Friday, July 04, 2008

Sightings Along the River


This is part of a public meadow that I like to walk in as often as possible for it is most always full of butterflies and skippers. And just beyond the edge of the meadow is the river. I always stop there on the riverbank, before I turn and head for home, and check the river for possible sightings of Common Mergansers, or maybe an Eagle, or Osprey flying overhead following the river's course. Sometimes I might see a Great Blue Heron. Today I was lucky for first I saw a female Common Merganser and her babies, and then when I looked upstream I saw a White-tailed Doe with two fawns feeding along the river's edge. No words are needed to describe the beauty of this sighting while they stood in the morning sunlight.

13 comments:

Rambling Woods said...

How did you tell the "common" from the "hooded" merganser? What a catch and the deer are too cute. There is a doe with 2 offspring that feed across the pond at night. Too cute..

me ann my camera said...

michelle:
The female Common Merganser has white on its throat and breast whereas the female Hooded doesn't have.

I was really thrilled to see the deer. It is my first sighting of a doe and it's young this season.

Glad that you enjoyed. Thanks for your note.

NW Nature Nut said...

Mama and babies, so cute!

Becky said...

What a really nice walk. We have mostly woods around here except the one creek behind our home. I wish there were more meadows to look for Butterflies.
Beautiful doe and fawns. I have yet to see any babies.

Geraldine said...

What fantastic nature photos Ann. Especially loved the one with the deer. Wonderful!

www.mypoeticpath.wordpress.com

Debbie said...

Gorgeous photos. What a wonderful walk.

Mary said...

That looks like a great place to go! The meadow is so pretty and the stream, too. No wonder you hang out there! I was in love with the Merganser picture....such cute little redheads.....but the deer are even more wonderful! Such beauty with the sunlight shining on them! Really beautiful post, Ann!

Rambling Woods said...

Thank you...on two occasions we've had hooded mergansers fish the pond a bit. I didn't get the best photos, but I was so excited to see them. Females, no males....

Becky and Gary..a stream might yield some dragon or damselflies...I like looking for them..I just posted about some pond damselflies.

Rambling Woods

Kingsdowner said...

Just lovely!

bobbie said...

So beautiful - all of them!

Mary said...

Love the new header shot! I'm surprised the deer didn't end up there :-)

Mo said...

I love seeing merganser chicks - they're so sweet. And as for the bambi shots! Gorgeous. It must have been really thrilling to see them.

Raven said...

Beautiful, beautiful photos. I love the kitty below even if he is an unwelcome visitor to your feeder. I'm one of those curmudgeon types who doesn't think people should let their cats out since they are not native to this continent and are actually an ecological threat of sorts. And they just don't need to be out killing when they are well fed in a home. Mutter, mutter. Anyway, beautiful photos all.