First Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret:
A trip on Friday to Montauk gave me my first Cattle Egret that I spotted along Montauk Hwy. feeding in a swollen marsh in Napeague.  This egret is almost in full breeding plumage - it's lacking the deep red on the bill and the purple around the eye and is somewhat of a rare site on Long Island.  While there were 5 individuals seen this week (this one included) they are not common, though they've been increasing over the past few decades as they expand their range north.

Harlequins:
Also out in Montauk were some gorgeous Harlequin Ducks in full breeding plumage - which I was not able to photograph earlier in the winter with the harlequins that were hanging around Hampton Bays.  One of the ducks was quite aggressive in chasing off this White-Winged Scoter for unknown reasons.  The male Harlequin would run across the water (see below) then when the Scoter dove, the Harlequin would follow suit.  Not quite sure what the Harlequin was going to do if it actually caught the Scoter but it was amusing to watch.

Shu Swamp:
A trip to Shu Swamp in pursuit of Owls left me disappointed - but I did see a few Wood Ducks which are a secretive species and flush easily.  This pair flew onto this tree branch and were hanging out in the late afternoon sun.  Wood Ducks are an interesting species as they nest in the cavities of trees - sometimes at significant distances from the water.  Once the young hatch they jump (fall) out of the tree and march to the water with their parents.

Others:
On Thursday I went out on a boat with the USFWS to an island we were doing habitat restoration on.  The boat was docked at Wertheim federal wildlife refuge and a long trip down the Carman's River to Moriches Bay provided some good photographing opportunities:

Unfortunately I clipped the top of the wing on this action shot of a Double Crested Cormorant:

The Carman's River was full of Osprey and I was able to get pretty close to this one as it flew overhead in search of fish:

EPCAL Evening:
I ended my day with a trip to EPCAL where the Kestrels were somewhat cooperative and I added a new bird to my files, the Horned Lark (notice the "horns" on the head):

I spotted this female Northern Harrier along the taxiway which posed before taking off - I like how the side-lighting splits the bird in half:

This Eastern Meadowlark gave me a pose similar to the American Kestrel above:

As I was leaving I noticed a Killdeer on the side of the road being lit up by the setting sun:

Harlequin Ducks!

I started the morning out with hopes of seeing the Snowy Owl again but knowing that was unlikely as it probably continued to move North once the sun rose.  There also had been a report of 2 Harlequin Ducks right along the jetty and some Purple Sandpipers which I had only seen in Montauk.  After hopelessly searching the dunes and the beach for the Snowy Owl I arrived at the inlet hoping the Ducks wouldn't be all the way on the West side.  As I approached the rocks, I spotted a Harlequin right in front of me - I couldn't believe how close it was.  The challenge in the morning, however, was the light was in the West so I had to get the right angle on the birds to get good exposure and detail which proved quite difficult but I still got some good shots:

  

After running some errands and spending some time at home I was back out at the inlet hoping the Harlequins would be in the same place which would allow for the beautiful late afternoon light to really show the birds off well and as soon as I arrived the ducks were there putting on a great show.  It's my hypothesis that they have little to no fear of humans because they spend their summers in Mountain streams in Canada and never experience humans.  If these ducks were mergansers or scoters or eiders they would never come within 100 feet of me - let alone the 10 feet that these birds ventured to.  I think their days are numbered as its starting to get warm and they are probably itching to get back to Canada but I'm happy to have experienced them so close today.  

Snowy Surprise

Kinglet
On Saturday I met up at Quogue Wildlife Refuge with Charlie VanTassel who was in town visiting relatives.  He is an accomplished and talented photographer residing in San Diego and a real nice guy.  A gallery of his more recent photography can be seen here: Charlie VanTassel Photography  Even though the temps were hitting the low 50s for the first time since November, the birds were few and far between.  Charlie did spot some Golden Crowned Kinglets (below) that I would have walked right past.  He didn't believe me on the ID, but I was 90% sure due to the very small size and of course, the golden crown.  I guess they look and behave a bit more different on the West coast.

Harriers
The next stop was Dune Rd. in pursuit of Harlequin Ducks and Northern Harriers and anything else we could stumble upon.  The inlet was quiet with some expected pelagics hanging out (Loons, Mergansers, Eiders).  I thought I had spotted 2 Harlequin Ducks across the inlet but I couldn't get a positive ID so we moved on.  After stopping for a Great Blue Heron we looked up and noticed a Northern Harrier.  I was able to move to a parking lot and get the bird banking but neither of us could pull off a good shot.  Further down the road we spotted another Harrier and again played the waiting game.  Charlie was right in that the bird was going to make a big loop, but it sneaked up on us and moved south before we could get a photo.  I was able to get this habitat shot after it had moved to the South side of the bay:

We made a stop in Quogue along the bay but it only provided some views of a Yellow-Rumped Warbler.  After Charlie treated me to lunch we parted ways and I gave Dune Rd. one more shot on my way home and it certainly paid off.  I was getting ready to write the afternoon off when I spotted something light and raptor shaped - it was just a glimpse and for all I knew it could have been a plastic bag.  I parked and climbed the dune slowly knowing that if it were a harrier it would probably flush right away but once I got the bird in my sight, its piercing yellow eyes made it apparent that it was the rare and elusive Snowy Owl.  This photo is what I first saw:

I've only seen a Snowy Owl once before, about 2 miles East of the location I found this one at, in December of 2008.  I knew (or assumed) from that experience that Snowy Owls don't flush easily and are rather tolerable of human presence, so I knew I could get fairly close if I could find away around the heavy vegetation.  Just to the west there was a small deer path through the thick bayberry shrubs and as I came around the dune, the Snowy turned its head and locked its big eyes on me.  It actually was a bit of a challenge to get good shots with the eyes as it spent most of its time ignoring me, tucking its head into its feathers and trying to get some rest.

I texted one of my bosses who has a great appreciation for birds as there was still more than an hour left of sunshine and thought he would be interested in seeing it.  Turns out he was out on Dune Rd. for a drive with his family and 10 minutes later we were all admiring the beauty of this bird - even his 2 year old son got in on the action.  After an hour I had to get going, which was unfortunate as the light was only going to get better, but I was thrilled to have gotten so close to this species and to have seen one at all.  So far as I understand this was only the 4th or 5th Snowy Owl seen on Long Island this season (a very low number) and based on the date and weather conditions it is likely this was a bird moving back to Canada from New Jersey or somewhere similar.  It's a shame that Charlie wasn't able to experience this, as Snowy Owls don't exactly hang out in San Diego, but (fortunately) he wasn't too broken up about it.

Harlequin Ducks and the Great Comorant

Great Cormorant:
When I got back from my Owl adventure, I checked the listserv to see what I "missed out" on by going upstate (again, there are no guarantees when it comes to wildlife photography, so even if I had stayed back I may not have seen what others did).  Two species which were new to me were spotted, the Harlequin Ducks (which I didn't spot when I scanned the inlet that morning) and some Great Cormorants (which MAY have been there, but I wasn't looking for them).  With those birds in mind, I headed out to the inlet in mid-morning (when the Harlequin's had been seen) and was happy to find some birders and another photographer present at the jetty.  They pointed me in the general direction of the birds, but I couldn't find them with my camera (probably because of their diminutive size).  I was also pointed in the direction of a juvenile (note the white on the breast) Great Cormorant perched on the lightpole at the end of the jetty which gave me a good flight shot (see below).  The Great Cormorant is the bigger cousin of the Double-Crested Cormorant and is quite rare in these parts - often times staying offshore with Long Island being the southern extreme of their winter range.  After searching for the ducks I decided to take a risk and drive to the other side of the inlet (about 20 miles roundtrip, 1000 feet as the crow flies [no pun intended]) in hopes of getting Harlequin shots.  There were quite a large number of Bonaparte's Gulls along the Eastern jetty which would have provided a good photo-op anyway so I would be content with that as a consolation prize.  

American Crow Feeding:
When I reached the other side I began my mile long round-trip hike through the snow and sand I noticed 2 American Crows eating the scraps of something.  I've never actually gotten a successful photo of this species because the exposure is so difficult (pure black with almost always a light background) but I wanted to give it a try.  So I positioned myself between the sun (or what remnants of the sun there were, as it was very overcast) and knelt down to get a good angle.  The crows were eating but kept a good eye on me (they are often times bullies, but will vacate their food if a larger animal comes along) and eventually took off. I had to dial in quite a bit of exposure compensation as the camera tried (incorrectly) will try to compensate for the vast areas of white, often rendering snow grey.  Unfortunately I didn't get the exposure spot on and had to bump my 'recovery' to 100% in Adobe Camera Raw to get some detail in the snow back.  After the Crows left, I inspected their prey and concluded their midday meal was a Common Eider Drake.  

Harlequin Ducks!
After my American Crow adventure, I realized that all of the Bonies were gone.  In about 30 minutes they ALL disappeared from the inlet.  This was rather disappointing as I was weary of seeing/photographing the Harlequins and now my consolation prize was gone. As I walked down the jetty I admired the seals that kept popping up for air, looking at my wondering what the heck I was.  I admire them for their enthusiasm even during the cold nasty days of winter.  As I got to the end of the jetty, I finally found my prize.  Four Harlequins amongst some much larger Common Eider.  I don't know why I thought the ducks would be larger, but I was quite surprised to see how small they were in comparison.  In my excitement (and caution in navigating the icy/wet jetty) I missed the focus on many photos and left rather disappointed.  As I tried to get in a better position, the gulls resting on the jetty around me screwed me as usual.  I cannot believe how many times Gulls will scare off my photography subject because they all decide to fly at once when there is no real threat.  Due to the lighting I was unable to get a good flight shot off (which is a true shame as they were SO close to me) and I didn't know they were about to take off, until the gulls spooked. The flight shot seen below was taken at a very slow shutter speed (SS) 1/250s and my exposure compensation was unfortunately set to +1 when -.33 would have served me better and provided for a quicker SS.  Before that, the Harlequins were truly indifferent to me (again, another possible example of birds seeing humans for their first time as they travel down south for the winter) but with everything else flying away, they figured they better get out of there and flew BACK to the West jetty where I had started.