More birds in the Garden! Here's a shot of Megaceryle alcyon, the Belted Kingfisher. I've been trying to get a shot of this particular bird for weeks now but it remained stubbornly camera shy. I finally got this one of it perched on the glacial erratic joined by a Quiscalus quiscula, or Common Grackle.

Cardinalis cardinalis or the Northern Cardinal is seen here exhibiting some odd behavior. Because of the fact that it was perched on the ground and splaying its wings and tail in an odd fashion I thought it might be injured. When i walked closer to take a look the bird flew away and perched in a tree normally and without apparent discomfort. As a result I feel this bird was originally warming itself in the sun or possibly anting. Anting is a habit of many birds, and is known to be practiced infrequently by Cardinals, whereby the birds allow ants to crawl on their feathers and essentially attack them with acids. These acids can act as insecticide, miticide, fungicide, or bactericide for the birds. Occasionally some birds (mainly blue jays) will ant in an effort to get the ants to discharge their acid sacs rendering them more palatable to the jay!

These fellows are a common site on Fall Creek as they prefer to live in running water and are common in our area. These are female Mergus merganser americanus, or Common Mergansers. These narrow-billed diving ducks have toothed beaks which allow them to catch and hold their slippery fish prey.

I believe these fledgling Ardea herodias, or Great Blue Herons are the same one that were raised up at the Lab of Ornithology Nest. Four of them gangled around in the treetops along Fall Creek until my photographic intentions unfortunately caused them to fly on.