Skimming Through...

     Not going to lie, the past few outings I have had, were not really feeling super satisfying. I saw some birds, but it didn't feel special. Mostly because I felt like I was mis-id'ing, feeling not super confident, and getting myself down a bit about birding. What a weird way to feel, right?
     I took notice of skimmers staging themselves on the beach in Coney Island in the morning. I really like skimmers, their behaviors are unique and like no other, their look is just the same, and they fly in such beautiful synchronization, they are really irresistible birds to watch-- even if you have seen them a thousand times.
     So yesterday morning I sought them out on the beach in Coney Island and I found them. A group of maybe 30 birds, maybe a bit more with adults and immature individuals, resting together on the sand, out of the reach of the waves.
     I decided that I need to get over my mistakes I make in the field identifying-- it really hurts no one, and it is one of the best ways I remember birds. So I suppose I need to take some advice from Ms. Frizzle and embrace my mistakes as chances to learn.
     Anyway, here are some things from some outings I felt so "meh" about plus my skimmer friends!

Sanderlings earlier this month at Plumb Beach, a pre-work bird outing.

Plumb Beach on another day, a common yellowthroat sits still... behind stuff.

I watched some snowy egrets interact. There were three of them, two adults and one small, younger birds. Almost as if this one was a young of one/both of the adults and was trying to mooch off them for longer. It seemed one of the adults would not tolerate it.

Cue the music... 

Last weekend I visited Green-Wood Cemetery and got one of the best looks I have ever had of a great crested flycatcher.

A foraging white-breasted nuthatch also in GWC.

A black-throated green warbler among 1,000,000 American redstarts...

Some morning yoga. This pose is called seagull spread by master gull yogi, the laughing gull.

An immature laughing gull.

And a fun group of black skimmers!

Immature birds are easy to pick from the crowd.

A second group of skimmers, west of where I was, flying near Seagate.

While I was observing the skimmers a lady began walking up to them (I took a seat on the sand and stayed still). This gull was not a fan, and walked up to me. A ring-billed gull, to be exact.

Really close.
After my skimmer time, I went to work for a very exhausted version of myself kind of day.