Baby Turkeys: Was it Worth It?

Baby Turkeys


Mike and Chris go for a walk around the block almost every morning. Yesterday, when walking past the park, there were several adult turkeys with some baby turkeys barely visible in the distance. Mike coerced Chris into changing their walk, going back home for the camera and binoculars, but by the time they returned, the turkeys were gone.

So this morning about 6:15, Mike nudged Chris in bed to get up early and see if the turkeys had returned. Chris reluctantly agreed, but when they reached the park, there was a lady walking a dog and no turkeys. After one lap around the block, Mike and Chris returned to the park and the dog was gone but still no turkeys. It was about the same time they saw the turkeys the previous day, so Mike suggested waiting, hiding in the penalty box of the skating rink in case the turkeys returned. About 5 minutes later, the turkeys appeared and Mike got some photos and Chris got some good views in the binoculars.

Fledgling House Wren!!!

 

Three Baby Wrens

Best wren shot of the day!

Cliff Swallow Babies

We took the boat down under the bridge to check up on the cliff swallow nests. Fewer babies than we expected, but we were happy to see three nests had hatchlings in them. We are certainly getting an education with this year's hatchings. While we were watching, one of the baby birds intentionally turned itself around so its rump was sticking out the opening of the nest and pooped. That's what is shown in the bottom picture. It's not an adult heading into the nest. We didn't know about this behavior, and we'll do a little research to verify what we saw, but it sure seemed intentional to us. What a great way to keep the nest nice and tidy! We have watched the adult wrens carry the fecal sacs from their nests, but this was even more impressive.

Baby Barn Swallow

This barn swallow baby was under the bridge that goes over Lake Nelson.

Wren Feeding

We think the baby wren on the right side of the picture sort of looks like Grandpa from the Munsters.

More Wrens

We ate dinner out on our deck last night, starting with chips and a nectarine salsa from Terhune farms. The wrens were active feeding their babies and the babies have grown and become more adventuresome so we can now see them from the opening in the bird house.

Mike set up the camera on a tripod with the remote. Whenever a feeding occurred, one of us would press the shutter release. Here are some of the better pictures.




Occasionally, when one parent is inside the house feeding, the other hands it an insect. Or should we say the other "beaks" it an insect. We used to call this a hand-off but now we call it a beak-off.



 

We grilled a nice fillet mignon for dinner but these baby birds enjoyed their insects just as much.

Baby Catbird

We never found the catbird nest, but we saw the parents carrying food. Finally, we found a baby

Finally, A Baby Baltimore Oriole

Last year, we had a Baltimore oriole nest in the yard but never saw the baby birds. We've been watching and waiting and finally saw a baby out of the nest being fed. There are at least two and we'll be monitoring nervously because the nest hangs over the water and the babies are hopping between branches but can't fly yet.

Summer Ducklings

Lake Nelson's eleven baby ducks are almost the size of their mother now. We were surprised one evening to see another mother with eight tiny baby ducks. She isn't as attentive a mother and some of the ducklings were at the top of the dam and others at the bottom.  However, we were happy to see the family reunited the next day.

A busy wren house

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One disadvantage of living on a lake is all of the insects, unless you eat insects. The house wrens find the location ideal to raise a family. Chris first saw lots of feeding on Monday at the wren house and heard the baby birds chirping. We set up the bird cam but the photos didn't come out very good. So, we set up the DSLR with a remote control shutter release and waited. The birds feed every few minutes, so we didn't have to wait too long and we are happy to see each insect get consumed by these chirping baby birds. Both parents feed, but we can't tell them apart.

We also saw something we hadn't expected. The birds clean the nest by carrying off "fecal sacs" that the babies produce. These "disposable bird diapers" are produced by the babies' digestive system the first few days and make it easier to keep the nest clean. The parents drop them far away from the nest so the droppings don't leave clues about the location of the bird nest.

I know we are posting a bit too many pictures, but there are few hundred we didn't post.



     

Eleven Baby Ducks: Beat that Octomom

 

We are happy to see our little floating island planter getting some use.  So far, we've had just a pair of sandpipers, a lone duck or turtle on it.  At dusk today, we saw the mother and all the baby ducks on it.  It's hard to count them on the island, but all 11 were on it.  She must be a very good mother.

 

Incredibly Cute Baby Wood Ducks

We were up in Piermont, NY, the other night to see our friends, Nancy and Dan, and take in the Fred Eaglesmith Band show. We figured we might get some birding in as well because that is what we do. Can you imagine the thrill we felt when one of the first things we saw out the window of our B&B were these adorable baby ducks. We love wood ducks but had never seen any baby ones. Of course, Chris kept frantically counting them as they all tried to keep up with mom who was trying to swim against the current.

Lake Nelson's first goslings of the year have hatched

 

We located a few Canada goose nests while out on our boat earlier in the month. We stopped by yesterday and saw that four baby geese had hatched.

Meadowlands birds

Egret

Downy Woodpecker

Juvenile Mute Swan

Ruddy Duck Family

We went to the NJMC Environmental Center in Lyndhurst, NJ on Sunday AM. We are a little early for many of the migrating birds, but we did take a few photos. The highlight was the baby ruddy ducks. It's not a great photo, but they are very small and stayed by the small island away from people. They were so cute diving underwater.

The juvenile mute swan is showing off its foot. We have a bit of a debate whether this is a deformity because the foot seems too high on the back and it didn't ever seem to put it in the water.

Baby Duck Wars

 

 

There are two duck families with a total of 11 baby ducks that have been hanging out in our yard-- affectionately known as the teens and the littles. It's getting hard to distinguish the teens from their mother. The littles are getting bigger too. We've been feeding the littles cracked corn to help them grow fast enough to migrate this fall.

While they used to get along, recently they have been having a turf war. The mother of the littles chases the other family and the babies join in too. It's hard to capture the action in a photo, so there's a video at the bottom that shows one chase.

Summer Ducklings

We feel very honored when the mother ducks bring the babies up into the yard. Looks like they will be quite helpful with the clean up task under the bird feeder. Today there were actually two groups of mothers with babies in the yard, these little guys and a slightly older group. They kept their distance and shared nicely the whole time with the older group mostly napping and these young ones filling up.

Baby Ducks

 

 

 

Duckling Rescue

When we went for an early morning walk, we noticed the mother mallard swimming around a ring float in the lake that is near the fountains. It appeared to be calling to a duckling that was stuck inside the float. When we got home, we saw that there was still much activity and calling around the float. We took the boat over and were surprised to find that there were actually four cute baby ducks swimming in the inner part of the ring but couldn't make it out. Mike gave them each a boost and the baby ducks quickly caught up with the mother. She actually has a total of eight, but we were too busy to photograph them all.