Black Skimmers

The Black Skimmers have been busy-busy this week! The Bay is so full of menhaden and small mullet that the birds can barely go a few feet without having their beaks filled with fish. The Black Skimmer is a large, black and white, tern-like bird that has a bright red bill and bright red feet! The bill is oddly shaped with the lower mandible being longer than the upper. This allows the bird to scoop up minnows and small fish as it "skims" the top of the water. It is the only bird in the United States that has this bill feature. Strangely enough, when the birds first hatch, both mandibles are the same length. Within just a few weeks however, there is a very noticeable difference in the length. Another unique feature of the bill is that the top mandible is hinged to allow the bird to lift it as it plows the bottom through the water. If a small enough fish is caught, the Black Skimmer can jostle it around and swallow it while still on the wing. It then will continue right on fishing as if there were no interruption in its flight.

Since the Black Skimmer's feeding method relies on touch instead of sight, it can forage for food day or night. This habit gives cause for a lot of the local fishermen to call them "Night Skimmers" instead of Black Skimmer. I find myself using this same name for them! It is actually more common to see them start their flights late in the evening simply because the water is much calmer then. This makes it easier for the bird to keep its flight pattern of right above the water. Usually hunting singly or in pairs, occasionally (like this evening) they will join up in large groups. Tonight's scoop (name for a group of Skimmers) was made up of six birds. They glided along the marsh edge until they were out of sight only to make the loop and start over again. Ezzy, the dog, and I sat on the pier for over an hour just watching them scoop up the menhaden. The birds just randomly choose a path and hope that a fish will be in the line of attack. They do not survey the water, they do not dive attack, they just fly along hoping for the best! Obviously, this method works as they do not seem to be starving!

For some reason even though I see these birds often, they never fail to enthrall me. I am always a tad bit excited when they make their appearance around the Bayou. I suppose there is a bit of me that wishes I could be out there like them..skimming across the water.

Flights of Fancy

I was thinking today about things that fly and just how hard it is to actually get a clear photograph of things in flight. At least it is difficult for me as I seem to have problems keeping up with them! I can get them in focus and before the button is pressed..their gone! Poof! I was trying to photograph a beautiful Red Tail Hawk but before getting the camera focused well, it was so far up that it appeared as a little dot. Not exactly the picture that I had in mind. So I went back in some of my pictures to see just how many "on the wing" pictures I have actually succeeded in taking with some clarity. Not many! I had a few but it seems that all I can get are blurs! Flashes of color zooming by me at warp speed! Now I admit that I am getting up there a tad in age but this is ridiculous! I should be able to press a button in the time it takes a bird to fly a few thousand feet!!!!

This first one is a Seagull that was diving after some minnows in the Bay. The picture is clear enough as you can see the feathers quite well. The problem..it has no head!!! From the angle that I was taking the shot, the head is not visible at all..MY BIRD IS HEADLESS! This will never do! Birds most definitely need heads!

Then I caught this Pelican! Or almost caught this pelican in flight! It came crashing in for a landing creating the biggest splash imaginable! I often wonder about the Pelican's method of fishing but it works as this one succeeded in catching a nice size mullet!

There are these two! I am not sure that you can call this flying..it is more like jumping awkwardly! At least this was slow enough for me to catch the leap! These two were on the pier when one decided that the view from the bench would be better..that was until I decided that my bench needed to stay clean and shooed it away!

Here we have Cormorants on the wing! A trio was flying over early one morning but they appear as silhouettes. The lighting was not the best as the sun had not risen yet. At least I did keep them in range!

This young Osprey looks more like it was falling off its perch than flying in for a landing! At its young age, perhaps its flying was about as steady as my aerial photography!

This is the type shot that I love getting! This Osprey came in right above my head and screamed the whole way. It was as if the bird was telling me to get my camera ready! Maybe it really wanted a "glamour shot"!

The Egrets here were across the Bayou so the distance thing was not really my fault! I do not have a particularly strong zoom lens so most of my shots need to be relatively close. I do love the way the three of them are in all different stages of flight..from landed to full flight!

The Night Skimmer is so quick that it is hard to photograph. Also, the lighting is never optimal as their name suggests..they hunt more in the evening hours. This one was coming straight for me on the pier so I was able to get a good focus on it!

I love this picture! The Little Blue Heron made the mistake of landing in a tree a bit to close to the Red Winged Blackbird's nest! The Blackbird was attacking from all angles and actually succeeded in driving off the much larger bird!

Finally! A great shot of a Pelican in flight! This picture was taken early this Spring and is one of my favorites! The huge bird was just taking off from the water and was headed right for me! So incredible!

Another hard bird to photograph in flight is the Hummingbird. The sheer speed at which they fly makes it difficult to catch them on the wing! This one was hovering near the feeder as it tried to fend off any newcomers. I was lucky enough to be at the right spot at the right time!

This Osprey was high but the lighting was prefect. It was soaring above the Bayou hunting for its supper late one afternoon. It did not stay long but at least one shot came out well.

This last one..yeah..I know it is not an "in flight" shot but this young Eagle thrilled me enough that its picture had to go in here somewhere! I always get excited when the Eagles make their appearance on the Bayou! They are so majestic!