank...

 

And there you have it, a first for us in seeing these wonderful waders have a brief courtship. Perhaps she will allow him another try. As we left the park we saw the female in the distance, through the spring forest, just the top of her head as she found another more private part of the little muddy creek in which to get her lunch. Love will have to wait, no doubt, until her tummy is full.

Back To Belle Isle: Winter Edition

 The drive from our river place to Belle Isle State Park in Lancaster, Virginia was winter beautiful. Overnight a light snow had fallen and the fields of were dusted in a bright white sprinkling between harvest stubble and roadside grass. The sky was that wonderful crisp winter blue when the humidity is next to zero and the sun shining in a nearly cloudless sky. The snow was melting before our eyes as the sun rose higher and the temperatures rose above freezing.

Belle Isle in winter is, as in most wild winter landscapes, a play of contrasts. Bare tree limbs, brown grasses, fields nearly flat with soil laid bare from fall harvests, and clear water reflecting the sharp blue sky are what makes this landscape a delight to spend a mid-January morning. 

 

 

 The birding was winter typical meaning that birds we expected to see at Belle Isle in winter gave us great views even if some at a distance. Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows foraged on the roadside and edges of the fields.

This Song Sparrow with its distinctive stripes and dark triangle shaped markings on either side of its throat foraged with a small flock of its same species on the edges of one of several parking lots.

Hundreds of ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese gleaned the fields for grains of wheat left behind in the harvesting. Belle Isle State Park is unique in the state for renting its land for farming. 

The Ring-billed Gulls were also resting in profusion on the narrow beach of Porpoise Creek. If you look closely in the center of the photo you can make out a larger Herring Gull in the flock.

Way in the distance in one of the fields we saw a Bald Eagle hopping on the bare ground gathering nesting material. There is a huge and abandoned eagle's nest in the park as well as an active nest more hidden in the tree tops of the forested part of the park.

Other very distant views across Porpoise Creek revealed four Tundra Swans, visitors from the far north to these unfrozen waters where the food is abundant.

A lone Great Blue Heron fished patiently in the marsh.

In a woodsy wind break between the fields, wintering Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers drilled shallow holes in the trees to get the sap. The bird in the top photo is a male and the bird in the bottom photo is a female. And speaking of wintering birds we were thrilled to see the Brown Creeper, a small comma-shaped bird, methodically and slowly climbing a tree in search of any insects sheltering in the bark crevices. The curved bill is an effective tool at prying those tasty buggy morsels.

The trails marked with detailed posts were a little muddy in spots and some were a little cozy with borders of the brown remains of tall grasses and thick greens of the loblolly pines. Song Sparrows flitted across these paths finding a tall piece of grass with a few seeds still left behind, riding the grass, bending it to the ground where they took the seeds before flying to another to repeat the process.

 The boardwalk trail near the canoe launch was still encrusted with snow and ice making for a treacherous walk so we chose the dirt road to the water for a quick look.

Belle Isle is one of our very favorite places to bird. We saw 30 different species on this sunny Sunday. A great day indeed!

Not Every Outing Is A Winner

 A new year and we decided to beginning it by birding on a Saturday in what is arguably Northern Virginia's most popular birding destination: Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria. We arrived right after sunrise and the parking lot was already a quarter full. This park with its forested trails and boardwalk over the wetland attracts scores of photographers as well as birders. Dan and I go for the birds first and take photos if the opportunity presents itself. 

You may or may not know that the American Birding Association (ABA) has rules of ethics for birders and one of them is not to stress or harass birds. Pretty obvious, right? It really applies to all of us who enjoy being in nature in what is basically the homes of our feathered friends.  At the park just off the boardwalk was a bird not commonly seen in Huntley Meadows: Clapper Rail. The amount of photographers crowding the boardwalk, all wearing masks, leaning over the railing to catch a glimpse of this reclusive, solitary bird tucked in the bracken looked like the paparazzi along the red carpet at the Oscars. One woman parked a stroller, packed full of thousands of dollars worth of optics, and a wide open tripod on the 6 foot wide passage. Social distancing was non-existent. We managed to catch a distant and brief glimpse of the Clapper Rail with our binoculars before moving away. Pandemic or not, it's just not a good idea to crowd a bird and possibly cause it stress. We moved quickly on to the less populated parts of the extensive boardwalk. 

We observed a male Red-winged Blackbird pulling bits from a swamp milkweed stem getting at the tasty matter inside.

 

A White-throated Sparrow stood out from the flock of dozens on the shadowy path. The sweet gum "ball" was in an interesting place when I took the photo.

Northern Shovelers dabbled the muddy bottom of the wetland so getting a photo of their entire head with distinctive wide bill was an exercise in futility. They were enjoying a nice breakfast away from the "rail madness" crowds. We enjoyed watching them eat as they do it so methodically and calmly. These birds breed in Western and Central Canada, and they also occur in Europe and parts of Asia. They are also monogamous. The female is headfirst with tail up just ahead of the male.

 

We arrived home at mid-morning and decided to walk to our neighborhood park, but the best bird we saw was while we were standing on the front porch. A beautiful Cooper's Hawk swooped to a small tree near the end of the house. 

Sometimes home can bring wonderful sights. And I just happened to have my camera. So the morning of birding ended on a very nice note.

Autumnal Equinox: Back To Belle Isle State Park VA

 September 22nd marked the Autumnal Equinox and was also one of the prettiest days of the year in our opinion. We greeted the first dim rays of sunlight at our place on the Great Wicomco River with a wonderful view of an adult Bald Eagle perched on of many bare branches or snags of a waterside old sycamore tree. After breakfast we drove to one of our very favorite birding spots in the Northern Neck: Bell Isle State Park. We lasted visited there early May during spring bird migration and were anxious to see what fall migration might reveal to us. 

Across from the small parking lot we looked at the old barn that serves as the park's landmark. In spring we observed Eastern Bluebirds on the barn's peak but today Turkey Vultures inhabited the space, some with wings spread out to dry and warm in the morning sun. 

Leaving the somewhat creepy carrion we headed down one of the trails edged in a thin strip of woods on one side and ripening soybean fields on the other.

Dan, ever the more eagle eyed of our group of two, saw that us bird watchers were being watched from the middle of the field.

A white-tailed doe watched us intently before bounding off in the opposite direction.

Past the fields the trail opened up into wonderful views of the marsh choked with marsh grass before yielding to open water where we saw Belted Kingfisher and Great Egret from a great distance with the aid of our binoculars.

In the pines we heard chattering that told us we were in Brown-headed Nuthatch territory. These fuzzy little birds seem to talk to themselves as they glean the pine branches for insects.

Past the marsh and pines the landscape changed to an open field lush with tall grasses bowed down by the weight of ripening seed heads.

 This grassy field with the occasional sweet gum sapling was inhabited by a migratory flock of a half dozen Indigo Buntings. The male was displaying just a fraction of its namesake color making it closer in brownish hue to the females of the flock. The non-breeding plumage is not as vivid as the spring breeding plumage, but it was a delight to see these south-bound birds on the equinox. 

We drove to another part of Belle Isle near the newish visitor center on the shore of the Rappahannock River. Double-crested Cormorant, Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls, and a lone Sharp-shinned Hawk flyover were the expected birds to find in mid-September. Between the visitor center and the river's shore is a lush meadow of native grasses and wild flowers. A path through this meadow gave us great views of many pollinators. We're not fully versed in butterfly identification and had to research these beauties later before presenting them here. From top to bottom: Common Buckeye, Coral Hairstreak, and Monarch Butterflies (on the bottom two photos). Monarchs migrate and these two among others enjoyed the goldenrod and tick seed flowers.

We traveled to a small creek off to the side of the visitor center and down a hidden informal path to find a Great Blue Heron perched in the trees on the far shore.

 

Autumn in its infant stage is a wondrous and colorful place to be in Belle Isle State Park. 

Belle Isle State Park

Early Saturday morning, we drove to Belle Isle State Park in Lancaster County, VA. Belle Isle SP is a lovely park of 892 acres on the Rappahannock River and bordered by Morattico Creek and Deep Creek. In normal times, camping, canoeing, and horseback riding are some of the recreational offerings as well as a new visitor and nature center located on the Rappahannock. The original house, Bel Air mansion built in 1790 and since restored, is privately owned but can be rented out. The state park also has farm fields which are used and harvested every year. This year winter wheat was growing.

There are lots of trails but we prefer the Watch House Trail which is .61 miles from the camp store to the Rappahannock River. It starts at the big red ban with the tin roof where Barn Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds compete for insects in the early morning sun. We often see a male Eastern Bluebird perched on the peak of the barn roof.

Along the trail bordered by a narrow old growth woods serving as a windbreak for the wheat fields, we spied two Indigo Buntings chasing each other from woods to field and back again. Occasionally they would alight on dry wild growth, taking a breather until the next chase.

It is possible these two males were competing for territory as Belle Isle is part of their extensive breeding range.

The trail leaves the fields and enters marsh and mostly mature pine woods with nice shrubby undergrowth.

A male Mallard looked very alert on the end of this log in the water, but then two other males flew over and this duck took off to join them and circle over the marsh. They looked like young males so it was probably three duck dudes enjoying the warm morning air.

Red-headed Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers and Brown-headed Nuthatches are frequently seen in this area and we saw all three species in the Loblolly pines. Migratory Prairie Warblers were flitting in and out of the bayberry (myrtle) bushes and undergrowth, pausing to sing their ascending somewhat mysterious spring song.

These small bright yellow warblers with distinctive black under eye curved stripe are fun to watch. The p[ark is part of their breeding range. The Prairie Warbler's numbers are declining thus putting them on the watch list of conservation groups. We saw and heard at least four during our morning at the park.

We pretty much had the park to ourselves early in the day. A jogger was the only human we saw. There are a a lot of trails here so seeing other people first thing in the morning is not a given. Social distancing is easy here.
Along the trail we spied a nest, most likely unused and possibly from last year, made from a combination of twigs, grass and plastic.

We drove to the visitor center, which was closed due to Covid-19. It's on the Rappahannock River and has a nice native plant garden and meadow. The rafters of the porch have some fake snakes nailed there to discourage Barn Swallows from nest building there, but during this time when few if any people are around the building the Barn Swallows took advantage and ignored the fake snakes, while building their grass and mud nest on the beams.

We walked the meadow path and saw butterflies and other insects in the grasses and young trees. This Halloween-hued butterfly landed on the ground right in front of us. I took a photo and looked up the name of the insect later.

It's a Meadow fritillary ( I had to look it up on-line) only 1-1/2 inches wide. At this moment we realized why a lot of birders we know also study butterflies and moths. They go hand in hand and are equally as beautiful and important to our natural world.
In the meadow an Eastern Kingbird gave us great views from a small tree.

The best field mark of these flycatchers is the white tail tip. These migratory birds spend winter in Central America and breed in most of the eastern U.S.

 We headed over to the Mulberry Creek boardwalk on, appropriately, Mulberry Creek.

Shady and scenic, and the perfect tonic for easing concerns about current events. It was about ten and time to head back to the river place to do some much needed work. Spring morning in a nearly deserted state park was the perfect way to begin a weekend.