May 27, 2016

Another quick trip to the dam at Hoover Reservoir this morning; I run over there anytime I have an hour or to snap a few pictures.

 I saw the heron from the road about 300 yards away and had to move down 40' of steep hill covered in head sized rocks and then across 200 yards of a flat covered in the same rocks, heavy vegetation and lots of water holes. I was actually surprised to see the bird still there when I got close and he actually held tight for a minute or two.

I walked up on the spotted sandpiper while moving along the creek in tall, dew soaked grass. This bird either didn't notice me or wasn't too bothered by my presence because he actually hopped onto closer stones 3 times before taking off. This shot was taken at only about 20' or so with the 400 mm lens.

Overall I think it was a fairly productive way to spend an hour or so!

May 25, 2016

Another trip to the creek after dinner tonight for another visit with the mallard chicks.

May 24, 2106

I got a couple of flying heron shots today near Frazeysburg. I went over to Hoover Reservoir this evening and got a couple shots of a gosling and a spotted sandpiper. I threw in this mallard close up that I kind of liked just for fun. I hope you enjoy these!

May 21, 2016

It fianally quit raining and the sky brightened a bit this afternoon so I made a quick trip to a favorite local creek. I was very happy to catch the merganser with chicks; I have been working on getting some shots of them all spring. As a bonus I found a mallard with chicks in the same stretch of creek.

The shore bird I believe to be another lesser yellowlegs.

Update on May 19, 2016

I posted the picture of what I thought was a warbler on Bird Forum and a couple of folks there say it is an immature Baltimore Oriole. This makes sense because I did see a couple of Baltimore Orioles in the same trees as this little fellow.

May 20, 2015

I was driving near Frazeysburg Ohio on my way home this afternoon and spotted these sand-hill cranes feeding in a field along highway 36. It was cool to see them because I don't think they stick around here and are most likely just stopping during spring migration. It would have been nice to be about 200 yards closer but with wildlife sometimes all you can do is take what you can get, just stopping the truck made them nervous and they began to move away immediately.

May 19, 2016

I had a bit of time to shoot some pics this afternoon. I was fortunate enough to stumble onto an active osprey nest! I spotted the large nest high on a power transmission tower from a distance of nearly a mile. I walked down the power line cut until I was a couple towers away and then slipped into the woods to approach close unseen from the nest. I was able to get within about 75 yards when the parent came out. I only stayed around for a few minutes as not to stress them. It was very cool!

I got this shot of a rose-breasted grosbeak and the little warbler; not sure what variety of warbler this is, I looked through some things on Cornell's website and could not decide. Anyone who may know for sure please let me know in the comments. 

May 16, 2016

I shot this little family of wood ducks on a roadside pond near Coshocton Ohio.

May 14, 2016

I have a few that I took yesterday and the cedar waxwing I got today. I started to walk across the field to the grocery store to get some lunch and there were about 25 waxwings in a tree; I turned around and got my camera!

The last shot is a chestnut-sided warbler. I have shifted attention recently from waterfowl to some of the small birds; I find them fascinating.

May 8, 2016

Another quick trip over to the creek under Hoover Reservoir dam this morning. I was fortunate enough to have this green heron land about 30 feet from where I stood waiting for something to happen. I watched and photographed him for quite sometime while he put on a pretty good show.

May 7, 2016

I caught these killdeers in a field near my home while playing with my dogs. I ran home and grabbed my camera and got these shots; I wish the shot of the chick was sharper but it is better than nothing. There was a pair of adults and 3 chicks. The parents split up, one herded the chicks under a pine tree to hide and the other tried to lure me away. It was a blast watching and photographing these birds. I had noticed them hanging around the last couple days but did not realize they had young.

When I took the first shot I was able to get close enough that I did not have to crop the shot to fill the frame

I made an early morning trip to the creek below the dam at Hoover Reservoir. While these pictures are not spectacular it was my first real shot of the Baltimore oriole.

May 4, 2016

I made a short visit to Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area on the south shore of Sandusky Bay near Sandusky Ohio yesterday afternoon. I spent a few hours walking the perimeter of the very well managed man made marshes and saw a wide variety of waterfowl and other birds. I took 700 or so pictures and whittled it down to what is posted here.

There were 3 bald eagles hanging around that were just too far away for a good shot. I was excited to see the warblers, these are the first shots I have taken of them, several variety's around but the yellow presented the best shots. Another first was shooting the ruddy ducks, I had just never had a chance at them. I also missed out on a very nice drake pin-tail and some cormorants that I just could not get close to.

All things considered I absolutely need to make another trip to this property when I can spend an entire day.

May 2, 2016

I took this shot of a spotted sandpiper below the Hoover Reservoir dam last evening.  The second and third shots are lesser yellow legs- I think so anyway. My posts have slowed a bit the last couple of weeks as I have spent some time fishing. As luck would have it as soon as I got into the creek yesterday (fishing) I spotted a merganser hen with 6-7 chicks; I had only my I phone and the pictures were just terrible. I went back a few hours later and the mother had evidently moved the family, I could not find them again.

While researching the second two shots to make sure I have identified them correctly I realized I made a mistake with the post on April 10. I now think those birds are greater yellow legs because they have a slight up-turn to their bills. This is my  source which will support my conclusion. These sandpiper like shore birds are extremely tricky to identify with complete certainty.