Video of White heron Flying around Shellpot Creek

Finally caught video of a White Heron flying around our section of Shellpot Creek north of Wilmington, Delaware. I fell a little bad following it around to get the video because it finally flew onto the roof and then downstream to feed because of me.



Up on the roof of our house.

Hopefully it will come back some day when I am not around to bother it and eat some tasty fish in our section of the creek.

Blue Heron on Shellpot Creek

Saw the Blue Heron on Shellpot creek this morning. Pictures are pretty good, but still no video.




I tried to switch to the iPhone and slightly bumped the blind on the window and it flew away. That noise couldn't have been heard by the bionic woman yet it spooked that bird.

Fledging sparrows at the end of summer

Towards the end of summer we noticed that some birds had built a nest in the large flower pots that we have on our front porch, but never really saw any birds in it. In early September at the end of summer, all of the sudden the House Sparrows that had hatched were ready to fledge. I captured what appeared to be two babies and two parents during the first flight event. Ah, the wonders of nature.

Snow makes birds crazy for the birdfeeder

Yesterday's snow brought hoards of hungry black birds to the bird feeder. This mixed group was made up of both grackles and starlings. There were many more than this picture indicates, perched on all of the trees and across the creek. I guess the snow made them a little crazy. rarely have I ever seen more than one bird at the feeder at a time and those were tiny birds. Yesterday had two grackles feeding and birds perched on top.


Even the dark-eyed juncos got into the act. They rarely go to the feeder, preferring to let one of their avian brethren from a different species peck and throw seed from the feeder to the ground where they forage. This time they had to do it themselves. Actually feeding at the feeder is an unusual behavior.

Hawks for the birds at the bird feeder

This hawk suddenly lighted on a tree on the creek yesterday. The hawk in flight was much more dramatic than its brooding roost.


I would guess this is a Broad-Winged hawk and not a Red Tailed hawk, but I couldn't see the tail that well. It is not the first one I have seen in my yard or in the area.


I suspects it was there because of all of the dainty morsels of smaller birds that have been attracted to the bird feeders lately. This little blue bird (a White-Breasted Nuthatch) throws out food onto the ground below the feeder that the dark-eyed juncos go after.


The dark-eyed juncos flit from the brush of the fallen tree in the creek to the ground below the feeder and back. You can see one hiding in the middle of the picture below.

The house sparrows feed at the feeder and off of the ground. I think that the sparrow below is a more drab colored female. I might be incorrect in the identification and would appreciate an experts advice.

Snow birds not always white or in the snow

These northern juncos (also called a "slate colored" junco or the dark-eyed junco) have been flitting all over the backyard lately. They are listed in Peterson's Eastern Bird Guide under snowbirds and close examination of their range map shows that they winter in Delaware and to the south. It is interesting to think of Delaware in the winter as the south that more northerly dwelling birds fly to, even as our summer birds fly farther south.


This one looks like a male with its slate colored top and white belly. You can also see the characteristic white tail feathers on the outside of the tail. The tail is a flashes white when they fly around.


This more dun version is a female. The boys tend get to wear the more fancy clothes in the bird kingdom. It does have dark eyes and a seed breaking beak.

Bird Days on the Shellpot Creek

Every so often it seems that a large number of birds and a large variety of birds visits the bird feeders in the backyard near the creek all at once. I try to take pictures and identify them, but I am not very good at being fast enough, or steady enough and the camera is not all that great.
I saw but did not get a picture of a Red-bellied Woodpecker. The description is funny in that it says that rarely can you ever see the red-belly, and the most obvious markings are a red head and black wings with spots. I wonder who named it? I saw a juvenile fly through and peck at some trees. The young do not have as red a head, more brownish. After that an adult came through and you could not mistake it for anything other than a woodpecker. I have been seeing and hearing these birds all summer, yet I have not been lucky enough to get even a bad picture.

I saw and documented with a blurry picture my first blue jay of the season by the creek in the backyard. I see blue jays all the time, just not in my own private bird sanctuary.

We have a lot of cardinals (Northern Cardinal) that feed at the feeder and at the seed that falls on the ground. The males are the showy red ones, while the females are more brown and drab, but you can't miss the orange seed breaking beak. Often the males chase each other and solitary males are often following or being followed by several females.




There is a little blue bird that often runs up and down the side so of the trees, sometimes upside down. I figured that it was an insect eater of some sort and after hunting through the bird books have decided it is a White-Breasted Nuthatch. The photos, blurred by its movement, seem to support that identification, as does the description of its behavior.

White-Breasted Nuthatch moving up the tree

Travelling sideways

Hopped to another tree.

The book I am using lately to identify these birds is the Smithsonian Birds of North America by Fred J. Alsop III, but I do also like the Peterson's guide to Eastern Birds and for a closeup of Delaware I use Birds of Delaware by Gene K. Hess, Richard L. West, Maurice V. Barnhill III, Lorraine M. Fleming which doesn't have photos, only hand drawings, but is a comprehensive list of birds and even data on number of sightings, nests and locations. For me it is important not only that the picture match, but that the bird has been seen in my area at the correct time of year and that the behavior matches. Still it is nice to try to get a picture.

Great Egret on the Shellpot Creek

This morning I spotted a Great Egret, Ardea alba (which I have always called a White Heron) dining on the fish in the creek right behind my house.



I was lucky enough to grab the camera and get some long distance shits from the second story windows, moving from room to room as it moved up the creek. Although they are still from too far away these are my best pictures ever of the white heron that I have gotten (better than these). Here are the closeups using the camera zoom and cropped to show the heron.









There is a Great White Heron species in Florida that is merely a white morph of the Great Blue Heron. The bird above is not a Great White Heron because it doesn't have yellow legs it has black legs like the Great Egret (White Heron). We have seen Blue Herons on the creek earlier this year.

Peregrine falcons in Wilmington

I went to a birdwatching session on the roof of the Colonial parking garage in Wilmington yesterday to learn about the peregrine falcons that live on the Brandywine building downtown. I did not know that these birds lived in the city until I got the invitation to the event. Apparently they think the tall buildings with their ledges are cliffs which is their natural habitat. Score one for an animal that has actually benefited from a new environment created by man.

The mostly eat other birds. The ones we saw were born earlier this year and though they are immature they are flying and hunting. The News Journal tells the story and also has a short video. They caught me peering through the telescope.

Great Blue Heron on Shellpot Creek

I was able to get two very bad pictures of the Blue Heron that frequents the Shellpot Creek right in back of my house.



This bird or birds has found a good cache of very large minnows that it likes to eat. The difficulty I have had in getting pictures is that any noise or movement frightens it away and it flies on up or down the creek. Even slow movement inside the house scares the thing away, so when I stumble and bump along to grab my camera to take a picture it is gone. Today I was able to quietly get the camera and take these through the screen and the sliding glass doors. But the zoom in my shaky hands unaided by a tripod means they are blurry.


I think they are clear enough to positively identify the bird and claim it as documented by a photo. Someday I will get a better one.

Let sleeping birds lie

I had intended to put up some Christmas lights on the porch, but I had to move the extension cord and remove the Halloween lights. The Halloween lights haven't been on for a month but they just needed to be moved out of the way. I decided to do it tomorrow since very tiny but extremely fluffy bird has taken up roost right on the nail holding up the extension cord.



I thought is was a nest at first but then I noticed a tail poking out of a fluffy feathered body. You can see how tiny he is by comparing him to the plug of the lights into the extension cord. Another chapter in the continuing story of the wildlife refuge that is my yard.

Broad Winged hawk comes to work

Today, I had another broad winged hawk encounter but with a better camera than the last time. This hawk was at work roosting in the trees around the parking lot but right in front of the office window. At first it appeared injured as it hobbled around on the ground and flew from branch to ground to branch, but around lunchtime I saw it soaring high above, so I imagine that it is fine.

(click for larger images)

Here it is perched.


Perched with eyes closed


Perched with a good shot of the tail below the branch as well.


On the ground facing toward.


On the ground facing away.

After some further review of hawks on the web, this appears to be an immature broad winged hawk and not a Cooper's hawk (no red eyes) or Red Tailed hawk (no red tail). The broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) summers in the eastern United States and is very common.

I would still like the expert opinion of a bird watcher, especially if they were familiar with birds of the eastern United States or the Delmarva peninsula.

Great Egret - White heron on the Shellpot Creek

The wildlife sightings continue on the Shellpot Creek. This morning I saw what I suspect is a Great Egret (or White Heron) feeding in the creek behind the house. I even saw it eating a fish, though I could not get a picture of that. These photos are courtesy of my crappy Treo camera, some with and some without the binoculars. (My good camera is broken!)


It had a yellow bill, and dark legs.


It also had a long neck.








It tucked its neck into an S shape when it flew away up the creek. All of these are characteristics of a White Heron.

Calling all bird experts - Was it a broad-winged hawk in my yard?

The area around my house feels like a wildlife refuge, especially due to the creek in the back. This afternoon a very large hawk was eating something in the front yard. I think it is a broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) but I would love it if a bird expert would confirm my suspicion. It looks like a white morph version and is probably immature from the picture matching that I tried to do. Especially the white front.


I took a variety of pictures using my trusty Treo and shooting through the binoculars.


I apologize as always for the crappy Treo pictures. The blue tinge probably comes from the low light shooting through the binoculars. Any fuzziness is from lack of focus and shaky hands. (My telephoto camera is broken.)

At one point when I was finally trying to leave the house the bird lighted in the juniper out front and I was less than ten feet from it. It was certainly different from seeing a little finch on a branch. The thing looked bigger than me!


It appeared to be eating something. The pile of feathers it left behind seems to indicate that it caught a bird or found its carcass. It was the crows fighting over the carrion that made me look out and see the hawk in the first place.






tags: Shellpot Creek, Wilmington, Delaware