Sittin' on the Dock of the Swamp

Sung to the tune of... well, I think you know the tune!  (with apologies to Otis Redding).

Sittin’ in the afternoon sun
I won’t be sittin’ when the evening comes
Cause my camera battery won’t last that long
And mosquitos would be drivin’ me home, yeah

 I’m sitting on the dock of the swamp
Watchin’ the dragonflies play, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the swamp
Wastin’ time

I left my home a short distance away
Headed for where green herons play
Cuz I’ve got my binoculars and my SX-50
Waiting to see what’s gonna come my way

Green Heron

Cedar Waxwing 'hawking' for insects to eat

So, I’m just gon’ sit on the dock of the swamp
Watchin’ the wood ducks pass by, ooh
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the swamp
Wastin’ time

Looks like things might change
If a board gives way I won’t remain the same
But I can’t worry about that now
So I guess I’ll remain, listen

Sittin’ here resting my bones
Not lonely cause it's so beautiful  and it’s home
Only a few hundred yards I roam
Just to make this dock my own, now

I’m just gon’ sit on the dock of the swamp
Watchin’ hawks and listenin’ to marsh sounds, ooh
Sittin’ on the dock of the swamp
Wastin’ time

Red-tailed Hawk (with snake?)

(Ends in harmonic whistling of birds, and also some squawking by the Green Heron)
Note: All photos were taken this afternoon except the one of the house (taken on a kayaking excursion) and the two of the cedar waxwing which were shot on July 17th but I couldn't resist putting them in.  

Too Cute! - Episode "Our Baby Birds"

I've only watched the Animal Planet series, "Too Cute" a few times but I have to say I've enjoyed it.  Compared to a lot of what is on TV these days, at least that show makes me smile.  

Meanwhile, my 'pile' of digital photos of our local baby birds has been growing and growing.  Some of them have already been featured on the blog... like our bluebirds.  But I have a lot of other "too cute" babies to show you.  I thought about making it a contest for you to pick the cutest of them all.  However, when my girls were babies I never entered them in the baby contest at the Harford Fair because to me, they were definitely THE cutest babies and I didn't want any judge telling me otherwise!  So, no contest for these babies either... just enjoy!

The first "too cute" babies are.... the Killdeer!

They hatch from their eggs ready to hop up and start hunting for their own food, but this doesn't necessarily mean their parents have it easy!

In fact Killdeer parents seem more worried than most about their little ones' safety.  If you come anywhere close by, they will do a feigned-injury display to try to distract you away from the nest or young.  If I was doing a whole post about Killdeer I would take time to find an old photo of that and show you.  But I better not get distracted!

I really only should be showing you one or two photos of each kind of bird but I can't resist - these Killdeer babies really are too cute:

One day I watched as one of the Killdeer tried to hide under its parent.  It didn't quite make it all the way under but I guess it felt safer!

"Let me under Mama!"

"I can't see them, so they can't see me, right?"

Next are birds we are all familiar with.... American Robins.

I think we have a greedy baby in this bunch!  It got the bug and the worm!

Neither of the first two bird families was at our property so I can't give you too much info on how they made out.  The parents seemed to be doing a good job raising them when I visited them though.

Now, we'll switch locations to our yard.

You know we had a lot of Baltimore orioles coming to our grape jelly feeder (you can use the blog search box to look up the several posts about it).  The babies are also taught early about our jelly supply.

Same thing with the house finch babies... "Here's where the sunflower seeds are, my dears!"

The woodpeckers teach their babies about our suet...

or they find it on their own, like the young red-bellied woodpecker in the next two photos.  He's in the right place, just needs to find the feeder.

He's getting closer and showing off his first few red feathers on his crown in the next photo.

I love those birds.  They won a contest I did have on here awhile ago for "Best Dressed".

Trying hard not to discriminate between birds I love and those I, well... love less, the next photo is of a Grackle and it's begging youngster.

 The juvenile looks a lot smaller than the adult in that photo, but it's really not.  You can tell in the next photo, taken after they flew up into the tree, that they are actually about the same size.

Our next baby is one that might come down to our feeders in time, but I happened to see it up in our woods.  A fluffy little black-capped chickadee!

The whole family was sputtering about my being nearby, so I didn't stay long.  The babies sure were cute though!

Most babies in the woods are more difficult to get photos of.  I knew where one other chickadee nest, a yellow-throated vireo's nest, and two cedar waxwing nests were this year, but never managed to see the babies.  But I'm glad they were there, and well protected from prying eyes!

Usually a little easier to see are the babies in our swamp.  The Wood Ducks already had their own post here, but you might enjoy seeing them again when they were a little bit bigger.

Well, they are easier to see when they are swimming... not so much when Mama is teaching them to hide in the grass!

Here are some more cute swamp babies: a Canada Goose family...

and one baby a little bit bigger but still cute:

Finally, some barn swallows which decided they would like to live in a swamp, not a barn:

Just waiting for Mama to swoop in and bring them a meal!  Here she comes...

I had a lot of fun watching them from a kayak in a beaver swamp, which was a bit different than their usual location in a barn.  

Last but not least, I'm including a short video of one of our bluebird babies.  I know they had their own post, but this really is "too cute" not to share.  This little bird had done what bluebirds do.... flown down into our lawn to catch a bug.   I had recently mowed the lawn and the baby got a piece of clover and a grass clipping stuck in his feathers.  Here he is trying to preen them out!

Too cute!!!




 

My Favorite Time of Year - Guest Post by Dr. Ruby

Hi there!  Grammy said that even though she had a post planned about baby birds,  I can do a post all by myself first!  Yay, yay, yay!!!  Because I want to tell you why this is my favorite time of the year!  I bet you can't guess.  No?  Okay, here's why...

Grammy grows these special plants every year.  She started growing them a long time ago for the hummingbirds but now she grows them for me!  Because I like to eat the beans.  Yep, they are delicious!

Grammy took some pictures this morning so I could show you!  

First, this is what the plant looks like:

Grammy apologizes for the clashing red flowers, but the hummingbirds like them!

They are called Scarlet Runner Beans.  If you want to see more pictures of the flowers, with the 'other' Rubies (Ruby-throated Hummingbirds) you can click here.  I, myself, don't care about that, but you might. 

Although, I guess the flowers are good, because without them, there wouldn't be any delicious beans for me!

Grammy and I went for a walk this morning and when we came back I headed right for the porch swing.

Grammy said, "Wait a minute, Ruby!"  So I stopped, "What?"

She said I was too wet to go on the swing, but she had a surprise for me.  She pointed out a bean that was ready-to-pick and right at my height!  You can see it in the photo, right in front of the middle geranium flower.

Then,  I was so quick, I already picked half of it by the time she got her camera ready!

Yum, yum, yum!  They are chewy and tasty!  In this picture, I'm chewing half of it and you can see the other half is still on the vine.  Don't worry, it won't go to waste!

It takes a little tugging but I got it off...

 
And it's worth it!

I looked for more, but I'll have to wait for them to grow a little bigger.

Although Grammy picked one that was too high for me to reach and said I could have it for a snack later.  She's nice that way.

 There are lots more coming....because Grammy plants them in a bunch of places -- for me, and the hummingbirds as I said.  The hummingbirds only eat the nectar from the flowers so I guess that is okay.  I would love to eat lots more beans, but Grammy says it wouldn't be good for me to eat too many-- plus she has to let some keep growing to have seeds for next year.  I think that is a good idea!

Some Happy News

"I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news...."  

In a previous post I was singing the blues because I was wondering what had happened to our baby bluebirds.  Well, I am delighted to report the happy news that they are doing fine!

This is how they looked on June 14th when I peeked into their nest box:

Then I went away for a week, and when I checked the box after I came home, the babies were gone. It only takes them about a week and a half to be ready to leave the nest, but then the parents keep feeding them for about 3 weeks after they fledge-- so  I kept a close eye out for the three little ones.  I kept watching and watching, but I only saw the adults.  In fact, they seemed quite interested in another one of our nesting boxes.  Were they thinking about having a second brood?

They hung around in our yard as they usually do and I enjoyed seeing them, but I worried about the babies.

Until the Fourth of July, that is... as our family gathered to have a picnic on the back porch, guess who showed up?!! Yep, the three little bluebirds!  I was too busy to get any pictures that evening, but they were still hanging around our garden the next morning.

And they've been hanging around since then, too.  It's been wonderful to step out our back door to watch and listen to them.

They are learning to be like their mama and papa so they fly down from the garden fence into the lawn to try to catch insects.  

However they don't seem to be too good at it yet and papa still feeds them sometimes.

Or shows them what good bugs there are in our garden...

Mama is around, too.  Doesn't she look kind of tired?  It must be quite a job watching over these babies.

They certainly seem to me to have expressive faces (though it's because they keep tilting their heads to watch for insects).

Someday, that little guy will look just like his papa, but for now he still needs to practice his skills to become a graceful bird.  Just watch how he tries to look 'cool' in this video:

Besides sitting on the garden fence, they sometimes sit on the nearby maple tree or the edge of the garage roof.

For now, they seem to like to hang out together.  Often, close together!

"We've got the whole tree, but he's got to sit almost on top of me!"

Although, just like any 'kids' they seem to annoy each other sometimes, too.

"I was here first!"

It's pretty unusual to have all three together for a photo opp.  Two of them look cute in the next photo:

But early this morning I happened to see this...

It kind of looks like they are figuring out what they are going to do today, doesn't it?  Then, off goes one, and the others follow.  

"Let's go!  See you later!"

Now, I'm not singing the blues, I'm singing about the blues...
the baby bluebirds, that is!