Yesterday I went to Swan Harbor Farm in Havre de Grace, my goal was to see if the bald eagles were still around, I took the plunge and instead of going towards the water I walked towards the field where there was someone sitting with binoculars watching the birds. Not only did I realize that this was a blind for bird watchers and photographers, I realized for the first time in the middle of this field was a huge swamp/marsh area.
Probably about 20 feet from me was a bird house with a wood duck looking out. Seemed to not have a care in the world.
To the left of me, less than 10 feet was a beautiful red winged black bird sitting on a branch.
You could sit there and listen to the birds calling to each other, and it was hot. I could only imagine what they were saying to each other. Not long after I left I realized it was still 87 degrees out. And this was about 5pm at night.
So sitting in the blind I had a read winged black bird, and a wood duck in my view. The only other thing that made an entrance was a blue heron. And man did he make a loud and noisy entrance, scaring the little bird away. He flew around and then landed further out in the water.
That was enough sitting for me.
I decided to take the plunge and walk around the 'pond', for lack of a better word. I could hear the birds, and maybe even a frog, but most weren't in sight to be found. As I circled around the heron made another loud exit, seems I got too close. But I continued around, and on the other side of the field if you followed the grassy path, between where the corn was planted and the marsh I came upon a second pond/marsh area.
YES more birds, pretty birds, fast birds, little birds, I don't know what the heck they are called birds, but I shot them anyway. They seemed to like the cattails that were going to seed. The birds would perch on the very top of them and call to each other. I wondered if one of them had a nest nearby because they seemed to be overly protective of the area.
But about the time I shot a few pictures I was noticing the harsh sun.
Blast it all I dropped my lens hood somewhere. Lens hoods for cameras, let alone the larger zoom lenses are not always cheap to replace. So in spite of wanting to contine over towards the tree line. I headed back to see if I dropped along the trail. Nope it fell off my lens in the car. The downside of this lens. Its a nice lens, however, the lens hood has a tendency to fall off very easily. Now realizing how hot I was.
And of course minus a bottle of water, I had to make the decision to travel onward, or to go back walking to the fields....I opted to leave and made a mental note to come back early morning during the week or on a weekend. The farm opens at dawn. Right now its light at 6am in the morning. The big question is can I haul my rump out of bed that early? It'll be a challenge.
So forward and onward I went, to find that most of the birds were staying well hidden in the shaded areas because of the heat. I eventually did get some shots of the baby geese that were at the Locke House in Havre de Grace before I ended up calling it a day myself because of the heat.
Until Next time God Bless
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