Marbled Godwits

This afternoon I took a trip to the Cupsogue flats which I have not visited since last year.  Marbled Godwits have been reported regularly there but I've never had the chance to photograph them at Cupsogue (or any other location they happen to be at on Long Island during the end of summer/beginning of fall).  It took a bit of searching to find birds (any birds that weren't gulls that is) and after scanning through the crowd all I had were a lot of Black-bellied plovers and some Skimmers.  A raptor must have flown over because all of the birds took off and settled down in different spots with the Skimmers heading to the north on the fringe of some exposed sand.  When I began heading toward them I noticed a few birds a little further off in the water and as luck would have it, they were the Godwits I was after.

Now the hard part was getting close - There was no cover aside from two small patches of saltmarsh cordgrass, so I employed patience and my "stealth" skills to get right up on the birds.

Other birds this afternoon included the Snowy Egret:

Laughing Gull:

Common Tern juvenile which was still dependent on its parent for food (seemingly getting a little late for that behavior):

What I believe to be a Forster's Tern:

A Royal Tern was in the mix as well:

After looking at the photos I noticed the leg band.  Here is a major crop showing the numbers.  If anyone can make sense out of this let me know please:

These Eastern Willets in non-breeding plumage (with Godwits in the background):

If you like birds as much as I do (or even a little bit) you will love this book by New York's own Luke Dempsey entitled: A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All

Shooting from a Kayak

I recently acquired a kayak and have been keen to use it in the evenings around the Flanders Bay / Gooseneck Creek area but lately the gnats have seriously inhibited the enjoyment factor.  This evening was nice and warm with a steady breeze that kept the bugs at bay and allowed me to get out and find some birds.

Along the shoreline were Ruddy Turnstones, Semi-palmated Sandpipers, American Oystercatchers, a Piping Plover and several Saltmarsh sparrows.  Unfortunately not all of the birds were cooperative, but there is always tomorrow.

Another angle:

Even a pair of Mallards and Swans were hanging around. . .

One of the Swans:

Speaking of birds that don't cooperate, this afternoon I checked out a colony of Bank Swallows in, of all places, the middle of the island - Farmingville to be exact.   One of my co-workers had done an inspection in the area and noticed the Swallows had taken up residence in the artificial banks created by the construction of new homes.  I was excited about this because I don't have any photos of that species and the lighting was perfect and some of the cavities were pretty low to the ground, but lo-and-behold the birds just would not cooperate.  They were too fast and unpredictable to photograph so I will have to make some return trips in the hope of photographing them.

What makes this colony interesting, however, is its location.  It is located at one of the highest points in Suffolk County (only rivaled by near by Bald Hill) and you can clearly see to the Long Island Sound and Robert Moses Park from the top of the bank.  However, one would expect a nearby water source for these insect eaters - but the closest "stream" is the Carmans River which is 5 miles to the east, and Lake Ronkonkoma which is 4 miles to the West.  The only time I've seen these colonies were at the beach at Mecox in Bridgehampton and along the eroded dunes in Sagaponack along the Atlantic Ocean.  So if you are in the area and want to check out a unique bird colony, take Lidge Dr. North from Horseblock Rd. in Farmingville and check out the big banks on the East Side.  (Note: this site is just to the East of the County Park on Horseblock)  Just make sure you stay on the road and off the private property.

The spit at Goose Creek remnids me of Lazy Point which you can read all about in Carl Safina's book: The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World which I highly recommend.

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.