Aren’t all babies cute?

I had been going to Roosevelt Wetlands every few days to see if there were any black necked stilt babies. There had been several couples nesting across the pond so even if babies had hatched it might be hard to see them. On the first day of June I got lucky. There was one family with three little ones feeding not far from the trail. They are so cute when they are that little (aren’t all babies cute?). Both parents stayed close by as the little ones were running around exploring.

A little blue heron wandered a little too close to the area and one of the stilt parents flew towards him and did a few dive bombs. At first the blue heron was not going to move but eventually he headed a little farther away.

There was a moorhen family also feeding in the area and a few times the moorhen Mom tried to run off the baby stilts.

Across the pond I could see another stilt couple that were on eggs. They were nesting on a little spit of dirt in the pond and sadly I had heard a few days later that after a few days of rain the nest got flooded and lost. They usually nest before the summer rains but this couple must have started late.

A Coast Guard plane flies close by.

Swallow tail kites were seen everywhere including this morning.

A chilly morning at Fort Desoto

“I caught one this big” said the osprey as he landed on his nest.

Actually, he was bringing in sticks to spruce up the nest.

It’s amazing what you see when you are standing around waiting for baby birds to wake up. This Prairie warbler flew right in front of me.

Turning around, the coast guard was sitting right off the beach.

I eventually got tired of waiting for the baby birds to wake up and headed over to North beach to see what was over there (I don’t have a lot of attention span and was also trying to get some exercise so I needed to keep walking). All of the usual birds were there.

On the fishing pier, Harry the hybrid (great blue heron x great egret) was having a scratch.

It was a beautiful morning in late February.

Not many people out early in the morning (just us photogs) and it was a little chilly.

SkyWatch Friday

More from the Boston harbor

Built in 1936, this historic lighthouse boat was renovated and was up for sale earlier this year for only $5M. We didn’t hear if it sold.

Views from the northern end of the harbor include the USS Constitution ship build in 1797. It’s docked at the former Charlestown Navy Yard and you can tour it but we never made it over there (gotta save something for the next trip). It’s exactly what I pictured would be sitting in the harbor here.

Bright yellow leaves in front of the North End.

Another view from the back of the boat.

A view heading into Charlestown from our trolley tour.