Badass Birds

     Last weekend was my husband's birthday, and on Monday, Labor Day. We had no plans and after an easy going weekend, we decided to keep that going with a trip to the driving range in Marine Park and a walk of the loop at the Marine Park Salt Marsh Nature Center.
     The egrets were plentiful and beautiful...

My favorite birds to see in flight, fishing, and just strutting are egrets- here a great egret takes flight from the water with perfect lift and little disruption to the waters surface. 

So sad they will be leaving us for the winter. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the migratory bird treaty, one of the major pushes to create this treaty was that egrets were almost hunted to extinction. In particular, the smaller snowy egret and great egret were primary targets while nesting, where 100's of birds could be hunted as they nest communally in rookeries. Both snowy and great egrets have amazing plumes during the breeding season but thankfully, these birds (and many others) are now protected by federal law.

While discussing this picture with Tim, he commented that they are "so weird." I agree, because they are beautiful, with angelic wings, but they are badass, with no mercy for anything that meets that spear-like beak, and oh yeah- they are practically dinosaurs. They are everything awesome in one package.

Credit to Tim for this shot :)

And one kestrel, because again, always touted as "the smallest N. American falcon," which makes you sound petite and cute-- but again...

...that is the look of a badass about to strike with dinosaur prowess. 

Plumb Beach, 9.4.16

     With forecasts from the week predicting this weekend to be a bust, I'm so glad they were wrong! This weekend the humidity felt non-existant, with warm temperatures by day and cool and pleasant by night. It's pretty perfect, and I was not totally bummed out with trips to Plumb Beach and Dead Horse Bay just past hight tide and a tropical storm looming off shore.
     Waves were tame and the shorebirds frolicked in them as they lapped up at the shoreline. No complaints it seems from humans or birds.
     Enjoy...

Most peeps were sanderlings, and they were very handsome!

Some had remnants of the rufus, red color they would have in their breeding plumage.

A common tern and a laughing gull. Caspian and royal terns had been reported in previous dates, I had no sightings of them.

While checking out the tern and gulls, I noticed a large bird coming over the marsh- an Osprey! He came close, hovered and then...

He splashed right into the small channel in front of me, that leads into the marsh. He came up empty taloned, but I was pretty impressed at how he was 98% submerged and then came up and flew right back out.

Better luck next time, bud.

A laughing gull pushes his weight around to the smaller sanderlings.

He seemed pretty proud of himself.

Cute little sanderling!

This was actually an aggressive stance, used to chase other sanderlings out of where this individual was feeding.

A sanderling still molting.

Another funny molting sanderling.

Pretty pretty sure this is good for a semipalmated sandpiper.

Same bird as above.

Juvenile common tern at Dead Horse Bay.

A group of sanderlings flew in from across the chennal, possibly the same ones I saw before.

Green-Wood Cemetery 9.3.16

     A walk in Green-Wood on Saturday morning proved to be full of red-breasted nuthatches and frogs. Also the weather felt cold, and that made me sad. The seasons are changing and summer is nearing its end (I love summertime) and birds are on the move (I mean, I like that part of it, I suppose).

A big ol' flower at the Ft. Hamilton Parkway Entrance of the Cemetery.

Something looks off here, with this woodchuck...

If rodents do not gnaw and keep their teeth in check, this happens. The lower incisors are overgrown, soon it will make eating not so easy. This could put this woodchuck at a bit of a disadvantage in the survival game. Nature is not always super kind.

Came upon a pine that was full of activity, so much activity that the winged seeds from the pine cones were snowing down from this tree as a slew of red breasted nuthatches enjoyed the available buffet. 

A beautiful (and active) bald-faced hornet nest.

The Dell Water is the lowest I have ever seen it, and super mucky and green. The fact that frogs are still living there is amazing to me. The waters are brimming with hundreds of frogs, lining the shore, squeaking and hopping if you venture too close. The algae bloom in there is pretty gnarly. Although they managed to "clean" the algae from the Crescent water and add goldfish, that a kingfisher was happy to hunt (and probably pick off easily) as they stay near the surface of their poorly oxygenated habitat.

A green sludge soup of frogs on the Dell Water. Again, amazed these guys are able to survive in this!

East Pond, JBWR

     After visiting Jamaica Bay on Sunday, last week, I realized how to walk the banks with the water level lowered. With my coworker, who also happens to love birdies, we took a post work trip to see the other side of the East Pond.
     Wearing shoes that are easily washable or trashable after your walk is advised. We wore rubber boots. The bank is overall dry and not muddy, but the mud you walk upon has a ton on goose droppings and flies feeding on the wetter mud/scum. It's pretty gross. My boots and the bag I carried them in got bleached immediately upon getting home.
     Aside from the misogynistic photographers who asked us to model for them because they were getting no birds in their shots, we had a really great time. Why are people such ding-a-lings?... also poor timing a placement to be a jerky guy to women, in an area where a woman recently went missing after a jog in a nearby park-- let's just say the monopod was ready for swinging if anyone decided to be smart.
     Anyway, enjoy the better part of our trek:

Snowy Egrets practicing their balance beam routine.

Love those wings and yellow feet!

I am going to miss these guys as they leave for winter. Wading birds are my favorites to get in photos, especially when you get a really great shot.

A baby black vulture? Nah, just a ridiculous molt happening on a boat-tailed grackle.

Female/Juvenile Boat Tailed Grackle.

Feathers blowing in the breeze.

Only downside to walking around the East Pond in the late afternoon, backlit everything. Least Sandpiper.

Least Sandpiper. The peeps were pretty good at not caring about observers, while oystercatchers, night herons, they spot you 100 years away and bolt. We tried to stay up against the reeds in our walking, but some birds just were not having that tactic.

Greater Yellowlegs and killdeer intermingled among the least sandpipers.

And one semi-palmated sandpiper.

Why you move so fast black skimmer?? I love these guys, and even a crappy shot of them still looks beautiful.

Herring gulls who just don't give a hoot about much, or so it seems.

Waders: Dark birds = Glossy Ibis, Small white bird = snowy egret, 2 tall white birds = great egrets.

Attempting for meh shots of Glossy Ibis.

I am pretty convinced the smaller of the three ibis is a juvenile bird. They too will very soon be peacing out for more southerly places. We also got a nice look at a swooping peregrine on our way out, probably going after our peeps we just enjoyed seeing (peeps=sandpipers and kin).

Shore Birds? Sure!

     It's that time of year where shore birds are on the move from their Northern breeding grounds, heading South for the winter. Ew, are we already talking about winter? It's hard to imagine winter when it was close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit today, but birds are on the move while food is abundant to fuel them on their journey, so as far south as Tierra Del Fuego (thats the most southern tip of South America).
     I headed over to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens to see some birds, and scope out the East pond, with plans to don some rubber boots and go for a walk along its shores. The pond is man made and water levels are controlled, seasonally dropping the level for shorebirds arriving in late August to expose mud flats for them to feed on. It also exposes a shore line to hike, if you don't mind some super stanky mud. The water is currently just a notch below neon green, so I can only imagine the funk that could cling to any outerwear.
     I also carried my larger lens on my cross body sling I bought and did well, despite its weight. I also toted my mono pod along to help with photos and also as a possible self defense weapon, as recently a young woman disappeared in the area, so who knows who is lurking around. Anyway, the point was I found a comfy way to walk around with my gear.
     I am satisfied with my visit, I went around noon so it was a lot hot, but the birds were still active on the East Pond. I can see why going for the haul around the pond could be rewarding, as I spotted a lot of birds through my binoculars but could not easily ID.
     Anyway, enjoy...

On the East Side trails, cicadas spooked at every turn. This one landed for a picture though. I like his little eye. What a cute, drunk-flying insect :)

I arrived to a large group birding the end of one trail that meets the pond. It was a little too crowded for my taste, but I got a good look at a spotted sandpiper (above) and least sandpiper (not shown).

Then I ventured to the bird blind on the East Pond and had it all to myself. And a group of 4 least sandpipers flew in and gave me some good views from behind the blind.

I also got some good views of a spotted sandpiper who also joined in at the area in front of the blind.

There is usually very few chances to say a bird came too close to grab a good photo, but with the 200-500mm lens, the birds came too close as I hid behind the blind.

What a handsome little sandpiper.

I ventured to the "short walk" side of the West Pond and got some good looks at a peregrine falcon, who is probably having an all you can eat buffet while these shorebirds are in town.

This is one of two peregrines I saw. This one I think is male, the other I saw was far larger, and I presume the female.

I love bird eye lids and how they close from the bottom up...

An osprey bringing home the bacon... err, bunker. The nests are empty and the kids all grown and fledged. Osprey will soon be on the move to warmer climes for the winter, but until then, they will be hunting and eating, fattening up for a long flight.

A lucky shot of a house wren before it bolted out of sight.