Grasshopper Sparrow

Talbot County, MD

Marsh Wren

Port Mahon, DE

Spring Babies

Tree Swallow Hatchlings snuggled in their feather bed.

Tiny Spring Peeper leaving the wetland headed for life in the woods.

Young Chorus Frog leaving the wetland.

An afternoon at the pond...

This beautiful, warm, muggy spring afternoon is rich with shy sunshine-loving creatures in every nook at Adkins Arboretum.

Painted turtle with her eyes closed paddles through the murky water causing bullfrogs to leap from their basking spots.

Camouflaged to the nines bullfrogs break up the calm surface of the water with their shiny bright green heads.

Red-winged blackbirds acrobatically catch dragonflies in flight and gorge themselves, one after another. I wonder how long the dragonfly population can last at this rate.

A juvenile red-winged blackbird prances through the wetland grasses, not sure whether it's safe to show himself to the crazy photographer lady.

A robin perches on a cattail with a mouthful of meal worms.

It's that time of year...

A female bluebird brings a neon green caterpillar to her hatchlings...

A female orchard oriole picks off the old fluffy seeds from last years dogbane to weave into her nest...

A tree swallow hesitates to flush from her goose feather nest with four eggs...

Photo of the Week

Louisiana Waterthrush

"Voicing the spirit of the rushing streams"- Robert S. Lemmon

Turkey Vultures

Great Scavenging Clean-up Crews

On the east coast we have two species of vultures. The turkey and the black. With a wing span slightly under six feet, we commonly observe the turkey vulture teetering in the wind high above our heads. Giant nostrils and close friends direct vultures to stinky rotting carcasses where their sharp bills allow them to tear apart flesh. Their bare head prevents them from having a face full of dried up gore covered feathers. With their large size, they rarely need to defend themselves, but if a predator does threaten them, vultures attempt to protect themselves by vomiting up some nastiness from their latest meal! To cool themselves off they use the resources they've got- they deficate on their legs and cool through evaporation.

Vultures, like any bird, have to take good care of those feathers to stay in good competitive shape. After preening or washing, they may dry their feathers in the sun.

Turkey Vulture in flight.

Black vulture in flight. Shorter tail, white wing tips, and slightly smaller wingspan at less than 5 feet.

Thank goodness for vultures!