Perhaps the reality has hit the heron that it has four nestlings to feed! That’s right, four nestlings!! The bird above is just below the nest (NS2) in a willow just off the Main Wetlands Overlook. I too, was excited when it was pointed out to me this weekend that there were four nestlings in this nest. Kevin (photographer), who comes by the Museum on weekends to photograph some of our wildlife, noticed four downy heads bobbing around in the nest insteadRead more
Month: July 2013
NOCA Nest
What’s a NOCA? It’s the four letter code for Northern Cardinal. The code was devised by the Bird Banding Laboratory in Patuxent, MD to lessen confusion and save time while collecting, entering, and sorting data on banded birds in North America. Rather than writing down sometimes lengthy common names of birds when entering data you simply use a four letter code. There’s less chance for mistakes and less chance for data collectors and data entry personsonel to write down their ownRead more
Latchkey Herons
It’s only been a week since hatching and already the herons in NS1 are being left alone in the nest while the parents are off at work stalking fish, tadpoles, frogs, insects, and other food items to feed the little nestlings. The parents work the Wetlands and bring in food in the form of partially digested remains of whatever it is they’ve been able to catch. The food is regurgitated into the bottom of the nest and the youngsters haveRead more
Just some odes
Each year I post some pictures of odes (usually the same species) that can easily be found in our Wetlands. Here’s this year’s group. These are all very common species which can be seen just about anywhere that there’s water. Their abundance, however, does nothing to diminish their allure. And finally, a close shot of… Enjoy!Read more
Three of a Kind & a Visitor
Just to update you on the green herons in the Wetlands, I was able to get a shot showing three nestlings in the first nest (NS1). Meanwhile, over at NS2 on the other side of the Wetlands… The young heron in the above photo was in the same tree as NS2 and was being watched very carefully by the adult tending to her two nestlings. The immature bird got within four or five feet of the nest and decided toRead more
It’s all out there, heat or not.
We are not experiencing record heat, in fact it’s hotter today (7/19) in Boston than it is here, high 90s to low 90s, respectively. But it’s still hot. No one could convince me otherwise. So why was there a bullfrog sitting on the pavement today in Explore the Wild? True, the frog in the above photo is in the shade. And, that particular patch of pavement is in shade most of the day, but is it really cooler than a niceRead more
Fuzzy-headed nestlings
I’ve posted many pictures of the Green Heron nests since their discovery in our Wetlands back in June. On Thursday (7/18), just four days ago, I happily reported that one of the eggs in one of the two nests had hatched. The following day while making my last sweep of the outdoor areas of the Museum at closing time, I stopped by the nest to see if there was any progress with the residents. I took about a dozen photos. Here’sRead more
Eggs Hatch!
Things can change quickly in the wild. This morning, I posted about the heron nests in the Wetlands and how one nest had what looked like three eggs. Since then, and twenty-one days from the day that I first noticed eggs in that nest (NS1), at least one of the eggs has hatched. While walking past the nest, I noticed a change in posture of the sitting heron, it was now standing at the nest consistently looking down into the nest. ThroughRead more
Nest Who?
OK, no more rain for a while…but the HEAT! I don’t feel so bad, though, when I look out over the water of the Wetlands and into one of the heron nests. The birds steadfastly hold their positions shielding their eggs from the blaring sun, getting up only to change position or move the eggs around bit. Eggs not only need to be protected from the cold, heat can actually cook the eggs in their shells. The birds have toRead more