This shows you how far the photo queue goes back: these photographs were sent by reader Karen Bartelt in February, and I simply forgot them. My apologies! But keeping sending me your photos, as I can never have too many. (Remember, they should be good photos!)
A salute to the nation’s National Wildlife Refuges:
Red-footed boobies (Sula sula rubripes), Kilauea Point NWR, Kaua’i, Hawai’i:
Red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda rothschildi), also Kiluaea Point:
Hawaiian stilt (subspecies of Black-necked stilt—Himantopus mexicanus knudsenii), Hanalei NWR, Kaua’i, Hawai’i:
Trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator), Seney NWR, Michigan UP. Stained by tannins in the water.
Mute swan (Cygnus olor), Emiquon Nature Preserve, near Havana, IL:
Snow goose (Chen caerulescens) parabola, over Emiquon NWR, near Havana, Illinois. During the third full week of February 2016, central Illinois experienced a migration that, according to a ranger I talked to, was unsurpassed in this area for numbers of snow geese. His estimate was 1 million. I personally saw about 30 V’s, each containing around 100 geese, fly over my house in Washington, Illinois. So did my daughter in Kewanee, to the northwest. We went to Emiquon on the 22nd, and they were still flying in from the south. Unfortunately, they concentrated on the far side of the lake, so I could only get sky shots. You can see the two color forms, white and gray (aka “Blue goose”) in the photo:
The migration just as pictured by Karen, seems to continue. Two days ago I crossed over into Nebraska and saw many groups going north, right up the Missouri River.
Sometimes the Trumpeter Swan’s head and neck get almost black when they are eating along the banks. They really go after it.
Sorry to be pedantic, but I think there’s a picture missing there, or one has been swapped around. The first to photos are of boobies, the third is of the tropicbird, and then the next two are swans.
When being pedantic, it’s always great to misspell a word like “two.”
Yes. The bird flying over the island is another Red-footed Booby. Then a Red-tailed Tropicbird. No stilt.
Yes, the stilts are missing, and the bird flying over the little island is another red-footed booby. And yes, that’s a red-tailed tropicbird. I’ll have to see what happened to the stilts. Sometimes my email will just remove a photo, but I though I had these under control.
Oy! This is my fault. But I found the missing photo and fixed it. Thanks to all for catching this.
jac
In the first swan picture, the swan looks haggard. “Ugh, another day at the post office. If only I could leave this job and go into trumpeting like I’d like.”
Beautiful images.
Cool birds, Karen!