On the Fox River 2/24/2014

There has been a bit of a buzz in our area of someone spotting a Long-tailed Duck.

It has moved down to my area, along the Fox River in Montgomery.

The information was that the duck was at the Mill Street bridge.

On Sunday I went looking for it.I noticed a couple of other birders looking, and kind of started watching where they were looking.   No luck.

I then drove and parked just passed the bridge, and as I was driving thought I saw something different in the water. The other birders came and set up scopes and started watching.

Well I got to see her.  Problem,  all the pictures I took, were at a wrong setting and none turned out. You had to be quick as she was feeding. Each time she ducked under the water, she drifted a bit and came up in a slightly different spot.

Needless to say I was excited.

On Monday I decided to go back with correct settings on the camera and see if she was still there.

She was!

She is a small duck, all brown and white.

Long-tailed Duck

Here she is in the front with a merganser in the back.
This time I was really proud and got some decent pictures.
Andrew, my son, was with me and although he wasn't as excited, had been willing to check it out with me.
Then we went on the hunt for tundra swans that had been sighted on the other side of Aurora at an athletic park.
 We did search the area, but no luck, just geese.
On our way back, I said let's go along the river again, and see if anything new had shown up.

I saw white, big white!  Three mute swans were on the opposite side of the river.  Andrew drove over by the are we had seen them, and I was able to watch them feeding among geese, and mergansers and gulls, and of course a few mallards. 

With much better settings, I could get better pictures.

While we were sitting watching the swans, this big guy flew in to the tree on the bank.  He was kind enough for me to take several pictures. I have since found out it is a young red-tailed hawk.

I have never identified one before.  I have always seen them as adults, and they are distinctive with their red tails.
I admit, I have always thought that birds were hatched, grew up, and became breeding or adult birds that same year.
As with the eagles, I am finding out that is not true, and that even though they get  big,  they do not always look like the "finished" bird.  No two birding books are alike, as is no two birds are always at the same stages, and as distinctive.

Andrew and I went back across the river and found a spot to sit and watch, when our hawk came too.  I was not as quick to get a sitting still picture, but a happy mistake this became.  He is in launch mode!

Andrew could see him sitting in a tree a short distance and was able to get this back view for me. I was having a hard time getting him into my viewfinder.

The swans had floated down the river a bit and found a place to rest on a bank.
We have never seen swans on the Fox River.
No eagles today.  I had seen two on Sunday.

While sitting watching the swans, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and saw this, downy/hairy woodpecker.  Why is it we can see some things quite easily, and not others.  I mean this is a small bird, compared to the hawk!

Then I  caught sight of the Red-bellied woodpecker.  He was in another spot on the tree, where he had found a hole, and was happily pocking at it.  Then he moved around so I could get this picture.

I asked Andrew to  make one more stop by the Mill Street bridge to see if the Long-tailed Duck was still there.  She was, this time she was feeding, so the pictures had to be quick.
Not bad for about a two hour adventure.

All in all I was pleased with my outing.

Mute Swans

I cannot  resist visiting the swans, that come to stay for the summer, where my Dad  lived in Aurora.  These are pictures of 3 different Mom's on 3 of the 5 ponds around the property. No one was out for a swim with this Mom, so am not sure how many babies hatched.

Looks like we can see at least 3 balls of fluff.

On the second pond, only one baby appeared.  Mom is showing him  how to feed.

A little swim time.

Look how many eggs she had and only one hatched.

Mom, I am ready for my closeup!

Is this what we get to do all day??

On the third pond, Mom has at least 5 hatched eggs.

The little guy on the left had been out exploring and was the last to enter the nest.

I think a couple of these guys had just been hatched.

They are beautiful.

Mom, what do I do now?

You can see there is at least one egg that did not hatch.

It is nap time of everyone.
I am so fascinated with these magnificent birds. When I visited the second pond, Mom and Dad were making noises that sound like a dog barking.  This was to alert me that they were watching.  They are strong powerful birds.

Mute Swans

This is some of the collection of pictures I have of Mute Swans.  Where my Father lived, they brought in pairs of swans for the residents to watch.

They were so interesting to watch.  Almost every year that he lived there, the swans mated and the residents got the opportunity to watch them hatch and grow before they were taken away in the early fall.

I love taking pictures of them.  As the parents were preparing the nests, then as they took care of the babies.

They are truly big and powerful birds.  

They are beautiful.  All of the birds that were placed here, had their wings clipped. They could not fly away.

This pair had two babies.  We had learned that the gray babies were called royal .  It is not a way to tell a male from a female.

It was so interesting to watch the parents teach the babies all the things they would need to know to survive.

Mom taught them to climb up on the wood ramp and get back into the nest to rest.

They would still be sheltered under her wings, and seem to be hidden.

They did have to learn to dive for their food.

When they are young they seem to play follow the leader.

Mom and Dad watch over their babies.

Dragonfly and Swans

I don't have a bug book, so unfortunately do not know what this one is.  It must be a dragonfly of some sort. While I was cleaning up my garden today, he was nice enough to sit and pose for me.

Just had to show an update of the swans by Dad's.  They were enjoying the waterfall and the algae on the rocks.  Mom is teaching them something new everyday!

Marshall County, Indiana, July 2 and 3

When we went for a stern wheeler ride on North Webster lake, this female mallard was part of our send off committee.

This family of 3  came to visit as we were having dinner at the Frog in Syracuse, Indiana.

See how the male arches his wings.  It is beautiful to see.

Here is their baby. Check out the size of that foot.  The babies do swim with one foot on their backs.  This is the first time we had seen swans in the wild, and with babies too.  They were much bigger then the ones we see where my Father lives. The adults have their wings clipped so they can't fly away.  These wild swans were liking the handouts they were receiving at the restaurant!

Rose of Sharon was in bloom. It has been years since we have seen these. They are not so popular where we live, but seemed to pop up all around where we were touring in Indiana.

This was so pretty, too.  Another color of Rose of Sharon

While we were traveling the back roads of Marshall County, Indiana, I had to make my husband back up to get this picture.  She was so nice to stand in the water while I took her picture.

I love how her reflection was in the water.

As I have said before, these pictures are ones I thought turned out pretty good. They will win no prizes, but are a great reminder to me of the beautiful things we see in nature.

Mary