Sometimes You Get The Bird But Not The Photo

I got a text from Harvey yesterday - MEGA RARE  Black-tailed Godwit was found in a marsh in New Jersey. The bird is usually found in Europe. In fact, I saw dozens of them in Wales but there hasn't been one in NJ in 47 years. Harvey didn't find the bird, a guy named Jon found it and put it on social media. I couldn't get out to see the bird yesterday but as luck would have it, I was in the area for work today and . . .

Marty and Me

We got the bird! Marty and Barb were kind enough to wait for me and lend me their scopes for great views of this incredibly handsome bird. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage a nice photo. This is a digiscope photo. I dare you to try to find the bird ;-) (digiscope means that I used my iPhone camera on the scope which is why the photo is round)

Black-tailed Godwit

This mega rare bird sighting added one more bird to my ABA life list pushing it to 626 birds seen in North America.

Another LA Run

I'm back in LA for a few days. I'm starting to go to the same places now that I've been out here a few times. I'm by myself this time which is good and bad. Good that I can do what I want, when I want and take as long as I want to photograph birds. Bad that I don't have company or friends to share with.  I started at Playa Del Rey breakwater. Here are some photos starting with Elegant Terns. They are common on the beach here. I caught this one in flight:

Elegant Tern

It's the start of breeding season so it was fun to see and hear them courting. They would strut around and point their bills up in the air - all with that bushy hair doo!

Elegant Terns - courting

The next birds that got in front of the lens were a few shorebirds. First is Surfbird. They are not quite in breeding plumage yet. You can see this guy is still molting some feathers - one of them is just about to fall out.

Surfbird

Marbled Godwits can be seen on the East Coast, but they are usually pretty far away. Not in California. This guy was literally walking around me on the beach. I love the warm brown/cinnamon color of these birds.

Marbled Godwit

The stars of the show for me on this trip were the Eared Grebes in breeding plumage. Eared Grebes are fairly uncommon on the East Coast and we only get to see them in winter when they look really drab. I was looking forward to finding a few of them in California and I was not disappointed.  Check out those golden "ears".

Eared Grebe

 This guy looks like a Fonzi dinosaur with that big black pompadour.

Eared Grebe

 Here are a pair swimming in the channel together. I was sitting low along the rock jetty and they all just swam by - 8 total.

Eared Grebes - Playa Del Rey California

Wait til you see the warblers and hummers.

It's Halloween and I'm Scared

I'm scared.  I haven't had any new birds for the stupid contest in over 2 weeks. I still need Northern Goshawk. All I have been doing is chasing birds that might turn into something rare but they never seem to.  I drove all the way to the shore to see a hummingbird that turned out to be a species that I already have. Then Patty and I hustled down to Delaware to see a Godwit that was reported to be a rarity but turned out to be a runt Marbled Godwit which we have plenty of. 

And, I am going to the west coast for a week.  Normally that would make me really happy but what if a good bird shows up here and I'm out there?  Ugh.  I'll really be crying Boo (hoo hoo). The good news for you is that I will be posting something different next week instead of stupid contest updates. 

Carve What You Know . . .

I really am looking forward to our west coast trip. We are already booked on a boat trip out of LA to see some pretty cool birds. Stay tuned.