Juvenile Bald Eagle

A Bald Eagle shows off it's massive wings in flight

This morning as I turned onto Rt. 104 at the intersection of Pleasure Drive (just North of Sunrise Highway) in Flanders I saw a large raptor perched upon a telephone pole.  I turned north onto Rt. 104 and pulled over to get a better look and take my camera out - unfortunately the bird flushed after I had sat there for a minute or so but was rather lazily flying and I was able to photograph it.  In the image directly below you can see a fish in its talons that it had been eating.  This is only the second Bald Eagle I've seen on Long Island in the past 3 years (both juveniles) so it was a nice start to my morning.  While I was almost positive it was  Bald Eagle - I never see them and wanted to be sure I wasn't mistaking it for something else.  Fortunately I just received my copy of Jerry Liguori's Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors which provided me visual evidence I needed to be positive that's what I had seen and photographed.  This book is a great resource and different than any other raptor ID book - plus it's a ridiculous value.

If you look close you can see the fish in the talons

I was pleasantly surprised to find a Wood Duck pair on a small pond in East Quogue on the North side of Montauk Hwy.  But, wood ducks being wood ducks, they didn't want to get too close even though I remained in my car.

Always a nice sight to see

Dune Rd. was very slow despite having a low tide.  Two Killdeer were seen feeding and on my return trip West I also found 2 Great Egrets.

I usually find these birds in fields - not along the water

This bird is ready to breed with those long plumes and green facial patch

EPCAL was full of Kestrels but not much else - I'm looking forward to when the Bluebirds and Swallows are breeding so there is a little more activity up there since you can't get anywhere near Kestrels most of the time.

One of a dozen Kestrels at EPCAL

Morning Migrants

An American Kestrel waits for the sun to peak back out

This morning I set out at sunrise to see what was around on the day before Spring.  I started at EPCAL since Low Tide wasn't due at Dune Rd. until the afternoon.  When I got on the runways a little after 7 I saw two bright white birds flying overhead and the photo below confirmed my suspicions that they were Great Egrets (moving northwest) which are the first of the season that I've seen.  I was hoping to spot some Eastern Bluebirds but was shut out - the same can't be said for Eastern Meadowlarks which were busy calling for mates and a couple of Horned Larks that are still hanging around.  On the Eastern runway a Savannah Sparrow was signing atop a small shrub.

A welcome sight to see the day before Spring

Turkeys are always a nice species to note at EPCAL:

It's amazing how skittish this species remains

This is easily the closest I've been to a Horned Lark and it gave me a pretty clear shot:

Horned Lark scavenging for food

A Savannah Sparrow was seen singing

On the raptor front were at least 7 American Kestrels busy hunting and hanging out.  I did not see a "pair" like I did in my previous post, but females and males were both present.  A few Northern harriers were lazily hunting over the grasses and a Red-tailed Hawk was also spotted - but Rough-legged hawks were unfortunately absent.

Just hanging out on a Rose bush along the Eastern runway

When I got to Dune Rd. I was disappointed to not spot any wading birds but after waiting around for a bit these American Oystercatchers showed up just east of the Ponquogue Bridge.  Aside from that things were very slow.  My backyard, however, has played host to American Goldfinches all morning which is always a nice treat - too bad they are so camera shy.

A pair of Oystercatchers hunting along their new territory

If you're like me and have a real love of raptors big and small - then you'll want to pick up a copy of Jerry Liguori's latest title Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors which features one of my Gyrfalcon photos.

Winter Snipe

This afternoon after leaving a Dr. appointment I headed to Dune Rd. in hopes of utilizing the fresh snow.  Not spotting any Bitterns I was ready to leave when a Wilson's Snipe flew into a little watering hole (the same location I photographed the previous Wilson's Snipe).  I would have preferred it to have been a little closer or had a better angle but was pleased to get it with the snow and ice.

 Trying a new spot:

 Moving around:

Great Blue Heron's beautiful birds and can be quite elegant - but they are so ubiquitous (as heron's go) that they have been photographed to death and I almost always pass on photographing them (especially because their prey around here consist almost exclusively of small fish which doesn't make for a terribly interesting photo).  But, when the conditions are right like this afternoon, I'll happily shoot away!  

Searching for a fish:

In hot pursuit:

This is just a throw-in shot obviously a massive crop.  I saw this Peregrine blazing from West to East until it perched on this pole.  Another Peregrine was in the immediate area and continued East with this bird following.