Wild Delaware

It has been a busy week photographing raptors. First there was a Red-tailed Hawk then a pair of young Bald Eagles and now a Great Horned Owl with its tufts blowing in the wind. I’m still hoping to get to a Barred Owl nest before the owlets fledge and I would like to catch the parents of yesterday’s eaglets but tomorrow I have to photograph the shorebird migration that is underway. It seems like it is rush hour in wild Delaware!

A friend told me about a bald eagle nest and tonight I had a chance to find it with him. There were two eaglets who look to be about 70 days old and almost ready to fledge. In another few days these young eagles will leave the nest and learn to fish for themselves. Eaglet update (May 25) The young eagles have fledged and both have successfully flown from the nest. Hopefully both will survive the next few days and learn to master the sky.

Getting close to birds and animals is the most difficult part of wildlife photography. Often you have to learn the patterns of what you want to photograph and spend hours waiting for the perfect two seconds when everything comes together with the right light and a great moment. And then in the words of Ansel Adams, “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” This close-up of a Red-tailed hawk is one of Ansel’s moments.

Delaware’s really big nature show with a cast of international characters is about to start this week on the Delaware Bay shores as horseshoe crabs begin laying their eggs and thousands of wading birds like Red Knotts, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings and others gather to devour the protein-rich eggs. Here’s a Dunlin this morning awaiting the feast.

Would you like to challenge your photography skills? Take the tern test. These terns glide about 15 feet above the water until they spot a fish. Then the tern turns and dives with the speed of an arrow straight into the water after the fish. If they are lucky they emerge with a meal. All of this happens in a couple of seconds and if you are fishing for a photograph of these feathered rockets you have to be on the top of your game.

Young river otters usually begin exploring their world at about two months old and are able to fend for themselves in another three or four months. Crabs, crawfish, amphibians, reptiles and sometimes birds are on the menu but fish are their favorite. In Delaware, river otters can be found living in and along the shores of lakes, ponds and, of course, rivers.

Camouflage means obscuring or hiding things to deceive an enemy. Many animals and insects have very elaborate ways to camouflage themselves. The American Bittern has a rather simple but effective camouflage. When threatened, they raise their head so their bill and striped chest look like reeds in a marsh. If you don’t spot them before they hide you will likely not see them at all.

It is mid-May and opossum babies like this handsome guy have outgrown their mother’s pouch. Opossums are marsupials meaning they begin life in in a marsupium (a pouch) that has the mother’s mammary glands and offers a warm shelter for tiny, newborn babies. Our Delaware ‘possums are related to kangaroos, wombats and bandicoots.

Here’s a reminder that signed and framed prints from Wild Delaware are on exhibit at the Rehoboth Art League for the month of May. If you are in the area I hope you can stop by!  Thanks, Kevin

Between photographing close-ups of birds yesterday at White Clay Creek State Park (see images below) I looked a little closer at life on a leaf and found this crane fly and tiny spider living in a very green world.