Final Post from UK Trip

My last day in the UK was spent on public transportation. I had a few hours to spend in town before heading to the airport so I planned a trip to Brent Reservoir which is technically in London but like traveling from Center City Philly to the Northeast. I had to take 2 "Underground" lines and then walk over a mile to get there. I targeted the reservoir hoping to get a few last Life Birds which I did manage. Like many of the parks in the UK, this one had a "hide" or bird blind that is managed by locals. They lock them up when not in use so that they are not vandalized or used by homeless people to sleep. You need to be savvy enough to find the contact info for the guy with the keys before you go. I am not that savvy. I emailed the guy the night before but of course it was too late for him to be able to help me out (although he did respond to my email).

One of my target birds for the trip was Great Crested Grebe and although I saw many on the trip, the grebes at Brent Reservoir were particularly accommodating. Here is the classic side shot where you can see the crest on the head and the puffy feathers on the neck. This is a big bird. Probably as large as Western Grebe or even larger. What a sight.

Great Crested Grebe

Here is another shot of the same bird where you can see the crest.

Great Crested Grebe

Other water birds were going about there business too. Check out this Coot baby. Its a wonder that Mom takes credit for that ugly mug!

Coot Mom and Baby

The Moorhen was not so trusting of people. I didn't know it but I got too close to her nest. She freaked out and started swimming away from the nest while wagging her tail - a distraction display intended to make me follow her and leave the nest alone. It worked. I couldn't keep my eyes off of those bright white tail feathers.

Moorhen Distraction Display

Andrew (the guy with the key) was kind enough to review some of my photos to make sure that I got the ID correct. Here is a female Blackcap who landed in front of me and proceeded to go into a torpor (a kind of trance like state where the bird just droops its wings and lays in the sun).

Female Blackcap

Summing up the trip - it was GREAT! Great birds, great people, great scenery, great experience. The only thing that I wish is that my Mom was with me (I should have planned ahead). She would have loved all of it (except the trudging around in the rain part). Oh well, she'll have to live vicariously by reading the posts.

Hanging Out and Seeing Red

It feels pretty good being a casual birder again. After chasing birds all year last year, it was nice to have a day to bird for the sheer sake of watching birds. Lori and I came down to the shore this morning in no big rush to do the kind of birding that we used to do back in the day - you know, just hanging out and seeing whatever there is to see. Well, it paid off big time for Lori. She got 4 life birds and had a nap too!

All of the birds that she got for lifers were colored - 3 red ones and 1 black.  The first lifer came at the marina behind the Lobster House - Red-necked Grebe. These birds have invaded our area this year even more than the Snowy Owls. They are literally everywhere that has fresh water without ice. We have some on the Schuylkill River in Philly, in the back bays of Wildwood, and even on the little ponds in the Villas. In fact, we saw 7 of them today. Here are a few photos. The first is a close encounter that we had at Cox Hall Creek. You can see that this bird is molting into breeding plumage by the red on the neck. 

Red-necked Grebe - Villas NJ

Here are a group of 3 Red-necked Grebes on a little retention pond that the locals call "Lake" Champlain because it is on Champlain Road in the Villas. It is remarkable to have 3 grebes hanging out so close together on a tiny pond.  I caught one of them in the middle of his afternoon bath.

Red-necked Grebes - Lake Champlain

The other "red" bird that we saw today was Redhead. There were 18 of them on the lake at Cox Hall Creek last month but 17 of them have flown the coop. This guy decided to hand out with a Coot.They were acting like best friends in the middle of the lake. Where ever one would go, the other would follow. 

Redhead and Coot

The third "red" bird for Lori was the Eurasian Wigeon which has red on the head. The American Wigeon has green on the head. They were hanging out together in the marsh but too far away for a photo opp. You can see a photo of this bird in a post from last month.  

Lori's 4th lifer of the day was Black-headed Gull. There have been a few hanging around Miami Ave in the Villas this month. This is pretty normal for March since they are starting to migrate north.  This is not as sexy as the others. Kind of boring in fact. It looks alot like a Bonaparte's Gull (and frankly, every other gull if you are not a birder) but a lifer nonetheless. It was hanging out with Forster's Terns on the sandbar. 

Black-headed Gull

Although it wasn't a lifer, the other notable bird for the day was this Horned Grebe. It is still in basic plumage (ie, no horns yet) but still a great find. It was very close to the shore of Sunset Lake. I love the bright red eye!

Horned Grebe - Sunset Lake

We ended the day at dinner with friends. The restaurant was loud, the service was slow and the food was mediocre but it was nice to hang out with friends.  I guess there are 2 themes to this post - Red and Hanging Out! We will take it easy again tomorrow and see whatever shows up. 

Finally, Decent Birding Weather

Well, we finally had a nice weekend to be out and about. I met up with my friend Harvey on Saturday to look for some interesting birds in Cape May. There has been a Common Murre in Wildwood for the past week which is very unusual. Unfortunately, we didn't see the bird but we met an interesting guy who runs the bait and tackle shop on the pier. We did have great looks at a Red-necked Grebe. 

Red-necked Grebe

Here is another Red-necked Grebe swimming with a Common Loon. This photo is a great size comparison.

Common Loon (left) and Red-necked Grebe (right)

We also saw a Belted Kingfisher diving for breakfast and picked out a Eurasian Widgeon from a flock near Breez-e-Lee Marina. 

Belted Kingfisher

 Can you find the Eurasian Widgeon in the photo below? There is only one - the rest are American Widgeon.

Flock of Widgeons - one Eurasian

We stopped by Stone Harbor Point. I got my best photo ever of an Ipswich Sparrow. Ipswich is an island in New England that produces a special race of Savannah Sparrows which are lighter in color that the normal Savannahs. This little guy scurried out into the open which allowed me to snap a few shots.

Ipswich Sparrow

Here is a photo of Brant. This is like a goose but smaller. I love their black heads and little bills. This guy has a bum foot but seems to get around fine. 

Brant

I stayed overnight with Patience so that I could stay at the shore but not have to turn on the heat at the Blue House. I took one more little outing before having a delicious dinner at Pay's. Here is my best photo of Redheads on the lake at Cox Hall Creek. 

Redheads

I'll tell you more from the weekend in a separate post. 

San Francisco

I spent a few days in San Francisco - on the same day that Twitter (based in San Fran) went public. Alot of people got rich - not me.  Not many birds to be seen but the ones that I saw were up close and personal.  I took a walk from my hotel all the way to the Golden Gate bridge which was alot further than I thought.

Golden Gate Bridge

Along the way, I got close views of some common birds including a Western Grebe.  These are the best photos that I have of this species.

Western Grebe

Western Grebe

I also had great views of Alcatraz from the shore. I tried to get a tour but they are completely sold out for days in advance. Be warned - buy your tickets before you arrive in San Francisco if you ever want to take the tour. I admit that I am so bird obsessed that this photo started out to be of a White-crowned Sparrow until I looked up and notices Alcatraz and the sailboat in the background.

Alcatraz with White-crowned Sparrow

Here are the sparrows up close and personal.  The first is a juvenile which doesn't have the "white crown".  The second photo shows the crown pretty well.

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Another sparrow that caught my eye was this Fox Sparrow. Our Fox Sparrows are much redder. Out west, they are really dark. The field guide calls them "sooty".  Here is a photo of one with a berry.

Fox Sparrow (Pacific)

I had to take a break after walking for miles lugging my camera, jacket and binoculars so I stopped at the Golden Gate Visitor Center and grabbed an orange soda (they didn't have Diet Coke) and some Goldfish crackers. I was soon joined by some friends who wanted to share my snack.  

Brewers Blackbird

 Yes, I rewarded the bad behavior of the Brewer's Blackbirds.  They would come right up and snatch the cracker from my fingers! It was cute and I'll probably get cited for feeding the wildlife but I was lonely and bored and tired from my walk.

Beggar!

I can't wait to get home!  Oh, did I tell you that I get to spend a whole night at home before heading to New Orleans?  Don't expect a bird report thought. I don't think I'll get out of the city on that trip.

10-11-12

I'll bet there are alot of blog titles like that today, October 11, 2012 (or 10-11-12).  It has nothing to do with birds or the post, I just thought it was kind of cool.  I have some more fodder from last weekend that didn't make it into the other posts this week so here they are with a little commentary.

Bunker pond at the Lighthouse is beginning to show signs of fall with assorted ducks and other waterbirds. 

 Assorted swimmers - Pie-billed Grebe (left), Mallard (top), Northern Shoveler (right)

Two different Teal are on the pond now - Blue-winged and Green-winged.  The colored wings are usually only apparent in flight, but you can see which one is the Green-winged in the photo below.  You can identify the Blue-winged teal by the half moon white patch on the face.

 Blue-winged Teal

Green-winged Teal

One of my favorite ducks is the handsome Northern Pintail.  These ducks just stand out as elegant for some reason.  I also think that I like these ducks because we had a Pintail sailboat when I was a kid and we named it "Just Ducky".  I could fill a whole blog post with stories about that boat.  Like the time the mast broke when we were in the middle of Lake Galena and I had to get out and tow the boat back to shore.  Anyway, I digress.

 Northern Pintail

 American Widgeon

 The cutest bird on the pond last week had to be the Pie-billed Grebe.  There were 4 of them, which is quite unusual, but this guy swam really close to the path and allowed me to photograph it up close.  These photos are hardly cropped at all.  Check out that fuzzy butt!
 

 Pie-billed Grebe

Here is the same grebe even closer to shore. He dove underwater and popped up in the middle of some weeks which covered his back.  Don't worry, he dove under again and got rid of the weeds.  It was pretty cool watching him swimming around underwater.

  Pie-billed Grebe

 The final photo for the day is the iconic lighthouse shot.  Hundreds and thousands of people visit each year and take this photo.  What is so special about mine?  First of all, it's pretty good.  Secondly, it shows the hawkwatch platform that that hosts hundreds and thousands of people each year including "famous" birders like Pete Dunne who wrote the book on Hawk Identification. Third, it shows Bunker pond which is where all of the ducks in this post and the skimmers and terns from previous posts were photographed.  Last, and certainly not least, there are 2 Caspian Terns in this photo just to the right of the lighthouse!

 Cape May Point Lighthouse

More West Coast Birding Briefs

I finally figured out how to work around the photo upload glitch so here are some more photos from my fabulous west coast trip starting with water birds. I got 4 different grebes on this trip including many Pie-billed and Western grebes, a few Horned grebes, plus a Clarke's grebe. Here are some photos. Its hard to see the difference between Western and Clarke's grebe. You have to get a really good look at the eyes.

Western Grebe - notice how the black cap comes down to the eye

Clarke's Grebe - notice how the white surrounds the eye, no black

Horned Grebe - notice the point on the back of the head

Pie-billed Grebe - notice how darned cute it is

I also had good luck with Spotted Sandpiper on this trip. I practically tripped over this one several times. It just wouldn't run away from me. It finally popped out into the sunlight for this shot.

Spotted Sandpiper - notice the stout legs

And finally, this Kestral eating some sort of mouse on the top of a telephone pole. There was a guy flying a 'tethered airplane' about 50 feet away from the Kestral. The plane whirling by again and again. The Kestral was completely unphased.

American Kestral - notice the poor little mouse