Brand New for 2013

[sm4him]

Time for another awwwwwww

I'd never given it much thought, but I didn't really expect baby Herons to look like smaller versions of the adults for some reason.

It's really unique how they are perfectly stacked from shortest to tallest with almost identical head positions. Nice shot!

I was *completely* surprised by how much they just look like very short adults! In a few of the pictures, you can see the heads better and they have these little white tufts on top of their heads, but otherwise they're just miniatures. I'm also pretty impressed with how many of those big, gangly birds can fit into one nest. To be fair, I'm pretty sure that the one on the far left is Mama Heron--she tends to stay in the nest with the babies, and Daddy Heron stands near the nest on a branch or goes off fishing. Sometimes when Daddy returns, Mama goes off fishing, but I've never seen the Daddy actually get into the nest, he just stands guard.

I've tried to check on my eagles' nest, but with all the rain we've had, the area I usually access it from is so completely grown over, I can no longer get close enough to see the nest. Gonna just have to watch to see when they fledge, I guess.

 

[JacaRanda]

Well, I will contribute to the baby boom. I went into a weird photo funk where I forgot to change settings back from playing around...particularly with higher than normal ISO's. The first couple of shots were right after getting all of the gear out of the car. My wife saw a lady jump and thought she heard her say she was startled by a rabbit. We walked across the road to see what was going on. Well the lady heard a rattle and in fact yelled Rattlesnake! It was just off the curb next to the couple that were pushing a stroller (YIKES). The park rangers came and relocated the little guy. They said they had to relocate 3 snakes that day; two rattlesnakes and one gofer snake.

The goslins were the stars of the show. When the entire group was together in one area, we counted more than 40. It's really interesting that a few adults take care of nearly all the little ones.

#1
IMG_6303-3 by JacaRandaPhotography, on Flickr

#2
IMG_6309-4 by JacaRandaPhotography, on Flickr

#3
IMG_6485-7 by JacaRandaPhotography, on Flickr

#4
IMG_6415-6 by JacaRandaPhotography, on Flickr

#5
IMG_6241-2 by JacaRandaPhotography, on Flickr

#6
IMG_6234-1 by JacaRandaPhotography, on Flickr

 

[matthewo]

little big foot


and some duck chicks

 

[SCraig]

I'm no wildlife photographer but ran across this nest while returning from a local MX track. These are highly cropped, my biggest lens is 200mm.

Awwwww ... tiny little baby Eagles. I've only seen Eagles in the wild three times and in all three instances they were a LONG way off. These look pretty good for a 200mm lens, much better than mine.

Gotta add an awwww! Nice set!
No babies here yet, as a matter of fact it is currently rainsnowing! Like seriously?!?
Baby watch is still on though!

We've had a truly weird spring so far as well, almost as strange as last year. It's almost mid-May and we have frost warnings out tonight.

I was *completely* surprised by how much they just look like very short adults! In a few of the pictures, you can see the heads better and they have these little white tufts on top of their heads, but otherwise they're just miniatures. I'm also pretty impressed with how many of those big, gangly birds can fit into one nest. To be fair, I'm pretty sure that the one on the far left is Mama Heron--she tends to stay in the nest with the babies, and Daddy Heron stands near the nest on a branch or goes off fishing. Sometimes when Daddy returns, Mama goes off fishing, but I've never seen the Daddy actually get into the nest, he just stands guard.

I've tried to check on my eagles' nest, but with all the rain we've had, the area I usually access it from is so completely grown over, I can no longer get close enough to see the nest. Gonna just have to watch to see when they fledge, I guess.

I guess I should have expected that, I just never did. I guess I expected a short beak and down or something, not just a miniature version of an adult.

Keep an eye on the Eagles, I expect to see photos of them!

Well, I will contribute to the baby boom. I went into a weird photo funk where I forgot to change settings back from playing around...particularly with higher than normal ISO's. The first couple of shots were right after getting all of the gear out of the car. My wife saw a lady jump and thought she heard her say she was startled by a rabbit. We walked across the road to see what was going on. Well the lady heard a rattle and in fact yelled Rattlesnake! It was just off the curb next to the couple that were pushing a stroller (YIKES). The park rangers came and relocated the little guy. They said they had to relocate 3 snakes that day; two rattlesnakes and one gofer snake.

The goslins were the stars of the show. When the entire group was together in one area, we counted more than 40. It's really interesting that a few adults take care of nearly all the little ones.

You can keep the rattlesnakes out there as far as I'm concerned but the Goslings are cute. We actually have rattlesnakes in Tennessee but I've been fortunate enough to never see one. I'd just as soon keep that streak alive

little big foot

and some duck chicks

Very cute. Those little big feet are gonna get a lot bigger very quickly! It's amazing how fast they grow.

Thanks for posting everyone. It's good to see that there are a few young ones around already.

 

[John1964]

Here's a couple I took last week at Blenheim Palace.

 

[dudley_53]

In honor of mothers day.......

 

[NancyMoranG]

image by Nancy Moran G, on Flickr

who says I'm ugly?
Nancy

 

[sm4him]

Here's a newbie I found this evening at church. This little baby robin had evidently JUST fledged--got itself out of the nest and then couldn't quite figure out what on earth to do next! It was practically begging me to take a picture of its adorable little self...so I did.


May16_0476editweb by sm4him, on Flickr

 

[SCraig]

Wow, some interesting shots here that I missed somehow. Embarrassing since I started the topic Thanks for posting them guys, very nice shots!

 

[samm]