Backlog

A Whale of a Week:
I feel like it's been forever since I posted a photo on either of my blogs.  I have had a great week with one of my Whale photos (I don't just photograph birds!) being picked as "Photo of the Week" in the Fauna gallery on Nature Photographers Network - a huge honor as the competition is extremely stiff.  The photo and comments can be seen Here.  I also entered the same photo in a National Geographic Online competition called the 'Daily Dozen' where one of the photo editors selects 12 user submitted photos each day.  I have submitted 4 photos over the last 6 months and this is my second selection, so I'm doing pretty well.  Please vote for my photo by going here.  Unfortunately you have to vote for the first 41 to get to mine which is number 42, but it's worth the effort.  The winner gets published in next months National Geographic magazine.

Glossy Ibis:
On friday, after donating blood at work I was able to leave a bit early and even though the weather wasn't great I thought I'd try EPCAL and maybe get lucky.  When I turned onto Wading River Rd., just north of the LIE there I spotted a Glossy Ibis standing on a pile of compost on an adjacent farm field.  I knew that this species had been reported earlier in the week on the south side of the highway at the edge of a flooded field, but was a little surprised to find them here.  Aside from photographing them once before while they flew along Dune Rd., this was my first experience with them.

Egret with Dinner:
A trip down Dune Rd. yesterday got me this Great Egret with its catch.  I was pretty happy with this shot as I had no expectations and have been longing for a good photo of a heron/egret with prey in its mouth.  I had previously photographed a Great Egret with an eel it had caught (below) but the out of focus grasses keep it from being a really great photo.

EPCAL
Once again, the grasslands were packed with Kestrels.  Unfortunately, they once again proved to be very skittish.  The second photo below is from last week (the day of the Whale actually) where one let me get (reasonably) close.

Also from last week are these tree swallows.  It looks like they were arguing over decorating their new house:

A little later on I captured this Great Egret in flight:

American Oystercatchers:
One of my favorite birds for their goofy looks and funny antics is the American Oystercatcher.  I've always had trouble getting close to them but have been successful lately.  Here are a few shots.  The first is one taking a bath, and the second is an oystercatcher flexing its muscle after another pair flew nearby.

Lastly, a Willet was happy to get this crab for a snack: