Westport Harbor

Mute swan sitting on the ice

Sunday, after the snow stopped and the sun came out.  We traveled down to Westport Harbor hopefully to to do some photographing of ducks and gulls.  When we arrived, the sky was still overcast.  The tide was outgoing and there was still a lot of ice surrounding the docks.  We were able to see a number of different species of ducks, plus the gulls.  What I did was set the camera on manual, set my speed and aperture and went to auto ISO so I could obtain the correct exposure.

Greater black-back gulls be an opportunistic feeder were trying to get into the bait barrels on the dock to get a free meal.  Herring gulls, however, found snails and scallops to feed on.

Greater black-backed gull getting a skate from the bait bucket

Herring gull with a snail

Herring gull flying with a scallop in its beak

A Drake Bufflehead flew by and I was happy to capture one sharp image out of my series.  For tiny bird, they fly extremely fast.  We identified and photographed at the harbor and across on the other side near the Back Eddy and identified many species including Canada geese, common eiders, Bullhead, red-breasted merganser, hooded merganser, American Widgeon, scaup, common goldeneye and a horned Grebe.

Drake Bufflehead in flight

American Widgeon, feeding

and Bufflehead

Drake hooded merganser and hen red-breasted merganser

Canada goose landing over a scaup

Drake red breasted merganser

If the cold weather keeps up and all the ponds and habits freeze we should see more concentrations of ducks and other birds at locations that have open water, where there is food available.

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Thursday Morning Birding and a King Eider

King Eider

Although my friend and colleague Doug and I did the new year beach ramble, this is the first day and a long time that we went out birding.  We started off at Jenney Pond in Plymouth where the usual's species were there and I decided to try some flight shots.  The mallets are acclimatized to people feeding them, but they usually fed only bread which is not the best food for them.  I utilized a technique that Artie Morris showed me of using crack corn, which is a lot more nutritious for the ducks, dug through some out on the ice where the ducks all evil walk swam or flew to to eat the corn.  I utilized my Nikon 70-200 with a telly converter and station myself on the bridge.  Doug came up to the bridge and we dropped the corner to the water and many of the mallards flew from the ice to the water, giving me a chance for flight shots.

Mallards Flying

Our next stop was Plymouth Harbor where I photographed red breasted merganser preening and flapping its wings.  I also was able to photograph a white-wing scoter close to the shore.  Normally these scoters are further out and if they see you, the scoters usually will swim away.  The scoter was very nice by staying in close to shore.

Red-breasted Merganser Flapping

White-winged Scoter

We made a couple more stops on the way to the Cape Cod Canal, because I had heard that a king eider was present among a large flock of common eiders around the Herring Run on the canal.  Arriving at the Herring Run information area.  We saw a large flock of eiders located near the opening of the Herring run.  We walked over there and search and searched which at first without seeing the king eider.  The common eiders was splashing and preening and after I photographed a drake common eider, I looked up as a group of eiders was swimming by and in the middle was the king eider.  I got a few pictures and then called to Doug so he could identify the bird also.  Then we follow the bird as it swam around and was able to get more pictures of this beautiful bird.

Drake Common Eider Flapping Its Wings

Hen Common Eider Taking off

King Eider in the Flock of Common Eiders

Swimming, along with the flock of eiders was a common loon who allowed a very decent portrait.  So ended a good morning, with a total of 39 different species of birds identified.

Common Loon

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Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge

White tail deer in the meadow

Yesterday I discussed the snowy owl at Sachuest, but there is a lot more to see and photograph at this refuge. Whitetail deer are present and can be seen almost year round. In the fall the bucks have antlers and you could be lucky during rutting see a pair of bucks fighting.

Whitetail deer

In late fall to early spring the sea ducks are present including the harlequins. There are usually eiders, different varieties of scoters, buffleheads, golden eyes, etc.

American (black) scoters, including drakes, hens and a juvenile male along with a pair of bufflehead hens

Harlequin Ducks

Red Breasted Merganser Female

In the spring and in the late summer to early fall, the salt marsh is a great location to view migrating shorebirds.

Semipalmated Plover Preening

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Looking across the bay there is St. George's school and if there is a fog it makes for a great photograph.

Chapel at St. George's in the fog

All year round there is a variety of different passer rains and raptors that use the refuge as a home or a way stop on their migration

Northern Harrier searching for prey over the field

 Sachuest is located in Middletown Rhode Island at the intersection of Third Beach Road and Sachuest Point Road. The Salt Marsh is located on the right side of the parking lot at Third Beach. In the summer Third Beach there is a payment to park, however, if you tell the attendant that you are there to look for birds are to photograph the birds there normally should not be a charge. At Sachuest that you have added a new trail off of the ocean loop trail that takes you up to a high point on the refuge and gives you a good overlook over the entire refuge.

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge

Sachuest Point Trail Map

So if you have never visited Sachuest, I recommend you give it a try. I believe you will enjoy it and get some nice photographs.

Pictures of the Month, March 2012 and February 2013

It is the first of the month and time for the picture of the month.  As in the previous again, I had a hard time picking out which picture to choose.  After surveying by March 2012 pictures, I selected an action scene: "Double-Crested Cormorant Bathing in the Evening Light," that I took down in Port Aransas at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.

Double-crested Cormorant Bathing

For February 2013, I decided to keep with the same theme and chose the picture of two Red-Breasted Mergansers in a chase sequence with one merganser chasing another merganser who had a large perch in its mouth.

"The Chase" Red-breasted Mergansers

Red-Breasted Merganser with a Perch Been Chased

The Chase

It is Tuesday, a day of birding with Doug.  In previous blogs, I showed a female, eider eating a crab and a horned grebe eating a flounder fry.  Today the highlight was at Jenney Pond in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  I was able to photograph a male red-breasted merganser that caught a large yellow perch to eat and it was chased by another male red-breasted merganser that want to steal the fish.  The red-breasted merganser, however, escaped and was able to eat the perch.

"It Is All Mine"

"Can I Swallow This?"

Yes, the red-breasted merganser was finally able to swallow the yellow perch

Dovekie and More

Dovekie

The reason I traveled up to Provincetown was to visit MacMillan's Pier that juts out into the harbor.  There have been reports of Dovekie's present in the harbor and the last time I had obtained a photograph of the Dovekie was about 30 years ago, on New Year's Day in the picture was taken with slide film (and I don't know where they are).  When we first arrived and searched out the water of the harbor no Dovekie's was seen, but, red-breasted mergansers, common eiders and some horned grebes were present.  So out came the camera and lenses and we started taking pictures of these birds.  At the far right end of the pier a bird was swimming, with my binocular's I ID it: a long-tailed duck, a beautiful male in winter plumage.'s.  Snap, snap, went the shutter and I captured the bird for posterity. 

Long-tailed Duck

We roamed around  photographing the more common species. Suddenly, in the water between two of the docks suddenly appeared two Dovekie's.  Again, snap, snap went the shutter and I now had Dovekie pictures digitally.

Dovekie

When I downloaded the pictures into my computer and was reviewing them, what I had thought initially on the pier was a female red-breasted merganser turned out to be a first-year male red-breasted merganser.  The way to tell the first year-male from a female red-breasted merganser, is that the male red-breasted merganser as a black ring around its eye, while the female red-breasted merganser has a white line under its eye.

First Winter Red-breasted Merganser

Thursdays Ducks

Male Common Eider swimming in the Cape Cod Canal

Thursday, besides obtaining the photographs of the screech owl and the canvasback's, I did obtained photographs of some more of our common species. After we've saw the screech owl we traveled down to the Cape Cod Canal, which at high tide was higher than I have ever seen it due to astronomical conditions and looking toward what will occurred during the upcoming blizzard and continuing astronomical high tides and Gail Ted hurricane force winds, I worry about beach erosion and the people who live along the coast. All that aside,

Including the canal and Jenney Pond, I obtained some nice photographs of common eiders, red-breasted mergansers, gadwalls, hooded mergansers, common goldeneye and ring-neck ducks.

Female Common Goldeneye, has been present at Jenney Pond for a number of weeks

Pair of Hooded Mergansers and a pair of Gadwalls illustrating size differences in the ducks

Male Gadwall walking on the ice at Jenney Pond

Male Red-Breasted Merganser which has been hanging out on Jenney Pond also for a number weeks. The reason it's breast seem so large is its crop is filled with a very large perch.

Male Ring-necked Duck at Jenney Pond

Juvenile Common Eider swimming in the Cape Cod Canal

Female Red-breasted Merganser swimming in the Cape Cod Canal