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By stick the landing

The leap into the open space surrounding the nest is one step.
The next is to safely stick a landing.
This female osprey fledgling seemed as intent on watching my friends and I
as she was in making sure her feet were going to meet the branch at the right angle.
And, yes, she made a great landing!

WALK9138 08-28-16 @ 09-47-03 Ebenezer osprey fledgling

By carnivorous trumpets, 2 photos

In April and again in August, when I go to Lake Mattamuskeet, I slow down in one section of the road near the lake.
I am looking for my favorite patch of carnivorous plants to photograph.
In the first photo: the tall pitcher plants with yellow gold red-streaked hoods are trumpet pitcher plants and the hooded structures are hollow leaves that fill with water that traps insects that fall in. The pale solid green hooded leaves belong to a different pitcher species and I couldn’t identify it. What is neat about the first photo is the dark brown blossom that is at the lower left – that is the flower of the trumpet pitcher plant that has matured and is going to pop open and spread its seeds. In the second photo you can see the early trumpet pitcher plant blossom and get some idea between the two blossom photos of why this carnivorous plant is called “trumpet”.

WALK8965 08-24-16 @ 14-23-05 Mattamuskeet trumpets

WALK8969 08-24-16 @ 14-23-45 Mattamuskeet trumpets

By eye-ring update and my error…..

 

Ah, dear Friends,
As is my wont, I asked some of my birder friends to help me identify the bird I posted yesterday as a new life list bird, a blue-headed vireo.  Included in my inquires was a letter with the photo to the NC Museum of Natural History through their Ask a Naturalist program https://is.gd/KuSTMK.  I had studied my photo.  Studied the identification points in my Crossley Guide and Stokes Birds books.  I was pretty darn certain that the bird was a blue-headed vireo and so were the birder friends I had sent it to.  Alas, here is the reply from Dr. O’Shea at the Museum…and it appears that he was startled by the similarities of the bird to a blue-headed vireo.
“…Hi, although I had to do a double-take on this one, it is a Pine Warbler.  The broken eye-ring and “spectacled” look is exceptionally bright on this individual, but there is some variability in this species in the Fall, and for that reason it is one of the most confusing of the warblers at this time of year.  In general, the stocky shape, thick bill, lack of streaking, and the fact that it was with a flock of Pine Warblers also argue for the ID.  Hope this helps, Brian”  
 
Brian J. O’Shea, Ph.D.
Collections Manager for Ornithology
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
11 W. Jones St. Raleigh NC 27601
 
My apologies and back to the hunt for a true blue-headed vireo.
peace and grace and sheepish grin on my face,
doc ellen

By eye-ring…

I heard that a blue-headed vireo had been seen at Jordan Lake.
I didn’t even know there was such a vireo.
This morning I was photographing a mixed flock of palm, prairie and pine warblers.
There appeared in this busy flock of “yellow” birds a bird with a startling eye-ring –
hallmark of a vireo.
Another bird got added to my life list: blue-headed vireo.

WALK8163 08-22-16 @ 07-15-52 Ebenezer blue-headed vireo