Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Saturday's Post - Late

Sorry that I haven't gotten to post this until now.  There were alot of photos to process.  Here they are with quick stories.  These are all from Saturday. Di, Barbara and I ran around Cape May county looking for spring arrivals and other birds that I need for the contest.  We got some good ones including Black-headed gull (yay) and also got some good photos of "common" birds.  First is Snowy Egret.  This is the classic mirror effect that you can get when the bird is standing in still water. Notice the breeding plumage starting to show on the tail feathers.

Snowy Egret
 This is Pine Warbler - one of the earliest migrants. They bring a smile to birders' faces when they arrive because we know that the masses are coming soon.

Pine Warbler
 The next is White-throated Sparrow.  These are really common birds in winter but say "goodbye".  They will start heading north very soon.  You know they are getting ready to go when you start hearing their song - "old sam peabody, peabody, peabody".

White-throated Sparrow
The whole shore area is still pretty wet and flooded.  Barbara didn't wear the proper shoes, so here is Di carrying her across the flooded path at Cox Hall Creek. Zoom in to see them both laughing like kids. It was probably the funniest part of the day.

Piggy back ride
We also went out to Stone Harbor Point to see Western Sandpiper which is a reliable spot for this bird.  Birding Stone Harbor Point can be a rigorous trip if the birds are way out at the point.  Luckily for us, the birds were pretty close to the parking lot.  Check out the how similar the Western Sandpiper is to the Dunlin (it's the smaller one in the photo)

Western Sandpiper (bottom), Dunlin
This Oystercatcher has bands on both legs.

Oystercatcher L L
Imagine our surprise when we arrived at Stone Harbor Point and saw this guy on the jetty. 

Harbor Seal
 I cropped this one so that you can see that his fur is molting.

Harbor Seal



3 comments:

Diane Widdop said...

That's not a smile on my face - it's a grimace! When is the last time you gave an adult a piggy-back ride?? It's not easy.

Barbara said...

Especially when that adult is gaining weight and out of shape. My dry feet thank you for the ride!

Anonymous said...

These are all great. HH