Make way for Ducklings

Posted on May 26, 2015May 26, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Although different birds mate at different times, spring is in fulls wing here in New England. So it seemed strange to me that I had not seen any baby ducks.The swans are still on the nest and the Canada Geese have tons of baby goose-poop machines.

I spotted a baby Osprey but where are the ducklings?

There’s a little pond near my house so I took a drive over there with the camera. I brought along a book and settled in to read and watch the birds. There were lots of Canada Geese, no goslings here, however. There were some gulls and few Mallards but no babies of any kind.

I rolled the window down and started reading my book. The birds wandered across the road from the pond to the lawn on the other side and back again. Several geese stopped to check the car out. Apparently trying to figure out what this thing was in their path.

I’d been there about 20 minutes as the mixed flock crossed back to the lawn again when I saw a Mama Mallard with quite a brood of ducklings. I bet she had a dozen! The babies were swimming and diving like corks while Mama chased away all adults, even the much larger Canada Geese!

Happy now that I can add ducklings to my list of babies, I decided to make one more stop before I headed home.

Goslings

Posted on May 25, 2015May 25, 2015 by Dusty Roads

While the “Majestics” wait for their eggs to hatch, several Canada Goose couples have already seen their eggs give way to fluffy goslings.

The families mingled until no one seemed to know which baby belonged to which parent.

I guess even geese have family cook outs on Memorial Day Weekend.

Swan Spring

Posted on May 24, 2015May 24, 2015 by Dusty Roads

It felt so nice to steal a few moments with the camera. The Grist Mill Pond in Plymouth was teaming with new life. Mr. and Mrs. Majestic are patiently waiting on their nest.

To The Beach and Beyond!

Posted on January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 by Dusty Roads

Gurnet Light came into view shortly after we left the snow buntings behind. That signaled we had to be approaching our turn-around as this was the end of the road. To my surprise Dave parked the van and invited us all out to follow him over the dunes to the beach beyond.

There was a lot of bird activity here. No Snowy Owls but enough other feathered friends to hold our attention.

Ducks bobbed on the waves. A seal popped his head up for a quick look around. Several Cormorants stretched their wings to the sun drying their feathers before their next dive. A flock of snow buntings winged past, banking sharply as one before swooping back past us.

Through all this activity the deep blue ocean made a breath-taking backdrop.

Closer to shore the breakers were dropping their bits of sea grass before receding.

A Sandling raced up and down the edge of the waves.

A relative to the Sandpiper this comical little guy didn’t stay still for one second.

Finally it was time to go back to the vans for the return trip. We spotted a finch and a sparrow and Dave began to explain the difference when a flock of snow buntings swooped over the van and settled on the fence next to the road. Dave pulled the van to a stop but before anyone could move there was Mr. Copper’s Hawk dive bombing the little gathering. We didn’t see him catch anything but he got an A for effort as Snow Buntings scattered in all directions.

Show over we moved on a bit further until Dave once again stopped the van. He set up the scope and all he said was take a look and there it was. Our Snowy owl was still right there on the ice but he was a bit more active now. He still had the remains of his breakfast and he hopped up and down on the carcass. Even as far away as we were he seemed to sense us and slowly his head swiveled around and he latched that golden-eyed stare right on us. Those of us at the scope let out an audible sigh before he turned his attention back to his meal.

We watched with scope, binoculars and cameras for quite awhile as he put on his little rapter show but eventually all things must end and we left Mr. Snowy to his lunch.

This was a great experience. I was disappointed that we only saw one owl but it’s better than none. I was also disappointed that he was out of my camera range but at least I got to see him. The hawk was a great encore. I loved the hawk! The sandling and snow buntings were a plus as well…and I was warm the whole time!

I’d call this experience a success!

Let The Owl Prowl Begin

Posted on January 12, 2015January 12, 2015 by Dusty Roads

We pulled out of the parking lot onto a posted dirt road. The first 100 yards or so weren’t too bad but once that ran out you understood why you needed a 4 Wheel Drive to navigate. As we bumped and bounced from pot hole to pot hole we all laughed about the damage we must be doing to the suspension on the vans.

We were traveling along a narrow peninsula that runs from Duxbury to Plymouth. At the tip is Gurnet Light marking the entrance to Plymouth Bay. The homes located out here are all private and access is restricted. The length of the peninsula from the Powder Point Bridge to Gurnet Light is about 5 miles.

We hadn’t gone too far when Dave pulled off the road into a little turnout. He told us all to get out of the van while he ran around to the back to take out a spotting scope. Sally’s van was pulled up behind ours and she was busy getting out another scope. Once they were set up Dave told us to take a look. A snowy was sitting on the bank of ice with the water just behind him. Without the scope it was really hard to see the little fella. Dave confessed that he knew it was there because they had seen it that morning when it caught a duck for its breakfast. He’d checked just before he picked us up to be sure it was still there. It was a long way out but the scopes really made it pop out. My best guess photo wasn’t so hot.

Can you tell which snow chunk is the owl? He’s just left of the building in the background.

Here it is a MAXIMUM ..that gray blotch is the owl. He was much clearer in the spotting scope.

We stayed there taking turns with the spotting scopes until some of the less hardy souls began to drift back to the van. Once about half of us had left Dave announced it was time to move on.

Back in the van Dave was chatting about the owl when he spotted 3 little birds setting down in the grass on the dune. While he was concentrating on that I let out a shout..HAWK!. It was diving right toward us! It wanted one of those little birds for lunch. They took off and the hawk swooped right past us, Dave identified it as a Cooper’s Hawk. That was exciting. Almost as good as seeing the Snowy.

A bit further on we stopped and piled out of the van again. This time the spotting scope showed us a flock of snow buntings scratching in the dune sand for seeds.

They paid no attention to us and once again we watched until about half of our group had returned to the van. Still no great photo ops except for the scenery but I was having fun.