northeast-flora-and-fauna

Green Herons and Great Blue Herons weren't the only herons I spotted on this day; this Great Egret struck a pose as it waded over to its fishing spot. Since there's no taxonomic difference between herons and egrets, I'm going to claim that I hit the Heron Trifecta this day. Great Egrets are, anatomically speaking, slightly short and thin Great Blue Herons, and since the Great Blue Heron has virtually no avian predators [1], the same is probably also true of the Great Egret. If a coyote or bobcat caught 1 on land, my guess it wouldn't go well for the Great Egret. In the water, there are probably somewhat rare attacks by Common Snapping Turtles , though between scavenging and eating vegetation, snapping turtles usually find easier prey. May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 292819218, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] It sounds like Golden Eagles will sometimes prey on Great Blue Herons but Bald Eagles rarely will. Since my area is largely devoid of Golde...

It's almost like this Red-tailed Hawk wanted to avoid a misidentification so its prominently displaying its red [1] tail. Since I'm pretty confident that birds don't really care what we identify them as, I'm assuming this positioning was a prerequisite to a good tail-preening session. Still, when people can't see that iconic red tail [2], misidentifications can run wild. The most over-enthusiastic people will claim to have seen an eagle, and I have to admit that a Golden Eagle does look a bit like a very big Red-tailed Hawk [3]. Probably the only thing that prevents more widespread misidentification is that the Red-tailed Hawk is quite a bit more common than our other hawks, like Red-shouldered Hawks , Cooper's Hawks , and Northern Harriers . May 13, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 282423074, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Yeah, I know, it's more of a burnt orange tail than a red one, but people used to refer to colors differently . [2] Techn...

Bald Eagle sightings are certainly getting more common as nesting pairs have risen in New Jersey , and have been for decades: Between 1990-1993 NJ averaged 5 nesting pairs that produced on average 5.5 eaglets.  Between 2000-2003 it was 28 nesting pairs producing ~35 eaglets. Between 2010-2013 it was up to ~104 nesting pairs producing  ~62 eaglets. I don't have 2023 data, but between 2020-2022 they averaged ~231 nesting pairs raising ~313 eaglets. Obviously this will eventually level off, but this suggests it's probably twice as easy to encounter a Bald Eagle today than it was even 10 years ago. The story of the Bald Eagle recovery has been told many times, and is mostly due to the things we've stopped doing (at least legally): Hunting them. Encroaching on their last habitats. And maybe most importantly, using the DDT insecticide. While some reintroductions and breeding programs have no doubt helped speed things along, I can't believe they would have worked without the...

I met another Bald Eagle last spring along the Raritan River. Was this fella the reason the Osprey I saw the same day was in flight, possibly looking for another place to fish? It's impossible to say; though both birds were in the same general area, I saw them over an hour apart, and it's possible they weren't even aware of 1 another. I've seen Bald Eagles there before , sometimes with company . It's more than possible that the same adult eagle was in more than 1 of these pictures [1], and the Duke Farms Bald Eagles probably nest a short distance from these trees "as the crow flies" [2], so this might be their territory. But there are also a lot more eagle out and about than there used to be, and without much closer looks I doubt anyone could conclusively identify individuals. Though most North America [3] is home to Golden Eagles , Bald Eagles are not considered close relatives of the Goldens. They are considered very close relatives of the White-taile...

Human kids have a different fashion sense than adults, and juvenile Bald Eagles "dress" quite a bit differently than adults. When I saw this bird soaring overhead, my 1st thought was that it was big and dark and thus probably a vulture ( Turkey Vulture or Black Vulture ). But the plumage was wrong for both; from below both vultures have dark bodies with (different) lighter areas on their wings. This bird was mostly dark with some scattered speckling. This is also different from an adult Bald Eagle , which would have a white head and tail with a rich brown color elsewhere. The previous time I got a picture of a juvenile Bald Eagle, it was in a tree next to an adult Bald Eagle. In that instance I had no trouble IDing the juvenile because no other bird the size of a Bald Eagle is (routinely) found in my area [1]. In today's picture of a soaring raptor, judging size isn't as easy. March 29, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 270605877, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY...