...part 2 of the hungry little Green Heron

Part 2: I had so many cool photos of this juvenile Green Heron, I had to break the post into two installments (click here for part one). The video at the end shows him catching another fish and licking his chops again...

Head-on shot of a juvenile Green Heron. 

The Green Heron hears my camera shutter and gives me the stink eye!

Juvenile Green Heron Fishing from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.


Photos taken at the Ibis Pond rookery on Pinckney Island NWR in Hilton Head, SC June of 2012.

p.s. We just returned from Hawaii (Maui). I hope to have a few photos of those cool birds up soon. 

Juvenile Green Heron licking his chops...

This juvenile Green Heron was fun to watch. He would move slowly back and forth along a downed branch that hung over the mote at the Ibis Pond rookery on Pinckney Island in Hilton Head, SC looking for small fish. As he watched for his next morsel, he would lick his chops over and over. Those little fish must have tasted good! The video at the end of the post captures the action...

A juvenile Green Heron sees a fish swimming in the green waters below...

Baby plumes blowing in the breeze. Not many left...

Green Herons are stocky little herons. They always seem to have their necks pulled in.

...part of the fun of watching this juvenile Green Heron was watching his long toes curl around the branch as he walked slowly back and forth. Every move he made seemed to be deliberate, stealthy, and slow. 

...watch out, little fish.

Juvenile Green Heron Licking his Chops and Catching a Fish from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo.


 I photographed this hungry little fellow last summer on June 12, 2012.

A tennis-loving Killdeer couple sets up house...

Rick and Matty have been playing tennis at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, OH for the past couple of weekends and in the evenings during the week. The first weekend in June, all three of us were volunteers at the Serving it Up for Special Olympics fundraiser, which was also held there. While all this activity was going on, a Killdeer couple decided the best place to nest was right in the middle of the action...

If you look on the ground to the left of this sweet Killdeer, you'll see four speckled eggs. I had my long lens with me, so I was pretty far away, but people were walking all around this bird, not realizing four beautiful eggs were just off the sidewalk in the mulch. The Killdeer blended in so well, people didn't see the bird unless he or she started moving.

Killdeer often nest in suburban settings, but I've never seen one nest right in the center of a major tennis complex! The managers of the facility are very careful and protective of their nesting birds, and the gardeners know to stay away from the nest, so the eggs can hatch.

...a closer look at the well-camouflaged eggs. If you didn't know they were there, you would never see them. A Killdeer nest is just a scrape in the ground, or in this case, in the mulch alongside the sidewalk.

A Killdeer is a plover, and even though in Ohio suburbs they usually nest in open fields near a little gravel, they do like to be around water too...but I've never seen one hang out around a water sprinkler like this bird!

A nesting Killdeer wouldn't be a parent without a little broken-wing distraction display. While one bird sat on the nest, the other did a little flapping around looking like it was injured or had a broken wing. The ploy was a distraction to try to lure pedestrians away from the nest. 

...and it worked. The tennis players watched the "injured" bird  and stayed away from the nest. Eventually the bird flew off after another miraculous recovery, knowing the eggs were safe.

Black Rat Snake in our side yard...

Saturday afternoon Matty and I were walking in the side yard when we both saw a Black Rat snake alongside the rock path. He froze as soon as he saw us, and we watched him for a while. When I realized he was in frozen mode, I ran in to get the camera, hoping he would stay put for a few more minutes. He was in the same place when I returned, so I took a few photos. Eventually he figured out we weren't going to try to eat him or pick him up, so he slowly slithered away under a large bush...

A Black Rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) in our side yard. I'm glad this fellow is living here. I hope he comes out and says hi more often.

...as you can tell, our Black Rat snake isn't all that black! He has a beautiful pattern with copper, brown and yellow showing through. Unfortunately, this pattern sometimes gets him killed when uninformed homeowners confuse him with a venomous snake. The round pupil on the Black Rat snake lets you know he is nonvenomous. Venomous snakes have elliptical pupils. Having a Black Rat snake living close by is beneficial...

...someone is full and happy. I wonder what he ate...mouse, vole, chipmunk? If you look at the left, you can see the scales are close together, but in the middle prey has stretched out the skin, which separates the scales. 

...freezing in place is a good defense when you are camouflaged as well as our snake is. He blended in so perfectly, it would have been easy to walk right past him. Black Rat snakes are the largest snakes found in Ohio, and they are often found in suburban neighborhoods. You might have one in your yard and not even know it.

...with his head tipped up a little, you can see the rostral groove in his upper lip, which is the small hole the tongue protrudes through. In the next photo...you can see the tongue!

Snakes flick their tongues in and out of their mouths through the rostral groove without every having to open their mouths.

To learn more about the rostral groove and how snakes use their tongues and the Jacobson's Organ to smell, click here.

The pattern on a Black Rat snake, when visible, is distinct. The dark spots on the dorsal side lay across his back like saddles. 

Black Rat Snake slithering from Kelly Riccetti on Vimeo. 

This video shows how beautiful and graceful a Black Rat snake is when it moves.

I wonder if this is the baby Black Rat snake we found in our basement last autumn and released into our back yard? He's not fully grown, so he might be...

p.s. This post is for my niece, Maria, my son, Matty, and my neighbor, Chet...all of whom love snakes. 

Northern Leopard Frog at the Spring Valley Freshwater Fen

It's easy to see where this Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) got its name. It's covered in spots just like a leopard. I photographed the cute little frog two weeks ago at the Spring Valley Wildlife Area when Paul Krusling and I were there searching for Spotted Turtles. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had no luck finding the Spotted Turtles, but spotted frogs were a whole other story...

Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) at Spring Valley Wildlife Area. This frog and several others were at the freshwater fen. 

I had never seen the small freshwater fen at Spring Valley. It's beautiful...hidden and off the beaten path, it was a haven for these little Northern Leopard Frogs.

Northern Leopard Frog hiding in the leaf litter in the freshwater fen at Spring Valley Wildlife Area.

...closeup of a Northern Leopard Frog's face.

Yellow-throated Vireo at Spring Valley Wildlife Area...

Last Tuesday I spent the day at Spring Valley Wildlife Area. It was beautiful and warm, and newly arrived spring migrants were singing in the bright sunshine. We were looking for Spotted Turtles, hoping one would pop its head out of the water and swim around, but unfortunately, none obliged. This sunny yellow Yellow-throated Vireo, however, put on a nice show...

Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons) singing along the Little Miami River at Spring Valley Wildlife Area.

Yellow-spectacled Vireo would have been a good name for this guy too... 

The gnatcatcher and the caterpillar...

While I sat in the grass watching a Red-shouldered Hawk's nest, this Blue-gray Gnatcatcher landed on a branch in a tree very close to me. I had been sitting still for a while, so maybe he didn't notice me, or maybe the promise of tasty crawly eats overrode the danger of a human with a camera...

This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was studying something on a branch above him. I knew whatever it was had to be important because the little bird had come in so close to me. I wondered what it was and imagined a fat and juicy caterpillar inching along unaware of its impending doom...

...sure enough, the male gnatcatcher snatched up the protein-rich larva right in front of me!  The instant I clicked the shutter, he glanced my way, warning me off the tasty treat with a birdy (but steely) stink eye... 

Yum...fresh caterpillar...

...hmmmm...is that another?

...it definitely was, and within seconds, he jumped to the next branch over and nabbed another unsuspecting caterpillar. 

How do you tell a male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher from a female? 
Just look for "eyebrows." During the breeding season when males are in their alternate breeding plumage, you'll see a thick, black line above their eyes:

Male Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in breeding plumage sport dark eyebrows!