Gone Fishin'

There's a saying - It's called "Fishing", not "Catching" because most of the time you go fishing you don't actually catch anything. Then, there are those rare days when it seems like every time you put your line in, you catch a fish so it really could be called catching. 

That's how it was on Saturday. Harvey and I went out early to see what we could find. Fish were being caught right and left. Fish were being caught so often that it was hard to keep up with who was catching what. It started with this juvenile Black-crowned Nightheron catching an eel in shallow water. 

Junior with an eel

After some time, Mom or Dad got into the action too and caught another eel. That'll show Junior. 

Adult with eel

All told, I watched Junior slurp down 4 eels in a matter of 15 minutes.

Then the Egrets got in on the action. This guy grabbed a fish but got his beak stuck. He struggled with it for quite some time before gulping it down. 

Spearfishing

Somehow, he managed to decapitate the fish in the process. Yuck.

Headless fish

And then, the real show began. A pair of Skimmers began making passes over the shallow pool. The light was great, the water was like glass. The birds dropped their bill into the water and whooshed by.

Mirror Image

Their bill automatically snaps shut when they feel something in the water.  I guess their neck bends so that they don't crash if they hit something solid. 

Skimmer

The birds would come up with a fish about 50% of the time but other times, they would be fooled into snapping up other things from the pond such as a feather. 

Skimmer with feather

When a fish was caught, it had no chance. The Skimmer's bill is like a vice. 

Skimmer

You can see how narrow the bill is when you look head on.  

Skimmer with fish

The bird would fly around with the fish until it was in the right position to be swallowed - while the bird was still flying.  You can see the fish being tossed mid-air in this photo. 

Fish toss

After about 30 minutes, the Skimmers were full and flew off. Harvey and I headed to the State Park to see if we could find the Avocet that had been reported over the past few days. We found the bird and what do you think it was doing. You guessed it, fishing. Here he is with his tiny fish prize. 

American Avocet 

Overall, the birds had a great day of fishing in Cape May. I kind of wished that I was fishing too. 

Mid-Summer Birding at the Shore

Quick post to remind you that summer is pretty dull for birders however I did manage to get a few new photos of Skimmers which are one of my favorite birds in the world. Here are 4 of them skimming the shallow water at "The Meadows" in Cape May in the early morning.

Black Skimmers at Cape May Meadows

They would occasionally come closer. This one skimmed the same route a few times and gave me a few opportunities to capture a nice photo. This one looks like a mirror image. The tip of the bill is just about touching the water.

Black Skimmer

Cormorants are not unusual at the shore. In fact, there are many of them. This sighting was unusual because this bird flew in and landed right on the beach at the Villas. I have never seen a Cormorant sitting on the beach with people and dogs all around. This guy didn't seem to mind.

Double-crested Cormorant

I was on the Villas beach looking for banded shorebirds. I found a few and also got to point them out to a few people on the beach. Here is Sanderling LM5. Originally banded in Delaware in May, he/she has been seen in Avalon on 7/23 by someone else and in Villas by me twice after that.

Sanderling LM5

This one is interesting. It has a dark green flag with white lettering rather than the typical light green with black lettering. This is Sanderling AEV. Not sure why the color is different but I will try to find out.

Sanderling AEV

Looking forward to getting out in Delaware next week.

"Yip" "Yip" "Yip"eee for August

August is a weird month for birders. It's weird because most of the northern hemisphere considers August the epitome of summer. Everyone is thinking about days on the beach. One of my favorite birds nests on the beach. They fly close to the water and "Yip, yip yip" like puppies. They nest in colonies along the beach which are roped off to protect them from beach going vacationers like us. Here is one of the happy couples.

Black Skimmers

 This one has an itch. Check out the schnoz on this guy.

Scratch that itch

Here is another happy couple with their little fluff ball of joy.

Black Skimmers with Baby

The babies are the color of sand. They even have spots that look like shells and stones. Here are 2 little play pals on the beach.

When Mom and Dad are out fishing, the chicks find little divots to hide in. They are perfectly camouflaged - except for that schnoz!

Skimmer Chick - camouflaged

Skimmers' beaks are so big that they can't sleep like other birds with their beaks tucked under their wings. No, they just flop their heads down on the sand.

Napping on the beach

Like mother, like daughter - the chicks flop their heads on the sand to sleep even though their beaks aren't big enough to get in the way yet.

Lullaby Time

Here is a close up to show you what that beak is all about. The bottom mandible is longer than the top and shaped like a knife. They drag that through the water's surface while they fly and feel for fish. When they feel one, they snap their beak shut to snare the fish.

Close-up of Skimmer Beak

Skimmers also put on an aerial show in their free time. Even way up there, you can see that schnoz!

Skimmer Antics

Meanwhile, there are plenty of other birds to see in August. Some of them are already done with all of that chick raising stuff and headed back south - in August. More on that later.

Double Skimmer with a Side of Butterflies

As promised - here are a few photos of Black Skimmers from last weekend.  My one true fan has implored me not to post the gross ones so I'll skip those for this post. 

I LOVE to photograph Skimmers. I take photos of them every time I see them. I can't stop myself.  It has something to do with the specialized bill.

Black Skimmer

They use that bill to find food. Basically, they fly along the water with the bottom of the bill in the water and hope that it hits something to eat, then they snap it shut.  Here is the "money shot" with 2 birds skimming together. Check out the wake they leave behind.

Black Skimmers

They skim along and then the reward - a fish!  Here is one of the birds with his prize and some seaweed too. Zoom in to see the fish up close.

Skimmer with Fish

And then there were butterflies. Lots of butterflies. I don't know anything about butterfly ID, so we made up our own names for most of them. This one is NOT a Monarch. It looks like a Monarch but it is smaller. It's called a Viceroy but we call it Cigarette.

Viceroy Butterfly

Buckeye

Yellow

Pearl Jam

Black Swallowtail

More to come. I have alot of stories and photos to offload this week.  I'll warn you if I post the circle of life photo.