My Little Snake Charmer

Here we go again with those snakes! My daughter has looked forward to this day since last years event. I find it fascinating that a little 5-year old who has a phobia of bees loves snakes; go figure.

She's very excited to be holding a mole kingsnake in the photo below.

This was one of those interesting displays at the Great Dismal Swamp Birding Festival last weekend. This particular display was set up by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF). Each year they bring two or three snakes (non-poisonous) out for display and allow individuals to touch and handle them if they dare.

These are captive snakes and obviously accustomed to being handled, so don't try this at home!! HA HA!

Here she is holding a cornsnake.

I personally think it's great that she likes snakes. There're fascinating creatures. I've explained to her that these are tame, and NOT to ever approach a snake in the wild without an adult.

Now, if I could only cure her fear of bugs...

Click the thumbnail below to check out more camera critters.

 

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Dismal Swamp Birding Festival - Day 1

  A great time was had by all who attended the Great Dismal Swamp Birding Festival this past weekend. Lots and lots of woodland warblers were heard, seen, banded and photographed over the three day event. I’m not sure of the final bird tally of the event but I’ll see if I can find out. Personal obligations kept me from attending several of the scheduled activities, but I tried to make the most of the ones I did attend.

A morning hike along one of the trails offered lots to see; like wildflowers…

...and a turtle sunning itself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is an Eastern Painted Turtle (?).

There were lots of Palamedes Swallowtail butterflies out and about.

Here’s a Prothonotary Warbler perched on one of the boardwalk trails. These warblers are plentiful throughout the swamp. They are one of the few warblers that nest in tree cavities. Prothonotary Warblers can be found near water in their breeding range.

Tree snags like the ones below are plentiful throughout the swamp; probably a result of a lightning strikes. I guess it’s the price you pay for being the tallest, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. These old dead trees provide an abundance of food and homes for many small animals, especially birds.

I eventually made my way to the bird banding station. Action was a little slow but we did catch a couple Common Yellowthroats during the short time I was their.

This particular Common Yellowthroat was a little camera shy.

Thanks for taking the walk with me. Stay tuned for more from the 2009 Great Dismal Swamp Birding Festival…

 

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New Visitor - The Blue Grosbeak

With the spring song bird migration at it's peak here in VA, I spend a little extra time watching the backyard birdfeeders. You just never know what might show up. Last spring a rose-breasted grosbeak stopped by for a few days on his way up north. It was a first for me. This spring his cousin, the blue grosbeak decided to stop by for a few days - another first.

This was a juvenile male. Adult males are mostly all blue with brown wing bars.

The Blue Grosbeak, unlike the rose-breasted grosbeak, will spend its summer here in the south. In fact, they nest across most of the southern half of the US to northern Mexico. Winter months are spent in Central America.

Blue grosbeaks forage mostly on the ground for seeds and insects, as this one was doing. It was tough to get a decent photograph of this guy. I waited patiently for him to perch up on the birdfeeder he was under but he didn't want to cooperate; nevertheless, I enjoyed his company while it lasted.

For more bird photos, check out this weeks edition of Bird Photography Weekly #37.

 

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It's all about Spring Migration on BirdwatchRadio

One of the online programs I really enjoy listening to is BirdwatchRadio. BirdwatchRadio is hosted by its creator Steve Moore. It's a podcast that discusses a variety of topics pertinent to birds and birdwatchers. Through BirdwatchRadio Steve offers a variety interesting interviews and conversations with people who represent all areas of birding - authors, artists, columnists, bloggers, professionals and back-yard birders.

A new episode (#21) of BirdwatchRadio is out and believe it or not, yours truly has a small part in it. This episode is about spring migration and Steve has asked a number of listeners and others within the birding community to give their thoughts and feelings about the spring migration. Thanks again Steve for the opportunity!

So, check it out when you get a chance, and while your there, go ahead and subscribe via iTunes or RSS Feed so you can listen to more of this great program. You can also download each program in MP3 format and listen on your computer if you'd like.

 

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Symmetry in Nature - Wordless Wednesday

Chipping Sparrows by Alan Pulley, 2009

Get Wordless over at Wordless Wednesday

 

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How 'bout them Swallows (BPW #36)

We're at the peak of the song bird migration here in Virginia and one of the bird groups that I always look forward to seeing return is the swallows. Open fields with nearby barns and bridges attract lots of barn swallows here. I enjoy watching them fly in the skies all summer, along with the purple martins. Purple Martins are the largest North American swallow and I'm fortunate to have a few of them call my backyard home for the summer.

There has been a new swallow hanging around this spring. It was about three weeks ago that I looked out my back door toward the field across the street and saw what must have been a hundred or more tree swallows whirling around in the sky. A good portion of their diet is flying insects - obviously the insects were plentiful that day. I took a few photos of the event but as you can imagine, they were tough targets to nail down. Click to enlarge the photos below to get a better look at these aerial acrobats.

A few days after the tree swallows made their way through, one stopped by to pay a visit and investigate one of my nest boxes. Here's a 10 second video clip I captured with BirdCam...the birds you hear in the background are purple martins.

Tree swallows are cavity nesters and will readily use nest boxes, including those built for bluebirds. I'll keep you updated and let you know if this swallow and her mate decide to nest here.

Here's some info on building and managing nest boxes for tree swallows - http://www.treeswallowprojects.com/

Have a great week everyone and be sure to check out more bird photography over at Birdfreak.com!

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Trip to the Zoo: Camera-Critters #56

A couple weeks ago I enjoyed a few days off with the family in celebration of spring break. My wife is a school teacher so spring break is always a big deal around my house. One of the days was spent at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, VA. I always looked forward to going to the zoo when I was a kid, and now that I'm grown nothing has changed in that regard.

The Virginia Zoo is home to 350 animals, on 50 plus acres of beautifully landscaped grounds that borders the Lafayette River. Here are a few of the animals that we saw...

A new addition to the zoo was this red panda. Red pandas live in bamboo forests of Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces in China, the Himalayas and in Myanmar. Red pandas are endangered, with fewer than 2,500 adult red pandas in the wild.

The giraffes were our favorite animals at the zoo. There were three of them there. Giraffes are the tallest land mammals.

Here is one of three African elephants at the zoo (South African Bush Elephant). Elephants are the world’s largest living land mammals.

Here we have a cool looking little Meerkat.

A sleeping African lion...

I'm not sure what kind of monkeys these are, but aren't they cute? At first I thought they were little stuffed animals until they moved. They were about the size of a kitten.

These little Squirrel Monkeys were fun to watch. They very seldom sat still. It was like they were putting on a show for us.

This is a very cool looking bird called the 'Grey Crowned Crane'. They are native to Africa.

A nearby Canada goose (not part of the exhibit) was setting on her eggs near the pond. We saw a couple nest in the park.

I hope you enjoyed this brief zoo tour. For more critters check out the Camera Critters website over at http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/.

...and if your interested, the zoo has several web cams set up throughout the park so you can watch many of the animals online. Here is the site: http://www.virginiazoo.org/our-animals/animal-cams.asp

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

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