Black-necked Stilt searchng for a meal in the Shearness Pool at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, DE back on 8-16-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site athttp://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Black-necked Stilts visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

This is a derivative work based upon a Great Egret shot I took at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge back on 8-16-2009 and the following elements.

A Creative Commons photo from Flickr user “Steve Took it” formed the basis of the background.
Several background texture layers purchased from Distressed Textures were blended in order to try and capture that morning break mood. The final work is being released under a Creative Commons license as a derivative work.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site athttp://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

A Red Fox Kit (young Fox) emerges from the forest shadow and walks out onto the wildlife drive at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, DE on Saturday afternoon. One of four Fox encounters I had during the day. These young ones have almost no fear of humans at all, which is seldom a good thing to see in a wild animal.

For more information on Foxes, visit this page.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

A Red Fox Kit walks the rotting catfish that the Mother Fox brought him, back to the den to share with the other Kits. I watched as the Mother Fox carried this enormous rotting catfish all the way down the wildlife drive around Raymond Pool. She would go for a hundred feet then sit the catfish down and pant for a little bit, then pick it up again and walk it another hundred feet. As she approached my car she sat the catfish down and made a soft call and within seconds, this kit came out of the grass and the catfish was exchanged. Off the kit ran with the catfish back to the den. The Mother turned back around and headed back to where she came on the search for more food. I feel unbelievably privileged to see family interactions in the wild like this. It’s good to see the Foxes finding their own food as opposed to relying on handouts and baiting from unscrupulous photographers as in past seasons. I’ll also never complain about getting a slightly overcooked fish fillet at Long John Silvers after seeing the fish these foxes end up having to eat.

For more information on Foxes, visit this page.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

UPDATE: Apparently this shot hit the front page of Explorer for a brief time. That’s a first for me. WooHoo !

I saw this Snapping Turtle on several different laps of the Raymond Pool loop at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. When I took this photo, he was on the move heading up road against traffic, oblivious to the one way signs. With his massive size and prehistoric looks, he reminded me of the 1960s era Japanese monster movie creatureGamera. I feared for toy train and miniature city layouts nearby.

For more information on Snapping Turtles, visit this page.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site athttp://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

Great Blue Heron stops for a rest during a preening session on the end of Bear Swamp. From my Saturday morning 4-10-2010 trip to the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, Delaware.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site athttp://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Blue Herons, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

A Great Egret takes short repositioning flight over Raymond Pool at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, Delaware back on 7-18-2009. When they have too much competition for fish in one area they will often fly a hundred feet or so and start fishing again. When you get a couple hundred Egrets in the same water body, it often takes on the look of an strange ballet or sorts.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

A Black-necked Stilt reaches for a tasty morsel of food in the Shearness Pool at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, DE on Saturday 7-18-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Black-necked Stilts visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

A Great Egret flies alongside a Glossy Ibis on their trip from Sheerness Pool towards the outer brackish marsh at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge outside of Smyrna, Delaware back on 8-1-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

A Great Blue Heron uses it’s long neck to reach out towards a fish in the water in front of him. From my 8-1-2009 trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, Delaware.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Blue Herons, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

A Great Egret comes in for a landing in a new section of Raymond Pool. Egrets were seen transferring spots over and over again all morning on this trip, some being pushed out of other areas by other Egrets and some just finding a new spot because they were not catching any fish where they were before. I shot this at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, Delaware on 8-16-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

This was one of the most determined and patient Great Egrets I have watched. He waited nearly twenty minutes in this position until the fish he was targeting came close enough to the surface that he could get him. I shot this at the Shearness pool at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, Delaware on 8-1-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

Great Blue Heron patiently waits for a fish to come close enough so that he can grab it and fulfill his nourishment needs. From my Sunday morning 8-16-2009 trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, Delaware.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Blue Herons, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

Four Great Egrets preen their feathers while standing on submerged tree stumps in Bear Swamp pool at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna, Delaware on 8-1-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

Another shot taken in daylight where the angle and the shutter speed blew out the background data in the RAW file leaving me with a nice subject isolation of this Great Blue Heron. I further darkened the background a bit using a Tiffen “Day for Night” filter from their Dfx filter collection for Photoshop and that really helped to highlight the isolation of the heron and its reflection. From my trip to National Wildlife Refuge near Smyrna, Delaware on Saturday 8-1-2009.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at http://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Blue Herons, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.