Wild Delmarva

Macro photography can be challenging enough but this morning there was a touch of a breeze making this one-inch Buttonbush flower sway in the wind. In between puffs of wind a Bumblebee landed to gather pollen. The moment was brief as the bee buzzed away and the breeze returned.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Have you ever encountered a fly that you might actually like? Meet the Flower Fly. Also called a Syrphid Fly, this fly won’t bite you as they do not feed on blood and you won’t find them buzzing around things that smell bad. In fact, this colorful fly prefers things that tend to smell good like flowers. These insects are important pollinators, this one was busy working this morning on a Black-Eyed Susan (the state flower of Maryland).

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

This has to be a hard way to make a living. Black Skimmers drag their lower, knife-thin bill across the water trying to catch small fish, insects or crustaceans. Their unusual proportions and smooth, graceful flight make them one of my favorite birds to photograph and watch. Two Snowy Egrets, who prefer to wade and catch fish, are in the background.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

A Forster’s Tern dove down from high overhead and grabbed a little Pipefish just as a Snowy Egret was going for the same breakfast this morning.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Here is the first Roseate Spoonbill ever reported in Delaware. About two weeks ago this colorful pink bird – whose range normally would be along the Gulf coast from Texas to Florida – landed near Fenwick Island. Another was reported this week farther north along the Delaware Bay coast. This bird has been feeding in the salt marsh with Snowy and Great Egrets.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

A Great Blue Heron carries a still living, nearly grown juvenile Clapper Rail tonight just at sunset. The heron landed and then killed the rail by choking it and squeezing the body in its strong bill. Then the heron spent almost ten minutes trying to figure out how to swallow the whole rail.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Last week I photographed a family of young Skunks playing in a Sussex County, Delaware woods. This one is obviously oblivious to its precarious position.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

I last photographed this Royal Tern colony about seven days ago (some of the photographs are posted below). In just a week the chicks are about half-grown and now feathers have replaced their down. Terns continue to stream into the colony with fish to feed their hungry, rapidly growing chicks.

Photographs by Kevin Fleming

A Skunk kit climbs on a fallen tree. Skunks are omnivores eating plants, roots, berries, nuts, animals and insects. A rotting tree like this would offer a smörgåsbord of insects for a young Skunk. This little guy is only about two months old and its size will double or triple when an adult.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming

Even though its parent doesn’t have a fish to share, a Royal Tern chick begs for food.

Photograph by Kevin Fleming