Monday, October 20, 2008

THE BLUES OF FALL

Once again the colors of Fall have descended upon us with those bright reds, brilliant yellows, chartreuse greens, siennas and russet browns. It was the perfect day for zipped up jackets, smart wool socks and a destination. With binoculars and cameras in hand we (hubby and I) walked a field path leading towards a small lake in southern New Jersey. Commenting on the abundance of colorful berries we were unaware of the real treat that was soon to greet us. The Blues of Fall. A flock of Bluebirds, happily feasting upon the berries of a Virginia creeper vine which had woven its way up and around a small hichory tree. What a nice surprise to see these little birds! Having had the pleasure of two bluebirds nesting in our backyard, this past spring, we were accustomed to only seeing a few at a time. I have to say we both were elated to see a flock of blues. They were so busy, flitting from branch to branch, gobbling berries that our presence seemed to be overlooked.

Such vibrant blues. No matter how many times you see a Bluebird fly, it's that striking flash of blue, that always leaves a WOW impression in your mind's eye!
As we approached the lake we were greeted by another Great Blue, the Heron. He was perched high in a tree overlooking the lake. Prehistoric looking but calm in his demeanor. A distinct difference to the behavior of the flock of blue birds, we had just left. He seemed contented to stay where he was and allowed me to take several perched pictures before he stood up.
Maybe he felt he needed a change to his pose...or to impress me with how unbelievably long that wing can extend!!
After showing off that wing he remained only a few seconds more. He slowly tipped to one side, gave a little push, did a little free fall and glided away! Cool! We continued our walk around the lake and as we headed back to the car we both agreed that of all the fall colors we saw today blue was definitely our favorite.

10 comments:

Shelley said...

Great stuff today Tina! Your bluebirds were so handsome and it was so neat to see that heron stretching his wings as well as being on that branch! I've only seen them stalking around in the shallow water.

Unknown said...

That's an amazing experience you narrated in this post and some beautiful pictures to go along.

By the way, Thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment on my blog.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Wow Tina---amazing pictures. We don't have bluebirds around here now (at least I haven't seen very many recently)--but they are gorgeous birds, especially against that beautiful blue sky. Thanks for the great pictures!!!

The Birdlady said...

Ah, a flock of bluebirds...that's about as good as it gets! Nice photos.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Tina: I love your Great blue Heron shots. That looks like a youngster maybe a chick from this year. I caught one last week in full spread from behind and posted it.

NCmountainwoman said...

Little blues and big blues...I loved them all. How nice of the heron to stretch for you. Great post.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Tina, our bluebirds came back today---2 of them !!!! They went to their old nest. I hope they stay here all winter!!!! I got so excited. We leave tomorrow for Buffalo---so I'll miss the blogs and the birds until Tuesday!!!! Have a great weekend.

Dave's Bird Watching Blog said...

A whole FLOCK of bluebirds! WOW!!!
You got some great pictures of them, too! What a fun walk!

Tina said...

Shellmo and t and s thanks so much for visiting and leaving such nice comments, love to hear from you.

Betsy..how exciting that your blues came back!! Have a fun trip to Buffalo, Bg, birdlady,fishing guy,ncmountainwoman and dave, ALWAYS look forward to hearing from you plus visiting your blogs to see what new images you've captured.
:)

Anonymous said...

Hi Tina, incredible shots of the bluebirds, my favorite. Do you belong to a bluebird society back there? I am asking because I am the County Coordinator for the California Bluebird Recovery Program here in Shasta County, CA. and we love to get statistics from backyard birders in our county on fledged bluebirds every season. If you monitor your nest boxes, please consider passing this information on to the local bluebird society http://www.thebsp.org/ There are bluebird lovers all over North America who are fighting to increase the numbers of "Blues" on our continent.

Thanks again for the excellent photos and story too!

would like to hear your thoughts..