Common Tern - Sterna hirundo

Obtaining pictures of terns in flight and diving for food for me has not been easy.  On my last birding expedition.  There were a number of common terns fishing just off the beach at Third Beach in Middletown, Rhode Island.  I first observed their flight pattern .  Utilizing my Nikon D800, and my Nikkor 500 F/4 lens set on a Jobu gimbal mount on my Redged tripod, I pre-focused my lens and soon as I had a tern in focus, I would bump focus, utilizing the cameras back focusing button, and continuous autofocus I would start photographing.  Although I caught the tern going into the water and coming out of the water, I did not photograph the tern catching any fish.

Deer and Geese

"DO" a female deer, taken from the sound of music, and with the number of deer that we saw grazing on the Meadows At Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge, brought it to my mind.
We arrived before sunrise, parked in the parking lot and searched over them Meadows.  There were a number of white-tailed deer all grazing spread over the entire meadow.  Most of the deer were does and yearlings (because of the difference in size), however, there was one beautiful 6 pointed buck also grazing.  looking with the binocular's you saw deer appearing from everywhere, they were coming out of the woods and up from the marsh.  Most of them were unconcerned with the presence of people.  In fact, as we walked down the road with our cameras, lenses and tripods, there was a pair of deer that was within 20 feet of us.  I have to take my converter off of my lens and even step further back in order to get a full frame picture of the deer.
Later in the morning, we traveled down to Ocean Drive in Newport, Rhode Island to see what we could observe and photograph.  In the previous blog, I had post the video of the ocean, which was one of the interesting subjects that we found.  The most common bird that was making its presence known was the Canada Goose.  Large flocks were flying all around, honking their hearts out.  At one of the ponds that is  on Ocean Drive, there were a large number of geese swimming around and on the little island.  Geese were coming and going, which gave us a chance to do some flight photography.
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One of the best pictures that I obtained was a flock of geese that had just taken off from the pond and I caught the flock, all with the flap of their wings down, and the leading goose with its mouth open.  It was asynchronous flight and the lead goose was Colin out the stroke.

I also want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday

American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica)

I am continuing to post about my findings on the Columbus Day weekend.  A rarer bird to locate, although it is not unusual to find it, is the American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica). The most common large plover that we see along the shore and on mowed fields is the Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola).(Shown here with a Greater Yellowlegs)

This summer, when I was up in Churchill, Manitoba, I was able to photograph the American Golden Plover in full breeding plumage. They are spotted gold and black on the crown, back and on their wings.  Their face and neck are black with a white border and they also have a black breast and a dark rump and their legs are black.  They breed in the Arctic tundra from northern Canada and Alaska, nesting on the ground in a dry open area.

They are a migratory bird and winter in southern South America.  It's migratory route is over 25,000 miles, and they fly 2400 miles over open ocean.  In the fall.  They migrate south in an easterly fashion.  When they return knots would they pass through Central America and central United States on their way north.

It is felt that the American Golden Plover and the Eskimo Curlews (which are now extinct) with a shorebirds that attracted the attention of Christopher Columbus in early October 1492.  So I guess it's appropriate that it was on Columbus Day weekend when I found the migratory American Golden plovers on two separate days in two separate locations.  First, I found them on Sachuest Salt Marsh  in Middletown, Rhode Island and the next day on the Fuller Street fields, which is part of the Cumberland's IBA in Middleborough, Mass.

The American Golden Plover is similar to two other golden plovers, Eurasian and Pacific.

For all of you who live along the Eastern coast of the United States, keep an eye open for the American Golden Plover as it migrates southward This fall.

Snowy Egret "Dancing"

It is Thursday, the day that I go out birding with my colleague Doug. Today we decided to go down and bird and for me to photograph Sachuest Marsh and Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown Rhode Island. Doug and I try to visit once a week different locations in southeastern New England far as to bird and photograph. Because migration is starting with the shorebirds and Sachuest marsh is a good gathering spot so that is why we visited here today.

The most interesting portion of today was observing a snowy egret feeding. Most of the time that I have observed snowy egrets they have either been just sitting on the marsh or catching small fish or amphibians to feed on.

Today the snowy egret put on a show jumping and "dancing" on the water, just like reddish egret's performance in Florida. And I did not have to go to Florida to observe the performance.

You just have to watch and observe that creatures that are around us.

So look at this slide video

of the egret dancing and also look at these additional photographs of the show that this snowy egret put on for me.

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Sachuest Salt Marsh

I have written about Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge in the past: <http://photobee1.blogspot.com/2011/01/sachuest-and-short-eared-owls.html>
<http://photobee1.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-of-birding-and-other-items.html>
http://photobee1.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-is-common.html.
Today I am going to discuss another important part of the refuge that is Sachuest Salt Marsh. The marsh is about 45 acres in size at present. In the past the marsh was used as a municipal dump and in 1989 a restoration project was started to restore and maintain the salt marsh into its original shape. Salt marshes do require frequent title flashings to help maintain their biological character.
The marsh is located in between Second and Third Beach in Middletown Rhode Island and is best viewed from the parking lot of Third Beach. In fact the day I was there, I was joined by at least a dozen birdwatchers that came down to view the migrating shorebirds. The marsh is a great resting area for shorebirds as they make their trip both northwards in the spring and southwards in late summer and early fall.
The Fish and Wildlife Service have built a blind at the far end of the marsh, but it isn't open to the public as yet. The splined will help viewing the birds that do congregate in the far corner.
In order to best view the birds, besides binoculars a spotting scope is extremely useful. For photography I find that a long lens of between 300 to 500 mm plus teleconverters is needed especially to obtain photographs of the small shorebirds.
There is always a moderate to large number of gulls present at low tide on the marsh. Wading birds feed in the marsh and I had four different species present today. The species present were Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and a Green Heron.Great Blue HeronGreat Egret
 
                                                                                                                                                  Snowy Egret
Morning is a great time for viewing because the Sun is at your back, also, it is best at prior to low tide and just after low tide. This helps concentrate the birds into a smaller area. At full low tide there are large stretches of open mud and the birds are more spread out.Double Crested Comerant

Savannah Sparrow  
 

Semipalmated Plover



Semipalmated  Sandpiper
The refuge is located in Middletown, Rhode Island. Take route 1 South to route 138 East, over the Newport Bridge. Take the Newport exit and pass through downtown Newport on route 138A. Once through the downtown, you will pass First (or Newport) Beach. Just past First Beach, take a right onto Purgatory Road. Take a right onto Sachuest Point Drive and follow to the end, which will bring you directly into the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge parking lot. For your GPS coordinates use, 41.479652, -71.243998. In order to reach the salt marsh, just before the Middletown campground on Sachuest Point Drive, take your left onto Third Beach Road and follow the road to Third Beach the right side of the parking lot at third Beach abuts the marsh.
Green Heron