In Focus Daily

Red eye is not a problem when photographing a Black-crowned Night Heron. Its eyes are already bright red. No Photoshop required.

You might think, “no buts about it” but I say “Yes, butts about it!” I know that “butt” shots are considered rude, but I just had to share this. A squadron of American White Pelicans flew into Ferrari Pond yesterday morning. They hunt as a group, forming a semi circle or short line and move together in the water herding fish. They dip into the water in unison, scooping their prey up along with gallons of water, raising their butts in the air as they scoop. I tried to get all of them together with their butts raised at once but they were out of sync.

If ever a bird had a smug look, it’s this male Ruddy Duck. He’s probably thinking, “I’m so cool, I’ll bet you wish you had a blue beak!”

White-faced Ibis nests filled the stands of cattails that grow along the edge of the main pond at the Woodland-Davis Water Treatment facility. I didn’t count but there had to be at least twenty nests distributed through the cattails. And the chicks were begging to be fed. It was fascinating to watch the long-billed chicks and the longer-billed adult coordinating their beaks. The chicks in the nests were at varying stages of development. These chicks were among the older and larger chicks that we watched. The pin feathers are clearly visible under the wing of the chick on the left.

I visited the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Treatment Facility a couple of days ago. What got my immediate attention when we arrived was the loud and constant calling of the Black-necked Stilts. I see stilts all the time in Lincoln and they forage in the Salt Pond without making a sound. At the treatment plant, however, they have young. We saw two pairs of young Stilts, one pair younger than the other and as long as the young were out in the open (and even after they disappeared from our view) both sets of parents were in the air and calling loudly, swooping over the pond and even dive-bombing unsuspecting ducks that were deemed to be too close to their young.

Some of the Snowy Egrets at the Salt Pond are still sporting breeding plumage and acting aggressively toward other Snowy Egrets and whatever it is they might be stabbing at under the water.

Fisherman like to protect their prime fishing spots and apparently, Snowy Egrets are no exception. While I was shooting American Avocets the other day at the Salt Pond, I kept hearing the sound of what turned out to be a squabble between two Snowy Egrets. I’m not certain what the transgression really was but, as depicted in the first image, Snowy Egret Number 1 noticed something amiss and took to wing to settle the problem. The wing of Snowy Egret Number 2 is just visible in the lower left corner of the first image. The squabble continued during several set-tos between the two birds. Snowy Egret Number 1 was clearly annoyed with Snowy Egret Number 2 and was still obviously annoyed in the final image watching the interloper flee.

A Snowy Egret flies low over the Salt Pond to move a short distance to what seemed to be a more desirable foraging location.

After I missed several days walking the Ferrari Pond Trail, upon my return, I noticed that the Salt Pond, which was almost completely devoid of birds a week or so ago, is filled with Egrets, Stilts, and American Avocets. At least three American Avocets are back, slightly less colorful than earlier in the season after losing some of their breeding plumage color but back to foraging in the shallow waters of the Salt Pond. The Avocet caught something and this is the first time I’ve actually captured something it caught in its bill. I have no idea what it is but I’m sure it was a tasty breakfast morsel.

The Golden Marguerite is another flower I found in my brother’s garden late one afternoon a couple of days ago. Common but lovely.

I just returned home after visiting my brother John in Santa Rosa for a few days. I am always in awe of the difference between gardens in the more moderate climate in Santa Rosa compared with the hot, dry Central Valley. John’s garden is lush with all kinds of things that I don’t see around here. I hadn’t seen Little Johnny Jump Ups in a very long time and I was delighted to see dozens of them nestled underneath the hummingbird and oriole feeders. It seemed appropriate that John (known as Johnny when we were growing up) had masses of them growing in his garden. Despite their numbers, I was drawn to a single blossom near the bottom in a darkish part of the flower bed.

A Royal Tern perches on a piling by the DuPont Nature Center just off Delaware Bay on a gray and windy day. You can’t miss that beak, one of its most distinctive features.

It’s what they do! It’s why they’re called Ruddy Turnstones. They turn stones over in search of tasty morsels. Witnessed early one morning in May along the Mispillion River where it flows into Delaware Bay.

One moment, a Great Egret threaded its way innocently through the reeds at the Salt Pond in search of breakfast, and the next moment, it was under attack for being too close to a Red-winged Blackbird’s nest. Both the male and female Red-winged Blackbirds dive bombed the Egret, as it looked in disbelief at its attacker.

It’s summer and there’s not as much activity along the Ferrari Pond Trail but the Red-winged Blackbirds are still teasing each other. The female landed on a stalk and attracted the attention of a male nearby.

The other day, I walked up to the lookout over the Salt Pond to see what I could see. There was little activity what with the hundreds of goats milling around the area, moved by the goatherds every couple of days around the large open space. As I gazed over the marsh, a moving white bullet caught my attention. It was a White-tailed Kite, the second time I’d seen one in the area within a couple of days.

Most morning when I arrive at the Ferrari Pond Trail, a Black Phoebe is the first bird I encounter. The other morning was no exception but the bird seemed more concerned about what was flying overhead than in my approach.

The goats are trimming the brush along the Ferrari Pond Trail. The goatherds move them around the preserve, surrounding them with temporary electric fences. Unlike when the sheep are used for this purpose, the goats seem to be on their own, not protected by two or three huge white Great Pyrenees dogs. There are, we’re told, 470 of them of varying ages, colors, and sizes and they’re eating through the weeds and grasses with great alacrity. This little one seemed to enjoy the Curly Dock.

Yesterday, while I was out on the Ferrari Pond Trail, I discovered that my Merlin’s Bird of the Day was the American White Pelican. I thought that was an omen because the day before, just as I arrived, a friend alerted me to an American White Pelican in Ferrari Pond near the trail head. Although it was backlit, I decided to take a few shots before moving in case it took off. Of course, it took off almost immediately. A moment later I encountered another friend who chastised me (jokingly, I think) that I had scared off the Pelican. He then showed me his beautiful images in perfect light including one of the Pelican gulping down a catfish as well as all of the flight shots that I missed. So, yesterday morning, after discovering the American White Pelican was my Bird of the Day, the same friend, who rides a bike along the trail, pedaled up to tell me that the Pelican was back. I walked back and sure enough, there was the Pelican, giving me a smug look as if thinking, “you blew your chance yesterday, I’m just gonna paddle around now.” And, that was true, it just paddled and preened but it was nice light and I love getting a shot of my ‘Bird of the Day’ on the same day!