Pic of the Day

Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica;  Machais Seal Island, Maine 

     A two and a half hour trip into the Gulf of Maine and I find myself on Machais Seal Island.  The treeless island is little more than a few acres in size and the only thing found there is a lighthouse and seabirds. Puffins are the star of the island, the bird that brings most birders from the mainland. 

     The Atlantic Puffins spent nine months of the year at sea, coming ashore only to breed. They can dive to 200 feet, and will fly more than thirty miles from the nest site to catch its prey.  With their short stubby wings puffins are not the best fliers in the air, but when it comes to flying underwater, puffins are at the top of the list. 

     The pigeon sized bird feeds on herring, sprats and sand eels.  Puffins swim (flies through the water) from behind a school of fish and grab fish on the left then right of the school, which lines-up the fishes heads facing alternate directions.  Puffins can hold up to a dozen fish in its beak.  Rows of spines in the upper beak (close-up photo) holds each fish in place as the puffin catches another fish. 

Nikon D300, Nikkor 500 f4, Digital Capture, ISO 200

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Speaking Event

     For those in the North Alabama and southern Tennessee area that may be interested, I will be speaking in Huntsville, Alabama, at the Huntsville Botanical Garden Birding Symposium on Friday, February 13, 2015.  The event will include dinner, my presentation on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and a screening of the movie, Ghost Bird.  My program will include sound recordings made by an Ivorybill enthusiast in Florida in 2013.  This will be the first public presentation of this recording.

    For more information contact Soozi Pline at:  (256) 837-4344 or spline@hsvbg.org

Pic of the Day

Mountain Bluebird: Sialia currucoides

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado:  

     I was at the Moraine Campground looking for Mountain Bluebirds to photograph, but was having no luck at all.  A Black-billed Magpie flew in looking for a handout so I decided to photograph it, as I had no good photos of magpies in my files.  After shooting for a quarter hour I resumed my search for Mountain Bluebirds. 

     After what seemed to be forever of scanning the hillsides for bluebirds I finally found a female fly-catching from a low hanging branch of a pine tree.  Once I saw the female I gathered my equipment and began the stalk.  I moved slowly and was able to approach within 20 feet before shooting.  Then, I spotted this male hawking insects from a nearby pine branch.  Both birds were very approachable and I followed them for over an hour, and eventually the led me to their nest.  This is just one of the many bluebird images I shot that day, and I will post a few more in the near future.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 500mm f4

Pic of the Day

Upland Sandpiper, Bartramia longicauda: Tallgrass Prairie Preserve; Pawhuska, Oklahoma

     A few years ago I took a short trip to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska, Oklahoma to photograph birds and wildflowers.  The Upland Sandpiper  is a breeding bird of the tallgrass prairie.   Spending its winters in Argentina this sandpiper migrate to the North American prairies in spring to nest.  Like many shorebirds the Upland Sandpiper ardently defends its nesting territory, and this bird was doing just that.  As I was driving along the back roads near Pawhuska, I found this bird perched on a fence post about seventy feet from the road.  As I got out of my van, the sandpiper flew from the post and landed on the ground faking a wing injury in an attempt to lure me from its nearby nest.  Knowing the ploy, I took a few more steps in the direction from where the sandpiper had flown.  As expected, the sandpiper promptly returned to its perched and tried to lure me away giving me the opportunity to shoot this image.  The Upland Sandpiper was formerly known as the Upland Plover.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 500mm f4, Digital Capture ISO 200   

Pic of the Day

American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana

Pawnee National Grasslands; Grover, Colorado

     American Avocet – Pawnee National Grasslands, Grover, Colorado:  In winter American Avocets gather in the tens of thousands along the gulf coast, but as spring arrives these shorebirds wing north to the central prairies to nest and rear young.  This avocet and its mate established a breeding territory on the Pawnee Grasslands just south of Grover, Colorado.  I photographed this bird feeding in runoff ponds that straddled a county road.  This image was shot as it flew from one side of the road to the other.  Typically the avocet wades through water shifting its upturned bill left and right snatching-up insect larva.

Nikon D300, 500mm f4, Digital Capture ISO200

Pic of the Day

Snow Egret, Egretta thula

Saint Augustine Alligator Farm; Saint Augustine, Florida

Just Dreaming of Spring.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 500mm f4