 |
| Digiscoped Yellow-crowned Night Heron. |
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Looking for Phalaropes and finding a Sandwich Tern...
 |
| 2 out of 3 Wilson's Phalaropes on the flats at Mecox LI. |
 |
| Stunning Red-necked Phalarope at Mecox LI |
 |
| Somewhere in here is a Sandwich Tern - can you guess where? |
 |
| Sandwich Tern found by Heydi Lopes and I at Mecox LI. |
Tags:
Sandwich Tern, 
Red-necked Phalarope, 
Wilson's Phalarope
Friday, June 22, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Curlew Sandpiper on Long Island...
Today's guest post was written by Michael McBrien, the founder of the Curlew Sandpiper on June 14th, at Cupsogue Long Island. Michael, is currently serving as the vice president of the New York State Young
Birders Club and has been involved with the group since 2009. In September, he will begin his junior year of high school. Michael has been interested in nature most of his life and shared how his mom remembers him getting
up very early each morning when he was a toddler to watch a show called
"Mother Nature" on Animal Planet which featured birds such as Common
Loons and American Bitterns.
Michael became interested in birds in the first grade when he did a science project on Ospreys. But credits a family birding trip to Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania in 2003 as the moment when he became hooked on birding and has been avidly birding since. Michael enjoys all aspects of birding from watching seaducks on the coast during the winter, to studying terns and shorebirds in the summer, to observing songbird flocks throughout migration. However, he particularly enjoys birding during windblown rainstorms; something we both have in common!
I first met Michael during a Nassau County Christmas Bird Count and it was obvious that he was a very focused young man on his birding. Besides his obvious skills as a birder, I am very impressed with Michael's humility through it all. He has always demonstrated to be a polite, humble (an important character trait) and grounded young man, which is a great credit to his upbringing!! Here is his write-up on how the finding of the Curlew Sandpiper unfolded - enjoy!
On, Thursday, June 14th, I (Michael McBrien), arrived at Cupsogue Long Island a bit after low tide. As I was walking out onto the flats, it seemed like it was going to be a fairly quiet day. There was a stiff northeast breeze and very few terns were loafing about the flats. Although the number of Common Terns on the flats was low when I arrived, I decided to make the most of my visit and spent the remainder of my time out on the flats studying the lingering migrant shorebirds. A good amount of Red Knots were present along with the usual Plovers, Dowitchers, and Peeps.
By now, I was hitting myself for putting my camera away earlier, but realizing the rarity of this bird, I carefully slid it out of my backpack, trying not to make any sudden movements. After I had taken a couple of shots, I called my mom and then a few other birders to alert them about this bird. After getting my mom on the bird, I stayed out a while longer studying it as the tide slowly washed away its feeding area. It eventually flew off to join a larger flock of Red Knots until they together flew off into the grasses surrounding one of the marsh islands.
Tags: 
Curlew Sandpiper, 
Long Island, 
Cupsogue County Park
Michael became interested in birds in the first grade when he did a science project on Ospreys. But credits a family birding trip to Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania in 2003 as the moment when he became hooked on birding and has been avidly birding since. Michael enjoys all aspects of birding from watching seaducks on the coast during the winter, to studying terns and shorebirds in the summer, to observing songbird flocks throughout migration. However, he particularly enjoys birding during windblown rainstorms; something we both have in common!
I first met Michael during a Nassau County Christmas Bird Count and it was obvious that he was a very focused young man on his birding. Besides his obvious skills as a birder, I am very impressed with Michael's humility through it all. He has always demonstrated to be a polite, humble (an important character trait) and grounded young man, which is a great credit to his upbringing!! Here is his write-up on how the finding of the Curlew Sandpiper unfolded - enjoy!
On, Thursday, June 14th, I (Michael McBrien), arrived at Cupsogue Long Island a bit after low tide. As I was walking out onto the flats, it seemed like it was going to be a fairly quiet day. There was a stiff northeast breeze and very few terns were loafing about the flats. Although the number of Common Terns on the flats was low when I arrived, I decided to make the most of my visit and spent the remainder of my time out on the flats studying the lingering migrant shorebirds. A good amount of Red Knots were present along with the usual Plovers, Dowitchers, and Peeps.
Eventually,
as the tide continued to rise, it came time for me to begin my trek
back across the mudflats. I packed away my camera and did a final scan
of the shorebirds and terns, then started heading back. However, just
before I was about to cross the first channel, I came across a small
flock of shorebirds feeding in a mussel bed. Raising my binoculars, I
quickly saw the flock included a couple more Red Knots (Calidris canutus), a Dunlin (Calidris alpina) and a
few Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla
). But then, I laid my eyes upon a different
bird. From the naked eye, I had assumed it was a breeding plumaged
knot, but a closer look revealed it to be something very different - a
shorebird with extensive, brick red underparts, a long curved bill, and
fairly long black legs. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes. But
there I stood in the middle of a rising pool of water, in pure
astonishment, with a beautiful adult male Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) standing
before me.
By now, I was hitting myself for putting my camera away earlier, but realizing the rarity of this bird, I carefully slid it out of my backpack, trying not to make any sudden movements. After I had taken a couple of shots, I called my mom and then a few other birders to alert them about this bird. After getting my mom on the bird, I stayed out a while longer studying it as the tide slowly washed away its feeding area. It eventually flew off to join a larger flock of Red Knots until they together flew off into the grasses surrounding one of the marsh islands.
And
now as I made my way back across the flooded marsh, I could only think
of how privileged I was to have found this great bird, especially on a
day that seemed pretty quiet when it began. This all serves to show
that when you're out birding, you never know what you may see. To quote
someone I know, "you have to leave yourself open to the day."
Here are some photos of the Curlew Sandpiper:
Here are some photos of the Curlew Sandpiper:
Curlew Sandpiper, Long Island, Cupsogue County Park
Monday, June 18, 2012
Perils of nature...
 |
| Curve-Lined Argyria (Vaxi auratella) Moth taken out by a Robber Fly. |
 |
| Curve-Lined Argyria (Vaxi auratella) Moth taken out by a Robber Fly. |
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Featured Shorebird - White-rumped Sandpiper...
With all the buzz about warblers during the spring migration it is easy to forget that there are many other groups of birds that also migrate. One such group happens to be my ABSOLUTE favorite - SHOREBIRDS. It is no coincidence that I participate in shorebird surveys for several organizations both in the spring and fall. This post will feature one of those shorebird types that are moving through at the moment. White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis).
White-rumped Sandpiper, is a plain looking shorebird, that reminds me of a Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) with their attenuated look and long wings projecting beyond their tail. If all of the diagnostic features are present, then this bird could easily be identified among flocks of peeps. However, sometimes in the field birders may find it a bit tricky; especially, with those smaller White-rumpeds that will require patience to work through the field marks. Of course, if the bird calls, that would seal the ID with no problems.
During migration, White-rumped Sandpipers are usually found on mudflats, flooded fields, marshes with shallow water, on the beach near mudflats or any similar types of habitats. They typically forage near the water's edge or in shallow water mostly feeding on insect, insect larve, marine worms, mollusks, crustacean and other aquatic invertebrate. They have one of the longest migration routes, traveling over 6,000 thousand miles from the south of South America to their breeding grounds in the tundra. They make high-pitched, squeaky calls that are insect like; distinctive, once you get practice in hearing it among the calls of other shorebirds. Recently, I spent some time in the field on Long Island and in Queens observing these birds and I was able to capture video as well as obtain photographs, which I have included in this post below - enjoy!.
Video of White-rumped Sandpipers and other shorebirds -
Tags:
White-rumped Sandpiper, Long Island, 
Queens
During migration, White-rumped Sandpipers are usually found on mudflats, flooded fields, marshes with shallow water, on the beach near mudflats or any similar types of habitats. They typically forage near the water's edge or in shallow water mostly feeding on insect, insect larve, marine worms, mollusks, crustacean and other aquatic invertebrate. They have one of the longest migration routes, traveling over 6,000 thousand miles from the south of South America to their breeding grounds in the tundra. They make high-pitched, squeaky calls that are insect like; distinctive, once you get practice in hearing it among the calls of other shorebirds. Recently, I spent some time in the field on Long Island and in Queens observing these birds and I was able to capture video as well as obtain photographs, which I have included in this post below - enjoy!.
Video of White-rumped Sandpipers and other shorebirds -
Tags:
White-rumped Sandpiper, Long Island, Queens
Monday, June 11, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Good Tern of Events...
 |
| Move along folks, nothing to see in the fog. |
 |
| Can you find the Arctic Tern in this photo? |
It was a life and state bird for Heydi who was happy despite being a little distracted at receiving reports of Brooklyn birds showing up that she needed for the year :) I was very pleased that we had gotten our target bird for the day and enjoyed studying the bird as it moved around with the Common Terns. We were then joined first by Tom Burke and Gail Benson and then later by Shai Mitra and Patricia Lindsay. As if on cue, Shai upon arriving picked out a second adult Arctic Tern, which departed all too quickly for the ocean. However, the first Arctic Tern stuck around and we all got excellent looks and some of us managed photos. In addition to the Arctic Tern, we had really close up looks at Roseate Terns, a single Forster's Tern and a variety of shorebirds.
 |
| Common Tern in flight with Arctic Tern |
 |
| Nice close comparison of a Common and Arctic Tern in flight. |
Tags:
Arctic Tern, 
Cupsogue Long Island
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)