American Goldfinches and butterflies

This evening I headed to Southampton Village to check out the wildflower meadow that has been installed as part of a subdivision known as "Olde Towne" which is located just Southeast of the Southampton Hospital.  This meadow has been filled with thousands of container plants of native wildflower and grasses species which has created an oasis in the Village which is of course overrun with extensive lawns and non-native ornamentals.  It seems as though the birds and butterflies have made this place home as there was a significant flock of American Goldfinches present along with at least 5 species of butterflies, Cedar Waxwings and several species of Sparrow.

While Birds of Long Island has traditionally been dedicated solely to birds, I'm allowing a few butterflies to sneak in!

For more about our native Butterflies, check out this book:  Butterflies of New England (North Woods Naturalist Guides)

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:

Pine Siskins and Goldfinches everywhere

A visit this morning to the West End of Jones Beach Produced massive amounts of Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches (well, massive in comparison to everything else which was virtually non-existant).  This was my first time seeing/photographing Pine Siskins so I was quite pleased with the results... it's amazing how they and the American Goldfinches pick seeds out of the pines and munch away... unfortunately I did not find either species of Crossbill which I was really looking forward to finding (they had been reported the previous day) but did come across an Osprey on Ocean Bay Parkway not long after sunrise... Enjoy.

In then above photo, I had to fudge the sharpness on the lower siskin a bit... the bird was just a touch out of the focal plane.

The golfinches varied in plumage, with only a handful still holding onto the nice bright yellow, which I wasn't too successful in finding.

And one more goldfinch that was quite patient for me:

And lastly, an early morning Osprey (which should really get going down to Florida!)