Sparrows and More, Allen's Meadow with the BwBTC Gang

To echo what everyone else has said, what a great day with friends and birds! We arrived soon after sun-up to the Community Gardens at Allen's Meadows, Wilton, CT. We saw some great birds and had a wonderful time getting caught up with one another and learning more about new friends.


White-crowned sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Juvenile White Crowned Sparrow

Birding and Chatting (in the picture)
Cathleen Voss~BIRDINGGIRL, Daniel Huber ~Nature Observances, Kathie Brown ~ Kathie's Birds, Diana Fruguglietti~Travelling Birders,  Catherine Hamilton~Birdspot, Mardi Welch Dickinson~Kymry ~ A look in time….  and Dawn Fine of Dawns bloggy blog.

Diana Fruguglietti, Dawn Fine, and Mardi Welch Dickinson

Black-capped Chickadee, the acrobat seeks a sunflower seed - he entertained us all

I think the wire fence caused the abstractions of the cone flowers

Had to show a couple of flowers from the Community Gardens

Last but not least - the Very Rare Yellow-billed Plastic bird alighting upon Dawns fingers 

If you ever get a chance to go birding with this group don't hesitate - its such a fun group of people with a lot of collective birding expertise. I'm already looking forward to next years meet up!

An Evening Walk at Breezy Point

I visited my friend at Breezy Point, Rockaways, Queens, NY. After dinner we walked along the beach for awhile. There was a beautiful sunset. Nice evening with a friend.

Gray-Headed Gull at Coney Island.

Last Tuesday after Jamaica Bay we went by Coney Island to see if we could find the reported Gray-headed Gull. It didn't take long. Those around watching, noticed that his flight feathers looked a little ragged as well as a couple seemed to be missing. Still a beautiful bird. So glad we got to see it. I hope the bird will return to the Palm tree sprinkler or be relocated so others can continue to see this gorgeous bird.

The Action at John's Pond, Jamaica Bay

There wasn't a lot going on in the heat at the West Pond at Jamaica Bay but John's Pond had a lot of action. A fishing Great Egret and 3 juvenile Black-Crowned Herons and an adult Black-Crowned Heron. There were a few foraging assorted shore birds.

Got it

A tasty morsel

Down the hatch

Now for a little preening

When we first arrived there was an adult Black-Crowned Night Heron and three juveniles.  The adult took off quickly but the three juveniles stayed around the pond. The juveniles are also Black-Crowned Night herons. The immature Black-Crowned Heron is browner and their spots are larger  then the immature Yellow-Crowned Night Heron which is grayer and more finely speckled as well as having longer legs.  Two of the juveniles had quite a game over a stick. You can see other smaller shore birds in a few of the pictures.

The other juvenile stayed on this branch and preened the whole time.

Baby, Babies Everywhere

In Maine, where I try to escape to as soon as school is over, we found a nesting Eastern Phoebe over the kitchen door. It is the perfect place; a small ledge under/protected by a porch. The first day there I could see two little beaks coming up when mom arrived, but mom was also still sitting. A couple days later I could make out three babies. On the last day as I took pictures there were four babies with open beaks!

Mom or dad on the look out for bugs, juicy bugs.

When I returned from Maine I went to Breezy Point to see Common Tern babies. I found babies of all sizes and ages. Those still under mom are 1-3 days old usually. They were so much fun to watch.

Fish please! Down here, don't you see us.

I don't want the grass, I want a fish, please!

Hope you are all enjoying the summer. Shore birds are coming back, Yeah!

Courtship Dance of Least Terns and Marsh Makers at Rocky Point

All right, it took me more than overnight to put these up. After my morning at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, I went to Breezy Point with my friend Andrea. First we walked along the ocean side of Breezy. There were several black bellied plovers, seagulls and willets. But the best were seeing the 3 American Oystercatcher chicks. Too cute!


After lunch we walked along the Bay from the  Bay House toward the bridge. It was a beautiful day. As we were walking along we came to the Marsh at Rocky Point. This was a favorite of ours last year. We would check on the willets that were nesting there. We didn't see any willets but through our binoculars we saw a young man who looked to be cleaning up the marsh: Our hint he was wearing waders, long rubber gloves and hauling wood junk. Now I had heard of a couple of days this spring when some groups helped out to clean up the marsh but I didn't have any idea that someone was volunteering to do this on an ongoing basis. Anyway the young man started toward us so we waited and greeted him. Shervin started the project of cleaning up the marsh in November of 2010. He has a blog that follows the progress of the marsh cleanup. This is very exciting and Andrea and I will be helping out at the next volunteer day you can bet. You can view Shervin's blog at marshmakers.blogspot.com

After meeting Shervan we continued our walk. We saw several Black-bellied Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Great Egret, Green Heron, Least Terns, Brant Geese, Merganzer, Oystercatcher and Spotted Sandpipers.


Spotted Sandpiper (Actitus macularia)

    

Semipalmated plover



Herring Gulls (acting like the Doublemint Twins)

America Oystercatcher (Haematopus pallistus)

 

The best part of the walk was the courtship of least terns that we observed. I wish I had video for the first time, but I think you'll get the idea.