Egrets, Egrets & More Egrets

Oddly enough, at the beginning of Spring Great Blue Herons seemed to occupy the majority of the nests at the Heron Rookery on Old Hickory Lake, along with a few Black Cormorants and Black Crowned Night Herons, and nary a Great White Egret. Fast forward to this week and it's all about the Great White Egrets. They were plentiful at the rookery.

The Egrets were busy flying in and out and in and out of the rookery. And at times creating havoc as they flew in. I'm guessing this guy didn't have clearance from the tower for this landing.

I love to photograph these gorgeous birds as they are so regal looking with their solid white physiques. Hope your week is going well. It's a balmy 81 with virtually no humidity tonight here in Tennessee and I am super happy about it. ENJOY!

Out of the Nest

The Black Crowned Night Heron juveniles were out of the nest when I visited the Heron Rookery on Old Hickory Lake today. This little guy was hanging out at the nearby boat dock with three other juveniles.

Sorry this image is so busy, but I just had to show you the other three juveniles hanging out on the boat dock. I wonder exactly when they begin to turn colors as adults. I'll have to look that up. Thankfully, I didn't have to get close to get this image as I had my long lens on my camera.

Later on one of the juveniles flew up into a nearby tree. The afternoon sun was getting low in the sky making for a really nice warm shot. I wished I could have been there when these little guys fledged the nest. All four of the juveniles looked to be a few months old at best. The parents were in the large Heron Rookery sitting on branches not far away and really didn't seem to care what the kiddos were up to. These last two weekends in Tennessee have been fantastic with temperatures in the mid eighties and lots of sunshine and blue skies. Oh, how I wished it would last. Hope you are having a great weekend. ENJOY!

Birding Tennessee

Let's face it. When it comes to Tennessee, I have discovered there are birding opportunities all over this state. I have visited Cross Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Old Hickory Lake, Radnor Lake, Priest Lake, and well, you get the idea. I have added many birds to my Life List of which several made me especially happy. I was most excited to photograph the Wood Duck pair and then a juvenile. Exciting! Middle Tennessee, as it is called here in the Volunteer State, has its share of lakes and rivers, not to mention parks and wildlife refuges. I wanted to share some of the images with you in a cumulative view. Many of these photos were featured in a post so I hope you don't mind indulging me. Just look at the variety and tell me it is not impressive! Could this be why every time I go out with my camera, my 'photo' elbow pain kicks back in.

The breakdown top to bottom, left to right. Great Blue Heron, Mallard Duck, Bufflehead Duck, Great White Egret, Yellow Crowned Night Heron, Ringed Neck Duck, Black Crowned Night Heron, Eastern Phoebe, Common Loon, Pied-Billed Grebe, Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Osprey (I think), Eastern Kingbird, Seagull, Long Tailed Duck, Wood Duck Juvenile, Eastern Bluebird, Red Winged Blackbird, Great White Egret, Wood Duck Pair, North American Wild Turkey, American Coot, Hooded Merganser and finally a Common Grackle.

It wasn't my intention to photograph birds when I started this blog. At that time I was actually into more landscapes and such. Several years later I purchase my first and a year later my second zoom lenses and off I went to photograph birds. Birds taking flight, birds landing, birds feeding, birds in the water, birds in a flock, bird eggs, bird nests, baby birds. Again, you get the idea. I hope you enjoyed the look back over my last year here in Greater Nashville. To think I only became a permanent resident here this week last year really seems to boggle my mind. And the areas I have visited to photograph nature in any shape or form has really helped me to feel more at home. It has been a year to remember for me in so many ways. ENJOY!

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday

Lighthouse, Chincoteague NWR

There's beauty everywhere on the island which plays host to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. There's Egrets and Herons and Chincoteague Ponies. There's beautiful beaches with creamy white sand. There's emerald green lagoons filled with huge wading birds. There's azure blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean surrounding you.

And then . . . there's this beautiful lighthouse. This lighthouse with its red and white stripes. This lighthouse that braves Fall's fierce hurricanes, Winter's blustery storms, Summers heat and humidity, and then revels in Spring's balmy days. With its new coat of paint the Lighthouse on Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge stands in testament that time really does stand still. And everyone on Chincoteague couldn't be happier as they marvel in its new found beauty.

I didn't want to photograph the lighthouse up close, but rather off in the distance with perhaps the bay in the foreground. And what was so unexpected were the beautiful subjects in the foreground. The Egrets and shore birds were busily searching for dinner as I captured this image. Priceless to me. ENJOY!

Little Blue Heron, Chincoteague NWR

As the warm light of the day faded away, I continued to photograph this Little Blue Heron looking for a catch in the waters around Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge back in July when I visited there.


It is amazing just how light can change the look and feel of a subject. In these images this Little Blue Heron is so dark he almost doesn't even appear to be a Little Blue Heron.

He was busy fishing and only looked up once. Not sure if he was looking at me or not but I doubt it. He probably saw something in the water that I couldn't see. I saw a beautiful Little Blue Heron on Assateague which I posted earlier in the summer and then I posted another image of a Little Blue Heron on the bay side off of Chincoteague Island itself, and now here's a photograph from late day off Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. So needless to say, Little Blue Herons were plentiful around the Eastern Shore when I was visiting there in July. I hope to get back there again some day, but until then memories and these images will have to sustain me. Hope your weekend is going great. ENJOY!