Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
    • what I do and how much I charge
    • tales of the Earth Life Foundation
    • American lotus
  • art & stories
    • black horses
    • Sea Ponies of Chincoteague
    • Just Animals
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • Assateague ponies
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • just animals: photography
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • That Darn Elf, a musing or two
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • Following Raven
      • The Merrow's Cap >
        • Merrows Cap credits
      • Manannan's Horses
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
        • black panthers and night furies
        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
          • Loth-LOL-ien >
            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
        • catz and doges on fandom
        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • murals
    • scribblings
    • coloring pages
  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • A Beginner's Guide to the islands
    • back to the islands 2021 >
      • Ponies 2021
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague Carousel
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • customizing riders and other characters
    • Wonder Horse repaint
    • Rich Toy hobby horse rehab
    • photo your toys >
      • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
      • welcome to Hawk Circle: telling stories with model horse photography >
        • more Hawk Circle
        • take your models to the beach
      • Lokigator and Throg's Epic Adventure
      • Sam and Bucky's Excellent Adventure
      • Mando and Grogu
      • paint and wet snow pants
      • Legolas and Hwin, snow
      • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
      • wild Breyers >
        • printable prints and downloads
        • water horses
        • beach Breyers
        • Lotus Legolas and Arod
        • teeny tiny Breyers
        • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
        • vintage breyers
        • Hartland Horses
        • Black Horses
      • educational display
      • Schleich and Safari Faeries
      • North beached
      • more model horses
      • beach party
      • advenatureData
      • Finding Hank
      • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
        • Hounded in Baskerville
      • how to photograph your dragon
    • ModPodge rules
    • paint pours
    • flour salt clay
    • chalk paint
    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
    • autumn light
    • cats
    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
      • dogsledding: running on snow! >
        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • Planet fish tank
      • planet toadpool
      • Planet Pond
      • Under the Lake
      • Planet Stream
      • Planet River
      • Planet Marsh
      • Planet Ocean
      • Planet Water Bird >
        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
      • Planet turtle
      • Planet water snake
      • planet amphibian
    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • favorite good boats
      • some kayak videos
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
        • how to be a kayaking Gramma
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
      • Schooner Sultana 1768
      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • horseshoe crab spawn 2021
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • Santa, You're Doomed
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad

Planet Water Bird

...this way to egress...

It may have been Barnum and Bailey, or one of those vintage carnivals with a menagerie... a sign pointed the way to the egress, and folks thought it meant another interesting exotic beastie....

...no, it was the egress, the actual exit. Which caused them to have to come around and pay again to see the rest of the exhibit.

Here you will find no tricky exits, only a celebration of Planet Water Bird. Photos shot over the kayak's bow, and on foot on islands and wetlands.
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Laughing gull photobombs feeding snowy egret on Chincoteague Island VA.
BEACH PARTY
Lake Marburg, Codorus State Park PA

 One doesn't think of vultures as water birds, but I have seen black vultures hanging out on the beaches of a local lake, and the Sassafras river MD. I only recently witnessed them actually wading and bathing, though a wildlife rehabber friend who worked at Codorus and worked with birds of prey mentioned the black vultures who used to come bathe in her swimming pool. I worked with a black vulture named Khan, a lecture bird for another wildlife rehabber. BVs are clever, funny, curious, and social. The scientific name means raven culture and it fits.

BVs are recognizably different rom turkey vultures: TVs also have black heads when they are juveniles, but fly with a shallow V while BVs fly more flat. TVs are browner, and the entire line of flight feathers is silvery, while only the "fingers" of a BV's wing is silver.

spotted sandpiper, Lake Marburg
snowy egret
The maniacal little snowy egret is a hoot to watch hunt. It runs about, spreading its wings, dabbling its bright yellow "slippers" and generally looking frantic. It's plumes once adorned ladies hats, to the detriment of the egret. Now recovered and protected, snowies abound on Assateague, Chincoteague and other healthy wetlands and marshes. 

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Egret/id
great egret
Unmistakable, big white bird, loves lakeshores, rivers, and salt marshes. The Snowy egret is smaller and has yellow feet and a black bill. Great egrets' hunting style is more tai chi, where the snowy is more frantic. Kiwanis lake in York PA is an Important Bird Area; three species of herons nest there IN the city: black crowned night herons, yellow crowned night herons, and great egrets. Like snowies, great egrets were once hunted for their breeding plumes.

http://www.yorkaudubon.org/kiwanislakeIBA/index.html

more here:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Egret/lifehistory
  • The Great Egret is the symbol of the National Audubon Society, one of the oldest environmental organizations in North America. Audubon was founded to protect birds from being killed for their feathers.
Picture
semi palmated sandpiper
Here at Slaughter Beach DE, during the great horseshoe crab spawning in May. They are about the size of a sparrow or a wee bit bigger, but not nearly as big as the sanderlings I see on the shores of Assateague Island. Lke most "peep" sandpipers, they scuttle like manic windup toys along the edge of the surf, poking like sewing machines in the sand. These guys have partially webbed toes.
Gulls
...so ubiquitous they got their own page...click pic below...
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black crowned night heron
Black crowned and yellow crowned night herons are seen around our lakeshores, generally late in the evening. I've also caught glimpses of them in salt marshes. This one was at Lake Redman. This is the most widespread heron in the world. 

more here:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-crowned_Night-Heron/lifehistory
green heron
I see these along wooded lakeshores, like Pinchot, they hide in the bushes and stalk the branches. You can get quite close before they tiptoe back into the bush. the one on the bottom was spotted in a shallow backwater of the Susquehanna River. This is one of the world's few tool-using birds.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/green_heron/lifehistory
great blue heron
This magnificent bird leaves no doubt in our minds that his ancestors were dinosaurs. When startled, he lets out a krAAAAAAAAck! worthy of the best sound effects techie in Jurassic Park. No confusing the great blue with any other heron. From a distance his coloring blends in with the lake shores and marshes he loves. I've also seen one stalking mice in our tall grass pasture. Bottom row, an immature great blue in winter on Assateague Island VA.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Blue_Heron/id
Great blue heron tracks in sand at river's edge...
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My ample foot next to a Great Blue at the DuPont Nature Center DE
little blue heron, Chincoteague Bay
tri colored heron, Chincoteague
oystercatcher, Chincoteague
white ibis, Chincoteague
common grackle & boat tailed grackle
This songbird often hangs out at the edges of streams and fishes, though Cornell's id page for grackle doesn't mention this (I've seen it many times, and the one below is clearly fishing the edges of Lake Marburg for something). Grackle has a longer tail than the non-native (invasive) starling and a golden eye. I've followed the tracks of the boat-tailed grackle on Assateague beach, walking, just walking, over the dunes and down the beach. Maybe looking for ghost crabs or other small invertebrates on the beach. 

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boat-tailed_Grackle/id
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Grackle/id
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boat tailed grackle at Slaughter Beach DE, on the Delaware Bay
osprey
Fairly tolerant of kayakers and other passersby, ospreys still require a zoom lens to capture. Below: Lake Marburg, Eastern Neck Island and Rock Hall MD. Osprey cams are easy to find on the web, fun to watch the kids grow up.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Osprey/id

and the local osprey cam: http://www.chesapeakeconservancy.org/Osprey-Cam
brown pelican
The first time I saw a line of pelicans soaring over the waves off Assateague's beach, I thought "Who let the pterodactyls out?" Technically, more closely related to dinosaurs than pterodactyls are, the last scene of Jurassic Park shows a line of brown pelicans flapping over the waves. They arrived on Assateague sometime after I began going there in the late 70s and 80s.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/brown_pelican/id

more on America's most haunted lighthouse (Point Lookout): http://www.ptlookoutlighthouse.com/
Brown Pelicans in Chincoteague Bay VA
Brown pelicans at Point Lookout on the Chesapeake Bay...
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bald eagle
When I was a kid in the 60s, you never saw eagles. Now they've rebounded so successfully that I nearly always see one when kayaking anywhere from York County PA through the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. Below, an immature bald eagle hangs out on a snag on the Susquehanna River. They go through various stages of brown to splotchy plumage before getting the white head and tail at 5 to 6 years old.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/id

Conowingo eagle facebook (a local hotspot for photographers, because eagles congregate there in winter): 
https://www.facebook.com/ConowingoBaldEagles


our local eagle cam, near Lake Marburg: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1592549&mode=2

a guide to the varying plumage of different aged eagles: http://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2013/01/27/a-guide-to-aging-bald-eagles/
American coot
Yes, it's a thing, a real bird, not just an epithet.
​Ducklike, but recognizable by the white bill. A bit shy about the camera.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id
swallows
Often cliff swallows, swoop and dive over open water hunting bugs.
​Often nest in clever mud-spit houses up under bridges.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tree_Swallow/id     http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cliff_Swallow/id


below: tree swallow on snag on the Susquehanna River
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Cliff swallows zoom in and out of mud nest on the underside of a bridge at Lake Marburg. I had to shoot these with my mighty fine Nikon Coolpix L100, while sitting in a kayak in bumpy water, so there.
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Canada geese
Once migratory, now year round residents of most of our lakes and rivers. Some parks have taken to using various tricks to keep them and their gigantic poop off beaches. Still awesome. The cries of wild geese in flight sound like hunting hounds: tapping into legends of the Wild Hunt in fall.

more here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/canada_goose/id
and this
The clever and adaptable crow is right at home on Assateague beach's parking lot. He's omnivorous, so a few cheetos are fair game. Still, pack it in, pack it out, don't leave your (possibly hazardous) leftovers for the birds.
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