Winter on Lake Nelson

Cormorant on the Ice


Red-bellied Woodpecker at the Birdbath


It's rare to find the red-bellied woodpecker at the birdbath. However, our heated birdbath is the only water that isn't frozen. The cormorant is still hanging around, but we wonder what he's eating.

Cormorants on Lake Nelson

Cormorants on Lake Nelson

Cormorants

After Irene: Cormorants on Lake Nelson

After Irene: Cormorants on Lake NelsonOur cormorant population has increased after the hurricane. We hope they'll stay.

Cormorant

CormorantThe cormorants are returning to Lake Nelson.

Babies

Baby Tree Swallow (we think)




This was weird. A mother duck and her 6 ducklings were resting on our floating island. A cormorant also likes sunning himself there so he jumped up to join them. The mother sheltered the babies but they shared the island for a few minues.

Iced Cormorant

Lake Nelson is mostly frozen. While Chris is sharpening her skates, the cormorants seem less happy with this development. Mike is considering moving the jacuzzi onto the dock and stocking it with fish.

Cormorant Fishing

 

 

Chris saw a cormorant struggling with a fish that was too large for it. Soon, another came over followed by Mike with the camera.

Back in Jersey: Lake Nelson Birds

Belted Kingfisher


Hooded Mergansers


Cormorant

Ruddy Duck

 

Red Throated Loon

We're back home in New Jersey. Lake Nelson had a few visitors today who are very infrequent: A lone ruddy duck and a lone red-throated loon. Four hooded mergansers arrived. The wind may have blown them off course. Of course, the resident cormorants are still active and the kingfisher also is out.

Cormorant for Kenny

 

When we ran into Kenny at Lenape Park, he said he had heard of our blog and our fascination with cormorants. So, that sounds like an excuse for posting one more.

Heckyl and Jeckyl

We returned home for our daily dose of cormorants. We now call them Heckyl and Jeckyl. We're not sure if they have a funny name for the two humans who observe them daily.

Cormorant spreading its wings

 

We are trying to cut back on cormorant photos, but they love the sun as much as we do.

Three Cormorants

 

We are still waiting for an influx of migratory birds. We saw a few yellow rumped warblers but didn't get a photo worth posting. We are still amused by our cormorants friends who appreciate the last float on Lake Nelson.

Watch it. You're crowding me!

The cormorants were out early this morning, but Mike already had two cups of coffee. All are enjoying the last weekend of the summer.

Cormorant Island

 

This weekend we "decorated" a float with a tree limb that had fallen and some smaller braches for aesthics in hopes of creating a new spot for birds. Our attempts at such social engineering rarely work out, but the cormorants (and a lone duck, perhaps orphaned, that we call Annie or Ani if it turns out to be a male) seemed to appreciate the effort.

Another Cormorant on Lake Nelson

 

What a little sunlight can do

 

 

 

 

It was nice to have a sunny day for a change. We got a few pictures of the usual suspects: a great blue heron, a cormorant, a turtle and a blue jay. Last year at this time we saw another blue jay "having a bad hair day." We guess it's a normal part of growing up. Just remember this the next time you are having a bad hair day!

 

Cormorants from Sandy Hook

 

 

We took advantage of the nice weather and visited Sandy Hook. We hoped to see the start of some migratory warblers that had been reported on NJ Rare Bird Alerts, but we had no such luck. Still, it was a nice day for going out to the beach, even if our life lists are unchanged.

Here's a few shots of some cormorants.

Cormorants Crossing

 

Is summer finally here? There are at least three cormorants on the lake.

Birds from the Celery Farm in Allendale

We took a quick trip to the Celery Farm in Allendale, NJ. The yellow warbler was best photo that we got.

We spotted some wood ducks including what appeared to be an immature male just showing some adult colors.

 

 

Egret

Swans and Ducks

Cormorant

Baby Catbird

Swallow

Wren