Author Archives: Simon Bate

I’m always surprised by the number of young birds we see around the pond in the spring. I spied a Green Heron nest a few weeks back. I’ll put together a separate series of pictures to watch them growing up. In watching the little ones, we became aware of two more nests on the pond.Continue reading “Annual Baby Bird Edition”

I’ve got a big backlog of pictures. I think the best way to clear them is with a few quick posts, so…here we go. The Song Sparrow can be rather an ordinary-looking bird, but there are times and poses when one stands out. A little bit of decorating, courtesy of the most recent high waterContinue reading “The return of Quick Posts”

As if someone threw a switch, the humidity departed, the air got colder, and two winter residents made their first appearance. In the shrubs by the pier I encountered a number of Yellow-rumped Warblers. While the leaves are still on the trees, it’s quite hard to get a picture, because they move around so quickly.Continue reading “Cold-season Arrivals”

Although I’ve been walking every day (apart from a three-day trip to the beach), I just haven’t been seeing much to photograph. I’ve written before about how August to early September is a slow time for birds. Nevertheless, I have seen a few birds worth showing here. As predicted, the Green Herons have left forContinue reading “August is slow”

Yikes! It’s been two months (or more) since my last post. Perhaps the birds just haven’t been as exciting, or perhaps I’m not pleased with the pictures I’ve been taking. Also, my mobility has been limited, because I have to wear a boot to heal a stress fracture. Anyway, enough of excuses. In the pastContinue reading “Fledglings, etc. (2024 edition)”

This last week I took several pictures I’m quite happy with (for one reason or another). Let’s see if I can get to the pictures and keep the words to a minimum! I’ve frequently seen mergansers and other ducks make a display like this, but usually it’s on the other side of the pond. IContinue reading “Three birds; four pictures”

This morning I saw two hunters having their breakfast. One was somewhat expected; the other was a surprise. I usually think that hawks eat rather large-sized prey (squirrels, voles, jays, and the like), but the truth is they eat just about whatever they can find. At first I thought this Red-shouldered Hawk was eating aContinue reading “Cold-blooded breakfasts”

Last week I visited family in southern Oregon. Of course I took my camera and encountered a few birds. Two species were new additions to my life list (Red-breasted Sapsucker and Varied Thrush). I captured a few “ok” pictures of the sapsucker; I’ll have to wait until next time to get the thrush. Many otherContinue reading “Not from here”

It’s been a while since I posted. I’ve been collecting a bunch of pictures, but haven’t had time (or, I’ll admit, inclination) to post. Call it the January blues. In the spirit of hustling to catch up with my backlog, I’ll post a few pictures here and try to limit my verbiage. If I’m luckyContinue reading “Catch Up (part i)”

This morning I stood for a long time on Waterland Drive as it goes between Seagroves and Waterford Green. After standing still for a while, the birds started to move. First there were a few Goldfinches and a Song Sparrow. Soon I noticed some smaller bird activity. There were at least two Ruby-crowned Kinglets andContinue reading “A Straggler and an Old Friend”

Over the past few weeks I got a bit behind on downloading and processing images. Now I have some time off, I’ve been able to get to a few them. The Pileated Woodpecker (pair, I believe) stayed around for a while, but I haven’t seen them for a week or so. As a parting gift,Continue reading “Christmas catch up”

It has been a thrilling week. For the past several days I’ve heard or seen a Pileated Woodpecker in the pond’s environs. Usually they’ve made rare appearances around the pond, although some have told me there are plenty in the woods between Seagroves Park and Old Raleigh Road. The Pileated Woodpeckers’ sudden appearance has helpedContinue reading “Woodpecker edition”

Usually I start a post with ideas about what to say, then add the pictures as I go. Today, I’m dropping the pictures in first, then adding the words to “decorate” them. Caught this almost-a-vee of Canada Geese in the glow of the dawn sun. Not a perfect vee, no uniformity of wing beats, butContinue reading “Birds first”

This post was going to be about fall and winter species arriving for the season. However, this morning I ran into a bird that I know is around during the summer, but which I have not seen recently. The Black-and-white Warbler doesn’t fit the model for warbler coloration. My expectation of a warbler is aContinue reading “Arriving and Departing”

Again, it has been a while since I last posted. Here’s a quick post with three of my favorite images from the past few weeks. I haven’t seen the Barred Owl for more than two weeks now. It’s probably still out there, but finding craftier places to spend its days. The Eastern Phoebes have beenContinue reading “A Month Behind”

I’m back. Rather than the larger and slower birds I’ve been featuring recently, today’s post features a couple of smaller, faster birds. It’s clear that summer is winding down around the pond. The weather has cooled noticeably and my species counts are going up. It’s odd, because for the most part I’m seeing all theContinue reading “Smaller, Faster”

No owl today. No Red-shouldered or Red-tailed Hawk, either (I’ll get to the Red-tailed in my next post). This morning I got my best view of a Pileated Woodpecker I’ve ever had, when my camera was at hand. This one called from one of the trees near the shelter, then moved over near the pierContinue reading “Raptor Respite”

After preening, it’s nice to be able to shake and stretch things out. This Red-shouldered Hawk gave me a prime view of its stretching routine yesterday. Not your typical bird pictures, but I think they’re special in their own way. Imagine having 5000 feathers and having to make sure they’re all preened, oiled, and inContinue reading “Fluffing and Stretching”

The young Barred Owl is back in the north cove. I got a few nice shots before we had a sudden shower and the skies opened. I can’t take credit for finding it. B & P told me about it and where it was before I got into the wooded portion of the park. WhileContinue reading “Who cooks for you?”

Here are a pair of herons. On the left, an immature Green Heron; on the right a Great Blue Heron, striking an interesting pose (more on that below). We can tell that the Green Heron is immature, because of the streaked breast. As they grow older, the breast becomes a solid rufous color. Don’t everContinue reading “Two herons”

We’re in the summer doldrums right now. I’ve talked about them before. The birds aren’t very visible, and they’re not calling the way they do in mating season. My daily species counts are in the 14-18 range, rather than 24-28. At this time, I think about the camera slung over my shoulder and I wonderContinue reading “Two days; two birds”

This weekend, a Red-shouldered Hawk was calling from high up in the canopy. The calls were persistent enough I thought it was a young hawk waiting to be fed. I spent 15-20 minutes on Saturday trying to see it, but couldn’t. Sunday, my luck was better. Sort of. The hawk was well hidden, but itsContinue reading “Back to the hawks”

Yesterday when I stopped to look for the Green Heron nestlings, I only saw one, and what I thought were two additional pairs of feet to the right of it. When I processed the pictures today, I realize, there are three additional pairs of feet, making a total of four nestlings. This morning the boldestContinue reading “Not three, four!”

As hinted at in yesterday’s post, we have three Green Heron nestlings visible from the dock. This morning only two of them wanted to be seen; the other one was hiding in the background. Even though they’re young “greenies,” this pair make me think of Heckle and Jeckle (who I always thought were crows, butContinue reading “Two of three”

Last week I had quite a surprise. As I reached the settling pond behind the townhouses, something like a deer or dog moved behind a bush. It kept on walking and emerged on the other side of the bush. Certainly not a deer. Nor a dog. We looked at each other for a couple ofContinue reading “Not in the daylight!”

I do have pictures of other birds to publish, but for now I’m focused (ha ha) on the Red-shouldered Hawk nestling(s). I first saw one a couple of weeks ago, then saw it again about a week later. The following day the nesting was even more visible, and didn’t have the annoying branch across itsContinue reading ““They grow up so fast…””

A quick, quick post. The Red-Shouldered Hawk nestling is getting bigger. I’ve seen it on and off over the last week. Monday morning was rainy and momma was on the nest, sheltering the chick. I’m guessing (with very little info to go on) that the nestling is about 21 days old now.

This morning reminded me, once again, why I walk every morning. It’s almost my mantra: most days you’ll see the same things, but some days you’ll see something exceptional. The exceptional thing this morning was discovering a Red-shouldered Hawk nestling. I and other morning walkers had noticed the hawks building a nest. This was theirContinue reading “Saturday Surprise”

For the past several years, I’ve seen two species of swallows around the pond: Tree Swallows and (what I thought were) Bank Swallows. The Tree Swallows have iridescent blue backs and contrasting white undersides. I’ve mentioned them in this blog a number of times. Just this year I’ve shown them here and here. The otherContinue reading “A Mistake Corrected”

“Hmmm. I wonder what did that?” (Looks straight up.) “Oh. It’s big (maybe I should move). But what is it?” “Ah. Hello there!” The end.

Toward the end of my walk, I sometimes think that I’ve seen all there is to see and I might as well head home. Yesterday I was thinking that as I left the holding pond behind the townhomes. For no reason at all, I paused by some bushes and saw some movement. Probably a Chickadee,Continue reading “Save the best for last”

A few weeks ago we had White-eyed Vireos swinging through on their spring migration. Currently their red-eyed cousins are having their turn. It’s not hard to catch the Red-eyed Vireo with its beak open. It frequently vocalizes, saying two phrases every two seconds or so. The first phrase is on a straight or slightly fallingContinue reading “Red-eyed Vireo”

When I walk around the pond, I’m usually looking at birds. But I do keep my eyes open on other fauna…and flora. There are some surprising things along the paths. Last fall I discovered a persimmon tree in plain sight. I had been walking by it for years but never noticed it. Today, while chattingContinue reading “Jack and Myrtle”

There was quite a spectacle this morning at the pond. I was chatting with J when a Great-blue Heron walked up from the water onto the grass. It soon went back down the bank and into the channel, where it took three quick steps, darted its neck, and came up with a large frog. DavidContinue reading “Grenouille Crue”

The other day the Bank Swallows were flying low over the pond, catching insects. I thought it would be a good opportunity to experiment with photographing birds in flight. Rather than use auto-focus, I switched to manual and tried to catch swallows as they zoomed near me, focusing as best as I could (they dipContinue reading “Swallow on the Wing”

This is the third in my series of posts about how I (sometimes) categorize my pictures. Today’s is an artistic picture. It’s not the standard pose I look for in a bird. Certainly not a “reference plate.” In fact, it shows only a portion of the bird. Additionally, the bird is preening. Most preening orContinue reading “Get Your Heron Straight”

Correction from yesterday. I was so energized about having seen a Palm Warbler, I entirely missed that every time I meant to write “Palm Warbler” I wrote “Pine Warbler.” (Pine Warblers are quite common at Seagroves Pond; I see and hear them just about every day.) Thanks to a couple of friends, I have sinceContinue reading “Poster Girl, or Boy”

In general, there are three types of photos I take: artistic pictures, reference plates, and desperation shots. The artistic pictures are those that are composed (mostly) in the viewfinder. They bring together the bird—or birds—and the other elements surrounding the bird in a well-balanced whole. The “reference plates” are those that focus on the birdContinue reading “Life-Lister”

(or “Double Double-crested”) I took this picture of two Double-crested Cormorants drying their wings just a few days ago. If you go to the pond today, it’ll look a bit different. On Monday workers from the town started lowering the level of the pond so that they could repair damage to the dam caused byContinue reading “Pair Dryer”

On Saturday I wrote in my post that I expected to hear Green Herons anytime in the next few days. The very next day, as I approached the pond, I heard “Skeeawwww.” A few minutes later, I actually saw the heron, but the light wasn’t great for photography. Nor was it in a photogenic spot.Continue reading “Spring Green”

As spring unfolds the warm-weather birds start to appear, such as the Tree Swallows and Bank Swallows I mentioned a few days ago. Yet, some winter birds are still around. I’m still seeing Slate-colored Juncos (a.k.a. “Snow Birds”), Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and on today’s walk, I saw four Ring-billed Gulls. To counterbalance the presence of thoseContinue reading “FOY* White-eyed Vireo”

Yesterday I posted a picture of a Tree Swallow, along with a picture of an Eastern Bluebird. The Tree Swallows first appears (to my knowledge) about two years ago. They probably visited the pond before, but they never stayed. It occurs to me, as I write, that their nesting at the pond is related toContinue reading “Swallow Two”

If you see a blue bird, does that make it a Bluebird? Not necessarily. If you see a bird that isn’t all blue, can it be a Bluebird? Perhaps. This first image is a Tree Swallow. It’s probably one of the prettiest blue birds we see around the pond (and it’s almost entirely blue). IContinue reading “Blue bird? or Bluebird?”

There have been at least two Great-blue Herons around the pond over the past few weeks. I’ve seen and heard them confronting(?) each other several times. A few days ago I heard a strange “Awwk” above my head and looked up to see the two of them concluding a brief, in-flight battle. Or at leastContinue reading “Great, Blue Heron”

Up in the trees we’re watching Red-shouldered Hawks build nests. But much lower down, there’s some subtle nest building occurring on the forest floor. Or perhaps I should say “location scouting.” Several pairs of ducks have been noticed in the area between the bridges, some quite close to the path. This Mallard hen was justContinue reading “Just Ducky”

A short post of three pictures I’ve been wanting to post for a week. The first two birds are rather elusive. Sometimes I see them on my walks, but most of the time I don’t. Perhaps it’s the rarity of seeing them that brings me pleasure. The first is an old friend that a numberContinue reading “Two Elusive Birds, and One Not”

Here are a few pictures from last week. As it turned out, in all the images I liked best, the subjects are looking to the left of the frame. This fledgling Green Heron has just about lost all of it’s fluff, with just a bit remaining on top. I saw it and its siblings perchedContinue reading “Look Left!”

Here’s another bird to add to the list of birds found around Seagroves Pond: a Magnolia Warbler. I loitered under the tree for a good long time trying to see the bird in the open. They’re extremely active, constantly moving. When it did emerge from behind the leaves, it wasn’t ever in a perfect spot,Continue reading “…and one more.”

This morning a Great Blue Heron decided to sit on the dock. It stayed there the whole time I was walking around the pond. I saw others—like me—sneak down the ramp and take a quick picture or two, but the Heron was (heh, heh) unflappable. I have a couple of postscripts to this weekend’s sadContinue reading ““Sitting on the dock of the bay…””

Here are a few images from this last week. I think there are two nesting pairs of Green Herons around the pond. There may be more. On Thursday I saw the season’s first Great Crested Flycatcher. It took me a while to realize it was the “Real McCoy” because you can hear a Brown ThrasherContinue reading “Mid-April Mornings”

To identify a hawk “on the wing,” the first thing to look at is the length of its tail. We have three common hawk species in our area: Red-shouldered Hawks (as I’ve been photographing for the past few weeks), Red-tailed Hawks, and Cooper’s Hawks. The Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks belong to the genus Buteo. They’reContinue reading “Cooper’s Hawk”

One of the real joys of walking around Seagroves Pond every day is in seeing something new. Today’s “new” sighting was a Killdeer that flitted around the parking lot and across the grassy strip over the dam. I don’t think it has a nest quite yet. In fact, I think I only saw one. WhoContinue reading “A New Visitor”

Last week a number of us saw a male Red-shouldered Hawk performing courtship displays. It was fantastic to see him tuck his wings in while he dived and swooped. It looks like he’s settling down with a mate. A couple of days ago I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk swoop up to a tree in theContinue reading “Hawks’ Nest”

I’m the guy you see every morning with binoculars and SLR (usually) slung over my shoulder. I created this blog to share my pictures, thoughts, and experiences in Seagroves Farm Park. The park is a treasure, a jewel. It is host to many plants, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles that are there to be appreciated.Continue reading “Meet the Birder”