Spring is here

I meant to do this blog post on Sunday but mother nature had other plans, knocking out my power for a few days, so here we are and it will be brief in words and heavy in photos.

Last week an acquaintance of mine photographed a Snowy Owl (2 days after I had photographed "mine") on the North Fork.  It wasn't too far away and the next morning was supposed to be gorgeous so I thought it would be worth a shot.  Well, no Snowy Owl, but I found a beautiful Sharp-Shinned Hawk along Pier Ave. in Jamesport and a Northern Mockingbird at a small pond:

When I arrived at work a Mockingbird was being loud as usual and posed for me:

Here is a Red-Winged Blackbird from last week which I didn't get around to posting.  They are quite difficult to expose, but I liked the X made by the 2 pieces of phragmites and the nice lighting/colors:

This evening after work yielded the first Osprey of the season.  It was the first Osprey that I spotted last season as well and was munching away on a fish.  I'm a bit concerned about the nesting platform as this weeks storm caused the metal base to curl up which certainly will inhibit building a nest.  These are big birds and it's amazing how large the platform is:

As the sun was setting I spotted some mergansers on the West side of Ponquogue Bridge and this one had an odd habit of scurrying across the surface instead of swimming or flying, the lighting made for a beautiful scene:

Almost immediately after this photo I turned around and saw 2 birds flying off the huge wireless tower at the Coast Guard Station in Hampton Bays and snapped some photos.  At first I thought Mourning Dove based on shape and popularity, but a quick look at the LCD showed me something far better:

The pair of Peregrine Falcons flew south toward the ocean and I briefly thought about going back to that side to locate them but the sun was getting low and I still needed to run over the bridge and back.  After I returned from my run, I got in my car and was about to pull onto the road when I saw a dark bird shoot down toward the water then loop back up and down again before flying right over my head and landing on the big tower next to me.  One of the peregrines had returned.  Hopefully this means it is a nesting pair and they will set up on the Tower or the Bridge which is oddly their preferred habitat.  I'm not sure on this - but I'm venturing it will be the first nesting pair in Southampton Town in a very very long time.  I hope I'm not getting ahead of myself.

A Little Bit of Everything

Saturday:
Yesterday was a beautiful late winter day but was rather light on photography subjects.  Low tide (which is best for finding and shooting wading most species along Dune Rd.) is very early in the morning and very late in the afternoon and I was unable to take advantage of either.  I did some wandering along the shoreline of Shinnecock Bay in East Quogue and picked up the Song Sparrow and Double-Crested (DC) Cormorant seen below.  Additionally, I had a flock of house finches perched in a tree, but the angle and distance were too much for good photos.

Shinnecock Inlet:
I was up early this morning to take advantage of low tide and had some errands to run but Dune Rd. produced nothing so I had to head to the inlet to try and get some decent shots before an appointment.  While the Harlequin Ducks haven't been reported in about a week, I was hopeful for something unusual or rare to be hanging out in the relatively calm inlet - but only found some Common Loons.  I headed to the northern end got some close looks at (below) male and female Red-Breasted Mergansers (the most prevalent of the 3 merganser species on Long Island during the winter months) as well as a surprise sighting of a seal.  Notice on the photos of the Mergansers how far back the feet are (which aid in diving) and the serrated bill which is useful in holding onto prey caught at depths and in currents.  When I turned back toward the south I spotted 4 Brant foraging on algae along the rocks of the inlet.  This sighting was unique as Brant are almost always seen inside the bay and not the inlet or open ocean.  The Brant unfortunately spooked, but only flew a small distance with one of the Brant making an extra loop allowing me to get the photo seen below:

Points East:  

A little later in the morning I made my way out to Water Mill which has 2 locations that have historically produced good birds for me at a close distance.  My first location (along Mill Pond) has recently been iced over but I was excited to find it almost all open water - I was even more excited to find 2 Pied-Billed Grebes in the water which are an extremely secretive and shy bird.  The first one I spotted looked at my wearingly for a bit before swimming out of view, while the second (less than 10 yards away) slipped beneath the water for a second, popped back up a little closer, gave me the once-over and disappeared for good.  These birds, when threatened, simply dive beneath the surface and swim away underwater instead of flying off or trying to quickly scurry away, making them that more difficult to photograph.  The photo below is from the same location but back in early winter as I was essentially shutout on photos of this bird today.

My 2nd Water Mill local has also been iced over, but often times provides me with a wide variety of birds.  I have seen Wood-Ducks, Pied-Billed Grebes, Hooded Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, Buffle Heads, American Wigeon, American Coot, Green-Winged Teal, Sharp Shinned Hawk, Hooded Merganser and some of the easiest Mallard Flight Shots possible.  The only thing of interest however was a Hooded Merganser asleep on the ice at a good distance.  Hopefully when the birds start moving north again for Spring some more interest species will make an appearance.  Below is a shot of an American Coot from this location shot earlier in the winter:

Lake Agawan Surprise:
For the better part of the winter, a healthy number of Northern Shovelers have been seen at Olde Fort Pond in Southampton Village.  However, this pond iced over some time ago and I have not seen the birds since and have continued to wonder where they had moved too.  As I drove back West I took a drive down Pond Ln. in Southampton Village which takes you along the northwestern edge of the pond.  I know people feed ducks at this location and thought perhaps something interesting would be around and lo and behold, I found where the Shovelers had moved too.  Unfortunately for me, this location doesn't really afford a low angle as there is a fence around the ponds edge, and worse yet the angle of the sun was against me making it difficult to properly expose these birds and/or get nice lighting on their faces.  I made do with the conditions and am simply happy I was able to get this close to this unique species.

Dune Rd, Take II:
A return trip along Dune Rd. produced a Northern Harrier that was cooperative in that its flight pattern was predictable, but it of course was on the "wrong" side of Dune Rd. and was backlit the entire time.  I rolled the dice and setup at the eastern end of the Tiana Beach Parking Lot hoping it would follow the lines of the dune and pass right by me.  Well, it got relatively close but never what I had hoped for.  In addition, my AF wasn't working as well as I would have liked (one of the trade-offs of pairing a 300 f/4 lens with a 1.7X TC instead of a 1.4X TC which it was designed to be used with) but I still got a handful of acceptable photos of this nemesis species.

Eagles? Check! Owls? Well. . .

Shinnecock Inlet
I was off from work on Friday thanks to the birthday celebration of the fantastic President, Abe Lincoln.  Now, while the rest of the country is satisfied with combining Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into a "President's Day", my employer gives each former leader equal respect!  I began my very long day by rising early and shooting over to Shinnecock Inlet where 5 Harlequin Ducks had been reported the previous day.  While the weather conditions were perfect, the birds were no where to be found.  I know now that they WERE in fact there (albeit later in the morning) and I may have simply missed them as I had expected them to be larger in size than they really are (more on that in the next posting).  I photographed some Red-Breasted Mergansers (below) as well as a Black Scoter while searching for the uncommon ducks.  After 15 minutes of searching, I hopped in my car and headed to Syosset to pickup the rest of my crew (Vinny Pellegrino and the President of the Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society, Stella Miller) before heading to Croton-On-Hudson for Bald Eagles which had been reported as plentiful.

Croton Point Park
Let me preface the remaining photos with this:  These TECHNICALLY shouldn't be on this "blog" as they were not photographed on Long Island, but. . . they're close enough!

As soon as we got off Rt. 9 the first Baldie was spotted which was sure to set the tone for the rest of the morning.  When we got to Croton Point Park a few Bald Eagles were flying overhead but quite a ways away.  It was a nice mixture of Adults and Juveniles in the area, but the river was mostly free of ice so nothing was to be spotted on the ice floes.  While scanning for eagles, Vinny spotted an American Tree Sparrow in front of us that was nice enough to pose for me.  We next headed to the adjacent RR station where a Red-Headed Woodpecker had recently been seen as well as a flurry of Bald Eagles.

North Croton Harmon Train Station:

The parking lot of the train station was rather productive, with a multitude of duck species (redheads, mergansers, buffleheads, etc.) and a Cooper's Hawk cruising in the distance.  After a short wait, an adult Bald Eagle flew from the south and I got excited hoping it would give me a fly by but it quickly perched in a tree WAY far away and was content sitting there.  Another photographer had arrived but was as ill-equipped as I for photographing it.  He was also smoking, which I found a ironic since it kind of takes away from the natural experience when you are sucking on a cigarette. . . and I doubt he properly disposes of all of his butts, but I probably shouldn't make assumptions like that.  Aside from the WAY off Baldie (see the below, uncropped photo), I got some VERY close photos of a Song Sparrow that was more than curious:

Find the Bald Eagle!

  

Georges Island Park:

The next stop was Georges Island Park for more Bald Eagles.  As soon as we arrived there were two photographers who had spotted a juvie Baldie flying above (the first photo on this entry, see above) that was circling.  This was the best look that we got this morning and was certainly better than anything I'd gotten on Long Island where Bald Eagles are still fairly uncommon, however their numbers seem to be steadily increasing, especially this year.  Fair numbers of Adults and Juveniles have been spotted on the East End as well as the around the Carmans River and Forge River.  Perhaps it will only be so long before they begin nesting again as they did in the pre-DDT days.  Other than the aforementioned Eagle (which seemingly subsequently perched quite a distance away) there was a (tentatively ID'd) Red-Tailed Hawk that caused a some confusion between the 5 of us that were present there.  I was content calling it a Red-Tailed based on the barring on the chest combined with the white breast, as well as the brown head and shape.  Others were almost certain it was a juvie bald eagle, and were concerned with how dark it was for being a Red-Tailed (which, however, are HIGHLY variable in plumage), so here is the photo, cropped to 100% and you can be the judge.

Pelham Bay:

Now it was Owl time at Pelham Bay in the Bronx where Stella had been quite successful in her last 3 trips this winter, spotting Saw-Whet and Long Eared Owls and getting great looks at them at that.  We began by hiking into the Pine Grove area of Pelham Bay Park.  On our way there were quite a few birds including White-Breasted Nuthatches and White-Throated Sparrows.  Once we got into the Pine Groves we searched and searched but came up empty, however there were plenty of Downy Woodpeckers to keep me occupied, including this male (note the red on the head) I caught preening:

We checked two more nearby locations which had historically provided Owls to Stella and came up with nothing.  One location, it should be noted, was occupied by a Black Squirrel (apparently a common thing in the Bronx) which may have spooked the Saw-Whet.  While the trip didn't produce any Owls, it got me outside and I saw some things I wouldn't have seen in the Hamptons and you never know unless you go.  It also helps if you go with the "right equipment" as these folks did the very next day.  Guess I'll need to pickup a radio transmitter!

A Great Start to 2010

A Good First Sign
Happy New Year to you all.  I started my day at EPCAL in Calverton, with the hopes of seeing a Short Eared Owl which was spotted earlier in the week.  The weather was supposed to be partly cloudy by mid-morning, but it was dreary and cold when I drove around the former air base, not seeing anything.  Trying to make the most out of my morning, I figured I'd check up on the Guillemot as it's been a while since I'd last seen it and I was interested in getting some unique photos of it.  Driving along Sebonac Inlet Rd., I kept my eyes peeled for Bluebirds (which were spotted today again, but unfortunately not by me) and anything else of note, when I heard the unmistakable rattle of a Belted Kingfisher.  It was perched on an Eastern Cedar tree, and as I pulled over to try to photograph it, the female bird (the orange on the breast distinguishes it from the more plainly plumaged male) flew to a sign post, and then to leafless Tree-Of-Heaven, as seen below.  This photo has been a long time coming, as the Belted Kingfisher is one of my (and many photographers) nemisis, so I particularly appreciate the open beak.

Black Guillemot Continues
Bullshead Bay Inlet was placid, flat calm.  Not a hint of wind, but the skies were sadly still dim and overcast.  A few "birders" were down there searching Peconic Bay for the bird, but I knew better.  I parked where I had seen it recently, by the dilapidated bulkhead and set out on trying to put myself in a good position for photography.  I was able to nestle in against the bulkhead, between 2 breached areas which allowed for me to get nice and low and rest my arms and the camera lens on the bulkhead, stabilizing my shots.  The air was so quiet and still I could hear the Black Guillemot slip into the water each time it dived.  Since the light was terrible, I wouldn't be able to improve on the shots I already have gotten of this species, and with it constantly diving, I figured I should try and get some interesting Dive shots, which I was quite successful in doing.  I'm certainly not getting tired of watching this bird, and I hope you aren't either.

Shinnecock Inlet
A trip down to Shinnecock Inlet was sure to produce some Bonaparte's Gulls which I have never seen/photographed before.  This is one of the more attractive Gull species, with its pinkish legs/feet, black sideburns, and diminutive size.  The gulls were feeding in the middle of the inlet (a tease) so I focused on a herring gull that found a sea star to eat which made me quite happy.  Just the other day I had seen a shot (with much better lighting) of a gull with a sea star and thought "how come I never get to see something like that?", well, now I have.  A Bonaparte's Gull gave me a good fly-by (seen below) and there was plenty of activity.  The Bay was flush with hundreds of common Eider and 3 Eiders gave me a nice fly by.  Just when I was about to leave, I checked the NY Bird Listserv and saw a fantastic posting - a Snowy Owl had been spotted on the other side of the Inlet!  I scanned the other side (known as Shinnecock County Park East) and came up with nothing. . . until I noticed what appeared to be a seal hauled out on the rocks just on the north side of the park.  While I wasn't crazy about driving all the way back to Southampton (A 40 minute round-trip drive to get somewhere that was literally 1,000 ft. across the inlet, I had to take the chance and would possibly be rewarded with a Snowy Owl photo.

Seal, Yes.  Owl? Not so Much.
A Common Loon greeted me upon arrival, sitting quite close to the shoreline, while some Red-Breasted Mergansers were a bit more wary.  As I walked further West, what appears to be a Harbor Seal (though it could be a Harp Seal) was hanging out on the rocks, hauled out waiting for some sunshine to warm it up.  While it was a little nervous upon first seeing me, it quickly settled down as I sat still a ways away until it got used to me.  Just when I was about to make a move a few feet toward the water to get some more photographs (I had only taken 3) a truck came rumbling by, keen on seeing the same thing I was looking at, which promptly scared the seal into the water. . . Quite a few seals however were coming up for air in the inlet on the Eastern Side, keeping there eyes and interest on me, but nothing too great, and the lighting was pretty bad so I just watched the Bonaparte's divebomb the water as if they were terns.  As I left, I debated walking South to the ocean and scanning the dunes and snags in hopes of seeing the snowy, but I figured I would have seen it by now, so I headed back to the bay side and watched the seal who had been scared off swam about 3 feet from the shoreline debating if it should haul out again or not (it didn't).  As I write this, I see a report that the Snowy Owl was still present at 3:15, about an hour and change after I left.  I need to stop being so lazy when it comes to this. . . Hopefully the bird will be there tomorrow.  Here's a shot from December 1, 2008 of a Snowy Owl (my first and only encounter) at Rd. I on the West Side of the Shinnecock Inlet.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow (and the rest of the year) brings!

And a few more images from today:

 A Herring Gull with its hard-won meal

Three Common Eider Drakes.  The first 2 are in "Eclipse" plumage while the last one is in Breeding Plumage 

Black Guillemot with picture perfect diving form

And now showing off the red legs - Notice how far back they are set on the bird.