Tag: birds

Snail Kite!

Bird Species of Conservation Concern, birds, wildlife, wildlife photography

This post is dedicated to my friend and mentor, Godfrey Bourne. Godfrey researched Snail Kites for his Ph.D. work while at the University of Michigan. I remember listening to some of his stories and seeing photographs of this impressive bird of prey. Around 25 years later they were still high on my wish list to find and photograph. Last week, I just happened to have a work trip down to Orlando, Florida. I made sure I had time for a personal day or two and the Snail Kite was the primary species I sought out over all the impressive birds that can be found in the state.

The Snail Kite’s impressive hooked beak is the perfect tool for getting the apple snails out of their shells.

After watching some videos from a well known bird photographer on YouTube, I got the impression that this species might be difficult to find – that these birds are only found in wetlands away from developed areas that take knowledge and special equipment to reach. With my experience last week, I am beginning to think that this photographer’s motive was in selling his high-priced workshops.

At this time of the day, even in January, direct sunlight was not flattering to these birds. I waited for small clouds to block the sun in order to get a better image.

Don’t get me wrong, with a current population estimate of approximately 2,000 individuals in Florida, these are not common birds; in fact, they are listed as endangered in the United States. This is primarily due to overdevelopment of wetland habitat in the sunshine state along with mismanagement of these habitats that has led to the decline of apple snails – the Snail Kite’s only food source. Thankfully, this species has a large range across the neotropics, from Mexico and the Caribbean to Southern Brazil. The species as a whole is currently not threatened with extinction.

Being an endangered species, the Snail Kites are often banded for distribution, tracking, and research purposes.

In two close by areas, only a 30 minute drive from Orlando, I was easily able to find four Snail Kites and watched them for hours in a lake/marsh area that was heavily used by recreating people. Seeing as this is an endangered species, my intention was to give them plenty of room, but I was shocked as I watched people pass by them within just 10 feet or so without the birds seeming to care. On a couple of occasions, I sat down under a shade tree with 50-100 feet between me and the bird and was astounded when they flew closer and closer to me during their foraging. I have always said that any bird photograph taken in Florida should have an asterisk attached due to these birds being so accustomed to people. After just a couple of days experiencing this myself, I still feel this way!

A Snail Kite moving along the lake edge with a constant eye for a nice-sized apple snail.

This species numbers in Florida are highly affected by drought conditions and have varied wildly in recent decades. Changing climate patterns are not helping the Snail Kite restoration attempts and I fear for what the next decades may bring. Hopefully they will be as easy for me to find during my next visit to Florida. Thank you for reading this far and I’ll leave you with a few more photos.

-OZB

A Bit of Batting Practice

birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

For the WGNSS Nature Photography Group’s January outing we headed to Carlyle Lake in Illinois. Our primary target was the dam’s spillway. I have had a lot of fun at this location photographing Bonaparte’s Gulls and American White Pelicans during past winters and these species are what we were hoping for on this trip.

Being a spillway with the dam and infrastructure surrounding it, the backgrounds are definitely challenging; however, it is not impossible to handle. The images below showcase one method we could use to handle this situation. With the rising sun at our backs, I noticed the light was hitting these mostly white birds perfectly. By exposing precisely for the whites and a little exposure manipulation in post-processing, it was possible to turn the darker concrete walls of this section of the spillway nearly black, which allows the birds to pop off this background as seen in the images below.

Predicting the movement of birds in a typical winter is difficult and this winter, where seasons have been changing on a daily basis, is pretty much impossible. On top of that, water levels in the lake and spillway channel were a couple feet below normal. The spillway gates were releasing just enough water, which I believe limited the numbers and size of fish falling through. So, it wasn’t surprising that we found almost nothing but Ringed-bill Gulls (RBGU) fishing in the spillway.

Ring-billed Gulls are considered 3-year gulls, meaning that they have a plumage transition for the first three years of their lives before they develop into the typical adult plumage. In addition, there is considerable variation within these years, e.g. a 2 year old gull may look different from a 2.5 year gull. Given I am no expert, I have made some captions with my best guesses on the ages of some of these birds.

Another method of dealing with ugly backgrounds at this location is to focus on the fishing activities or other opportunities where the water will be the background of the image.

Many nature photographers would consider this a bust of a day and would perhaps head back home to watch a meaningless football game. However, I like to look at this as both an opportunity for practice and to potentially learn something new about a species taken for granted and usually ignored. I liken opportunities such as this to batting practice in three ways: 1) It gives you a chance to hone your skills – this is high-speed action photography with challenging backgrounds and dynamic lighting. If you haven’t mastered your camera’s exposure and autofocus settings, you will likely struggle getting the images you envision, 2) It’s a lot of fun! Whatever species you find in a spillway like this, there will likely by plenty of birds fishing, giving plenty of opportunities to capture those fleeting moments, and 3) with a species like the RBGU, you won’t likely come away with anything to brag about. These aren’t eagles or owls or some rare species that will be all the talk on social media.

I really enjoyed watching the gulls catch and position their fish in flight for the head-first swallow. I was fortunate enough to catch this in action in several of my photos – they literally give them a little toss and catch them again so that the head is facing towards their mouth. It was also interesting to watch a few who knew the fish was too large to ingest and subsequently released back to the water.

As I alluded to above, I had a lot of fun shooting these gulls. The feeding opportunities were not as plentiful as I usually find at this location, but by staying alert and ready I came home with some photos that I really like.

Ring-billed Gulls were not the sole fishers we found. We also had several first-year Herring Gulls shown below. Unfortunately these birds did none of their own fishing, but seemed content in attempting to steal the catch from the RBGU.

Thanks for visiting!

-OZB

WGNSS Visits Snake Road – October 2025

birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

The Webster Groves Nature Study Society’s (WGNSS) Nature Photography Group headed to the LaRue Pine Hills in mid-October to visit the famous LaRue Rd, better known as the “Snake Road.” Our targets for the day were snakes, of course, along with any other herps that we could be fortunate enough to find. Unsurprisingly, the snake of the day was the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), of which we found close to 15 individuals. We found several different frog species and a real good number of cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga).

Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)

Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans)
Green Tree Frog (Dryophytes cinereus)
Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga)
Cave Salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga)

A short ways from the main road, we came across a small grotto. Looking closely with a light, I was able to find at least five cave salamanders resting on different shelves. After about 15 minutes on my knees, working out how to best light and photograph these guys, I finally focused my attention towards the back end of this small cave. There I noticed a medium-sized cottonmouth with its head raised that was apparently watching me the entire time, about a foot or so behind the salamanders.

Cave Salamanders and an unexpected guest. Can you find the cottonmouth?

We were joined by our friend, Stacia Novy, on this trip, who provided an unexpected treat! She brought along her two Aplomado Falcons that we had an opportunity to photograph, pet, and watch eat. Unfortunately, strong winds and a few soaring Bald Eagles that would not leave the area limited the amount of flight time the birds had, but we really appreciated the opportunity.

A couple photos of Stacia with her bird

Afterwards, the group headed to one of my favorite breweries – Scratch in Ava Illinois. Stacia brough one of the Falcons to the outside location and we had a most unique partner to go along with our wood-fired pizzas and beer.

My drinking partner

Grassland Bird Nesting

Bird Species of Conservation Concern, birds, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

Back in early June of this year, the WGNSS Nature Photography Group travelled east to Pyramid State Recreation Area in Perry County, Illinois. Here we met with Stacia Novy, a wildlife biologist working with Southern Illinois University. Stacia’s goals are to find and identify grassland bird species nests, collect morphometric, embryonic and maturation data on eggs and nestlings, and to document fledging and depredation rates. Stacia is a true professional and she took care in how we approached nests and got our photographs. She finds dozens of nests each year and collects important data used for conservation and habitat management decisions.

Stacia Novy (on ladder) collecting data on eggs and nestlings

Approximately 60% of all of North America’s grasslands have been destroyed due to agriculture and other development purposes. Unsurprisingly, grassland species in general are the most at risk birds from this loss of habitat. The numbers of these obligate grassland species have declined by 40% since 1970.

An egg buoyancy/density test is performed to determine egg age and potential viability

Due to high incidence of predation, grassland bird species must be quite careful about where and how they place their nests. Stacia showed us the types of vegetation different species like to use and how they attempt to camouflage their nests. It takes a lot of work and diligence to find these nests and we appreciated Stacia sharing some of these with us.

Stacia measures eggs

Here are some of the photos I took with my cellphone of some of the species we were fortunate to be able to see.

A Brown Thrasher parent staying on the nest until the last minute
Inside the Brown Thrasher nest
A Gray Catbird’s nest
Another Gray Catbird nest we found this day with newly hatched chicks
Beautiful eggs inside a Redwing Blackbird nest
The even more startingly-blue eggs of the Dickcissel
The same Dickcissel nest days later. Photo by Stacia Novy.
The nest of one of my top five favorite birds – the Bell’s Vireo
Bell’s Vireo eggs
The same Bell’s Vireo nest days later. Photo by Stacia Novy.

Mississippi Kites at Weldon Spring C.A.

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

Here are a couple from a birding hike that Miguel and I took along the Lost Valley Trail at Weldon Springs Conservation Area back in May. The light was harsh but the story unforgettable. We watched this adult pair take turns perching and soaring above the treetops. Eventual the female called in the male that resulted in a few matings. On the last one we watched, this juvenile came in to their tree to try and break it up. Eventually the male lost his patience and went after the juvenile. I’m not sure if this might be their chick from last year or an unrelated individual.

Mississippi Kites at Weldon Spring C.A.
Right before “dad” had to dish out some punishment

Eastern Kingbird Nest – Part 3

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

A few of my favorites of the Eastern Kingbird nest photographed at Logger’s Lake.

This first batch consists of the begging brood with a parent sitting nearby, usually just after delivering an insect. These guys never stopped their food response. If a parent was in sight, they were begging.

Immediately after dropping off a meal.
I was surprised to find that the parents would sometimes bring in berries to feed the brood. I do not know which species the berries came from.
Just as automatic as the begging response, nearly every instance of a parent bringing a food item, one of the young would present the adult with a fecal pellet. The parent would usually wait and watch for this event and be ready to grab it as it was being eliminated. It then would take it away from the nest to be disposed, assumedly as part of a predator defense strategy.
A parent decided to meet the other parent on its perch to take the prey item back to the nest itself.
One of the chicks exercising its wings.
Here the chicks are gaping, not as a begging response to a parent bringing in food, but as a cooling method as the sun is in position to shine down directly on the nest.