Cold and Quiet Morning

After witnessing a beautiful sunrise and photographing some Red-Throated Loons (above), I started my morning in Amagansett in pursuit of some Greater White-fronted Geese and a Cackling Goose that had been seen in recent weeks.  I came up empty-handed but thought I'd find them on Hook Pond were they also had been spotted... once again without any luck.  I did find this Pheasant (below) that played cat and mouse in the light and only let me get off this 1/2 decent shot.  After leaving the Pond and heading West, I came across some Ruddy Ducks in Water Mill and a little action at the Shinnecock Inlet including a Merlin with some recently snagged prey (dead birds ID unknown) who decided it was best to eat breakfast on the East side of the inlet away from me I guess.  The day ended along Red Creek Rd. when I spotted some Guinea Hens awkwardly hanging out on the railing of a vacant house.

Here is the Ruddy shining in the morning light:

At Shinnecock Inlet I was surprised to see a small bird blazing across the sky and thought it must be a type of falcon... luckily it banked and turned back to the east from whence it came and streaked in front of me (which also meant in front of my sunlight resulting in a woefully underexposed image).

While most of the Common Eiders present at the inlet moved west once they saw me on the rocks, this one was too busy diving for food to notice it's friends had moved on:

Moving alone Dune Rd. in hopes of finding a Short Eared Owl that had been spotted the previous day by John Turner, I had to settle for this late Great Egret which will almost certainly perish this winter in the cold brutal north.

And lastly, these Guinea Hens provided a bit of amusement this morning as I drove past a vacant house on Red Creek Rd. next to Squiretown Park.  They sure have an endearing face don't they?

All lined up with no where to go...

Cave Swallows

Sorry for the delay in posting these images but things obviously have been busy with the Holiday...  I was lucky enough to run into some knowledgable and friendly birders on Thanksgiving morning (Stella Miller in particular) who  pointed me in the right direction to find some cave swallows.  For those of you who don't know much about the cave swallow (as I didn't a week ago) it is a small swallow that lives in Mexico and the Caribbean with two races entering the US at the southern tip of Florida and South Texas.  Every fall, a scattering of these birds seem to get over-anxious and fly all the way North to our area.

After not seeing any for about 30 minutes I had 3 flying all around me... it was quite the scene.  With some patience I was able to photograph one that landed quite nearby... unfortunately the lighting was horrendous and it was more or less sleeting at the time (which I'm sure the cave swallow wasn't too excited about!) so the quality is less than stellar.  I was also "fortunate" enough to see a Common Redpoll which was originally spotted by others, but was unable to get it in a nice perch for a photograph.  The Northern Shrike once again eluded me and the Ash-throated flycatcher which originally drew me to Jones Beach was not re-found.  As evidenced immediately below, I obviously didn't do too well with the flight shots...

And one more on the ground (too bad about the blade of grass in the way!):

American Goldfinches

As often happens... I went from having virtually no usable images of a species to having more than I can sort through... this time the bird is the American Goldfinch.  Just last weekend I had my first real encounter with flocks of these birds moving through the West End of Jones Beach and today I repeated that experience.  The birds didn't seem to mind my close approach and were happy to feed away.  Once again the hope was that some crossbills would show their face but I didn't come across any... I also struck out on the northern Shrike which was seen today (just not by me).

And let's throw in one more:

Prior to running into the Goldfinches I had to settle for some more common species, such as this Northern Mockingbird:

That was followed up by this American Crow which is a surprisingly difficult species to photograph (especially with proper exposure because of those black feathers)

The day was rounded out by a few species that aren't terribly exciting but I was happy to see anyway.... a red-breasted nuthatch that was often heard today but not seen...

After leaving Jones Beach I headed to Lake Orowoc in Islip (next to the McDonalds) hoping for some redheaded ducks which unfortunately did not come close to visit, so I had to settle for this.  I'm sure I will get better chances this winter: