Sunday, October 23, 2011

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher


Yesterday morning was filled with Yellow-Rumped Warblers everywhere on the West End of Jones Beach.  I had some success with raptors, watching as Merlins chased anything and everything including Sharp-shinned Hawks.  I headed home early since the diversity of birds was low but got an e-mail on my phone as I neared Captree announcing the presence of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  Pulling into the parking lot revealed a big group of people and I saw the bird flying from perch to perch.  After spending some time trying to get a decent shot, I called it a day for good and passed on trying to locate the Yellow-Headed Blackbird that was still around.


Yellow-Rumped Warbler:

The Hawks were incredibly fast yesterday but I was able to catch up with a few:


Merlins were the real instigators - too bad I wasn't quick enough to get this Merlin chasing the Sharpie:


If you want to see more beautiful images of raptors, heck out this incredible book by my friend Richard Ettlinger:




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