Common Terns

Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

These small, graceful terns dive to catch fish, 

and were once call "sea swallows".

Almost everybody's back!  But I'm still on the lookout for the

resident Osprey, and for these little beauties!

Yes, this is in the harbor in front of my house,

taken last summer while paddling around

in my kayak.

Day before yesterday, a Red-winged Blackbird appeared at my 

feeder to let me know he had returned, and this morning

a Willet was noisily flying across my meadow!

THEN?  The warblers will return and pepper my stand

of willows!!  But I'll not wish the time away

as I wait, for spring isn't long enough.

(It would be nice, however, if the weather cooperated!)

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Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Did you know that with a visual acuity 4 - 8 times better than a human's, the bald eagle is a formidable predator?  

An eagle riding a thermal at an altitude of nearly 1,000 feet uses it's binocular and peripheral vision to spot prey across a distance of nearly 3 square miles.

The bald eagle plucks fish from the water with its talons without diving into the water.

Not to demoralize the stately bald eagle, but it is a stated fact

that they prefer to feed on carrion, 

and are known to "pirate" live fish from Osprey.

Perhaps the path of least resistance?

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Only His Hairdresser Knows For Sure

Wordless Wednesday

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Great Blues Return!!

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March 30, 2010 marks the return of the Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) to Cape Breton.  At least to my little corner of the world!  I spotted 3 flying overhead, presumably heading to the small island in front of my home where they have a rookery.  And a fourth, just minutes later, heading in the same direction!  Much to my delight, they are one of the last birds to leave us in the fall and one of the first to return in the spring.

Did you know that none of the members of the heron family has a preen gland, from which most birds obtain oil to condition their feathers?  Instead, herons have 'pulvi-plumes', feathers that disintegrate at the tip, becoming a cleansing powder, which the bird spreads with the comblike edge of its middle toe.

For more interesting facts and pictures of herons,
check out Daily Heron!

To see more Nature Notes go to Rambling Woods.