A couple of years ago I started a tradition of sharing photos of my favorite bird species from my fall trip to Cape May – the Black Skimmer. The photo opportunities seem to keep getting better and better each year. This year brought more flight action along with other unique shots.
Black Skimmer in flight
Black Skimmer flapping
This year, we stayed at a hotel near the beach. We could see the skimmer flock flying around the beach right from our window! It was nice to be able to walk over to them without even having to get into a car.
Black Skimmer flock
The Skimmers would often take flight and skim the ocean.
Black Skimmer skimming
Black Skimmer skimming
Black Skimmer skimming into a wave
Black Skimmer skimming the surf
While others were a bit lazy about getting their food.
Lazy Black Skimmer
After skimming, they would land in the shallow water and bathe when the waves hit.
Black Skimmer bathing
Synchronized bathing
Two Skimmers after they are done bathing
Young Skimmers found interest in objects along the beach; they would poke and prod at shells, sticks and rocks.
Black Skimmer flipping an oyster shell
Black Skimmer attempting to pick up a larger shell
Black Skimmer claiming its found object
Black Skimmer toying with a stick
Many of them were a bit more lazy in-between Skimming and took a snooze on the sand.
Adult Skimmer laying in the sand
Black Skimmer head-on
Young Skimmer resting on the sand
As with past years, the Skimmers would preen between snoozes.
Black Skimmer preening
Black Skimmer stretching
Black Skimmer rousing
Black Skimmer after a stretch
This was another great year with my favorite Skimmer flock.
There are few things that I would wake up at 2:30AM for. Birding visits to the New Jersey coast is one of them. During the summer, you have to get there early or you will get stuck in beach traffic. It can get packed very quickly. I live over two hours away from most good birding spots, so the drive, plus early arrival, means getting up way too early.
Last weekend my friend, Jon, and I headed to the coast to see a Tern colony. We arrived at the beach at around 6:30 for perfect light and to beat traffic. We were immediately greeted by the sound of Terns and set up or cameras at the colony that was not far from the entrance to the beach. This was my first time actually seeing Least Terns – even though they are pretty easy to get in the summer. I had a questionable tick on my life list from back in 2011, but it seemed too late in the fall for one (the bird was identified by someone else) so I retracted the sighting from my list.
Adult Least Tern
The young were very active, but the smaller ones stayed more in the dunes. I still enjoyed photographing some tweens and teenagers who stayed not far from the tape that closed off their nesting area.
Young Least Tern
Two young Terns
Young Least Tern
Baby Least Terns stayed toward the back
A few adults stayed nearby and preened in front of us.
Adult Least Tern
Least Tern preening
The adults would come in with fish and every younger tern begged as the adult scrambled to find its baby. Some of the teens even stole the fish anyway.
An adult Tern scrambles to find its young
A juvenile begs for the fish
This adult caught the attention of many young
The colony also had Common Terns, Black Skimmers and American Oystercatchers. They all stayed very far back so I did not get many photos.
Common Terns make some noise
Possible nesting Black Skimmers
American Oystercatcher flying in
I was happy enough photographing the Least Terns. They kept me entertained as they curiously explored the world around them.
Young Least Tern inspecting a stick
Young Least Tern inspecting a shell
I’ll certainly visit this beach again in the future. Maybe there will be other young birds later in the season from the different species!
I’ve mentioned this before – Black Skimmers are one of my favorite birds. I look forward to seeing a beach full of them when I go to Cape May in the fall. This year, we visited twice. On the first morning we went to Higbee dike, ate breakfast and headed to the beach. There was not a huge flock of birds but we still had some photo ops.
The next morning, we went to the beach earlier and found hundreds of birds.
The perfect light
The tide was high and the waves were rough. The birds were a tad bit skittish of the aggressive ocean and would take flight easily.
The waves kept the Skimmers at bay
My friend, Jon, and I ended up getting soaked because we forgot to pay attention to the water behind us. Thankfully, I just got up from kneeling in the sand when the wave hit so my camera was safe.
The photo I took right before getting soaked by a wave
We ended up going to breakfast since it was across the road and returned afterwards when the tide was a bit lower. It ended up paying off! Here are some more photos that I took that morning.
I ended up getting a photo that I just missed last year – a head-on shot of a Skimmer showing the beak from the front.
I’ve been wanting a head-on photo for a long time!
Another photographic success!
Young Skimmer in flight
In addition to the photos, I took a few videos with my phone of the flock in flight.
I started my blog in February of this year so this will be my first “new year” with an audience. I am taking this opportunity to do what many others do this time of year – reflect on my year, with a focus on my best birds and experiences. Personally 2013 brought many changes to my life – I started the year in New York and am ending in Pennsylvania. As far as birds go, I got 36 life birds, a great oppurtunity to be a part of the birding community and unforgettable trips with friends.
I started out with a bang doing New Years birding with my friend; the first bird we spotted together was a life bird for me – the Northern Shrike. This bird eluded me any time I would look for it during the previous season. The scope views were great, but he was too far for good photos.
Documentation shot of the Northern Shrike
Halfway into the month, my friends and I went up to the Cayuga Lake region to search for a Townsend’s Solitaire that had been reliably seen. We searched for two hours and never found the bird. Of course, the bird was spotted about ten minutes after we left – go figure. As we were making our way back down the lake I received an email about a juvenile gray-morph Gyrfalcon that was spotted at Montezuma NWR. A Gyrfalcon?? We turned right around and chased this bird which would have been a lifer for all three of us. We had our sights on a bird that we thought was the Gyrfalcon, but it was too far even for scope views and concluded that it was a Rough-legged Hawk (shadows played tricks on us). We went to another area to get a better view and the bird we were looking at was, indeed, the Gyr. It was a great turn-around to our otherwise disappointing day!
I promise you that this is a Gyrfalcon
This month was the start of my interest in falconry. My friends caught and hunted with a handsome male Red-tailed Hawk who they named Rusty.
Rusty, my friend’s Red-tailed Hawk
I watched birds hunt for the first time at the New Jersey Falconry Club Annual Meet. I hope to have the time to hunt with birds one day in the future. For now, I will follow around my friends and photograph them with their birds.
Rogue, my friend’s Harris’s Hawk
January was also the start of my Redpoll invasion that ran well into February. I had over 100 birds at my feeders – they cleaned me out, but it was a great experience. Within the Common Redpoll flocks, I also spotted a couple of Hoary Redpolls.
Common Redpoll
Hoary Redpoll
The winter months bring tons of waterfowl to the finger lakes. This year was my first time seeing rafts of ducks swimming close together – this raft included great views at a life bird, the Eared Grebe.
Eared Grebe
In March, my friends and I did a winter big day where we found a flock of Red Crossbills at a residential feeder. My next lifer was seen on the very next day – a Lapland Longspur within a flock of Horned Larks.
Red Crossbills
Later in the month, after multiple attempts at finding Short-eared Owls both locally and further north, we finally had one fly over low as the sun was setting. I didn’t even lift my camera for it, because I did not want to lose this beautiful sight by playing with settings and focus.
My biggest highlight this month was not an actual bird – earlier in the season, I submitted a photo to Project Feederwatch that was recognized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on their Facebook page. An editor at National Wildlife Magazine saw this photo and asked me if she could use it in an article. The magazine arrived in my mail box on March 15th. I was published in a national magazine for the first time!
My photo in National Wildlife Magazine
April brought another really great life bird – the Bohemian Waxwing. A friend and I went up to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to photograph birds. As soon as we parked the car, I received an email that the Waxwings were nearby. We packed back up and headed to the location. We ended up getting permission to go in private woods and were surrounded by these beautiful birds!
Bohemian Waxwings
May was highlighted by The Biggest Week in American Birding. Back in February, I volunteered to be on the events blogging team. I ended up getting a bit more involved than last year, met many new friends and walked away with a lot of great memories – and 12 life birds.
This Long-eared Owl was the most unexpected life bird at Magee Marsh
Cape May Warbler at Magee
Things slowed down in June and July. We did, however, get to see the return of a local family of Barred Owls. At about the same time, I also had a guest Great Horned Owl in my own woods. All of these birds proved to be great subjects and were fun to watch.
Young Barred Owl
Great Horned Owl
In August, I added some more really good life birds – An American White Pelican who was out of range at Montezuma NWR and some Least Bitterns that I was able to self-identify in the field. A Black-billed Cuckoo also flew into my yard – this was a very unexpected visitor!
Black-billed Cuckoo
Then came September and our annual trip to Cape May. For me, this trip started last year and both visits were beyond my expectations. While the morning flight at Higbee was not as great as last year, we still went on a good day and saw many birds zip by.
Cedar Waxwings morning flight
I finally saw a Marsh Wren – a bird that I had previously only heard… many times… many many times.
Marsh Wren
We also found out where the Black Skimmer flock likes to hang out during the fall – a beach near the 2nd Avenue jetty. I was in Skimmer heaven!
Black Skimmers
Endless Black Skimmers
I moved to my new house in Pennsylvania – this was a big change for me. Leaving New York was difficult, but it had to be done. Before I left, however, I was given the opportunity to hold my favorite bird, the American Kestrel, for the first time thanks to my friends.
Me with an American Kestrel
Birding slowed down for me in October. I spent a lot of time settling into my new house and only went birding once with a new friend. Other than that, I watched as migrants passed through my yard. In November, this same friend also brought me to Barnegat on the coast of New Jersey – a first for me. The trip yielded five life birds including the Harlequin Duck – our target bird.
Harlequin Ducks
We stopped by Sandy Hook Gateway National Park to check in on some Snowy Owl sightings. Just as we were about to give up, a fisherman told us where to find the one of the birds on the north beach. The photo op was unbeatable. This was one of the earlier Owls from this years irruption.
Snowy Owl
Last week, my best Christmas present was in the form of votes – I won week 7 of Project Feederwatch’s BirdSpotter Contest. This was completely unexpected since I never asked anyone for votes – it just happened!
My winning House Finch photo
We visited Barnegat again in December with another friend to show her the Harlequins. Once again, the trip did not disappoint us. Not only were we rewarded with great views at Harlequins, we also had up-close looks at Northern Gannets and an unexpected visit from two Razorbills off shore.
Northern Gannet
I look forward to seeing new birds in new places for 2014. Every year keeps getting better as I add more places to visit. More trips to Cape May are already planned, the Biggest Week is already in discussion and we are even considering going to the Rio grande Birding Festival this year. Perhaps my post a year from now will be even better than this one!
I have been extremely busy lately with buying a new house, getting it ready, packing and moving. In between all of this madness I went to Cape May with my friends for our annual Fall migration trip. I still do not have the time to write about it, so I will leave you with some photos for a preview of what to expect. And I will say this – as far as the ratio of good-to-bad photos, this was my most successful trip yet even though the main point of it was birding rather than photography.
One of a pair of American Oystercatchers
Forster’s Tern flying by
A Sanderling running away from the waves
A beach full of Black Skimmers
Snowy Egrets at Forsythe NWR
Young Herring Gull flying by
Ruddy Turnstone on the rocks
Like what you see? Check back for more later this month!
