Winter Photos

Dunlin.

Snowy Owl.

the same Snowy Owl.

Canada Geese drifting down the Seekonk River on a piece of ice. 

Herring Gull.

Winter Solstice Bird Count

Back in December my brother and my grandfather and I went on our annual Winter solstice bird count in Westport Massachusetts. We were expecting to see at least one of the Snowy Owls reported at Horse Neck Beach and maybe if we were lucky, an alcid or two. Alcids are a family of black and white birds that live far out at sea in Winter and nest on cliffs up in Canada in the Summer. They range in size from as large as a duck to smaller than a dove. 

Our first stop was at Westport River. We stopped here because we saw some ducks as we were driving past and they tuned out to be a hunter's wooden decoys! The next stop was a parking lot next to Horseneck Beach to check for Snow Buntings, Horned Lark and Lapland Longspur as this time last year we saw them here. We didn't get any of the birds I just mentioned but it was still worth the stop. When we pulled into the parking lot there were a bunch of cars with wind surf boards on the top and some without but all had wind surfing stickers on them. When we got down to the beach it was very windy and cold but that didn't stop the surfers. They were everywhere sitting on the beach, in the dunes and surfing, scaring all the sea ducks away. I was amazed the wind surfers didn't freeze, I was almost frozen and I wasn't even in the water! We decided to leave for the next place due to the freezing wind but just as we were about to get into our car a Peregrine Falcon flew over and away. 

Gooseberry Neck sticks out into the Atlantic right next to Horseneck Beach. Gooseberry is a shrubby peninsula and is good place to look for warblers in Spring, shorebirds in Fall and Snowy Owls, alcids and sea ducks in Winter. We didn't even begin our walk because as soon as we got out of the car my brother found a small black and white Dovekie swimming out in the middle of the bay! A Dovekie is a very small alcid species and we were all very excited because we had never seen one before. It slowly started swimming closer to us with a strange style of locomotion. Instead of using it's feet to swim it was using it's wings like paddles and rowing towards shore. I was sitting photographing it as it paddled closer and closer. Amazingly it beached itself on the rocks and then crawled up the beach to where I was sitting and right onto my lap! 

Dovekies are tiny birds, a little smaller than a dove. They have very short, stubby bills, black backs, white bellies, white necklaces and black caps. It was obvious that something was wrong with the one resting on my lap and so we decided to take it to a wildlife rehabilitation facility. Our grandfather got a blanket from the car to calm the bird as we picked it up but it kept running away from the blanket and we couldn't catch it that way. So I picked it up in my hands and while I was carrying it up to the car it bit my finger. I am now one of the elite few who have been bitten by a Dovekie.

It is a well known fact that the victims of a vampire's bite turn into vampires themselves but I was not aware until recently that the same is true for Dovekie bite victims. I now turn into an alcid every night; flying far out in the Atlantic and trying to sleep on the frigid waves, sadly squawking quietly to myself.

Me and the Dovekie

Snowy Owl

I saw three Snowy Owls at Sachuest Point a few days ago and got about 150 photos of them but this is the best. It is carrying a Bufflehead that it was eating before it flew off.

Melting Snow

Sanderling

Pine Grosbeak

                                                                  Pine Grosbeak

Theo and his New Rabbit

                                                                       
                                                                               Theo

Sparrow

                                                                                        Saltmarsh sparrow

Crossbills

                                                                                            Red Crossbill

                                                                                 White-winged Crossbill

MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD!!!!

                                     A super rare Mountain Bluebird and a Red-breasted Goose.

Lark Sparrow

I spotted a Lark Sparrow. It is a very rare bird.

Mega Rare Wood Sandpiper!

Wood Sandpiper 

October 15, 2012 

Marsh Meadows, Jamestown, RI 

We saw the dozens birders start running through the other side of the marsh so we 

knew by birder body language that they had seen the Wood Sandpiper! We were getting 

very frustrated because we could not find how to get through the marsh to the lifer- 

mega. We finally found a path through the phragmites marsh, putting many cuts and 

splinters into my bare feet, and got the bird!

I was sitting on my butt in the wet and spiky marsh grass (which is very uncomfortable 

in case you've never tried it) to keep my camera steady. I was shaking because this was 

the rarest bird that I have ever seen. It has only been seen 5 times in the lower 48 

states and this is the first New England record. It was a very beautiful sandpiper with its 

large black eyes it looked like a BBSA, but the eye stripe and yellowlegs made it look 

like a LEYE and the back and size made it look like a SOSA.

It was running back and forth across the shallow, mucky water. We saw it catch a small 

fish and it had to sit in the grass for a long time to digest it before it started running 

erratically around the mud again. 

Gloucester

Sand!

Piping Plover. I would have liked to have been able to crop this photo but the computer can't handle it. 

Marsh Wren.

Sunset.

SUMMER TANAGER!!!!!

Male Summer Tanager

Cape-may Warbler

Female Summer Tanager

We went out to look for the two Summer Tanagers that had been reported there the day earlier. They are found in Rhode Island almost every year but are still quite uncommon. We have looked for them every year and have not found them. But today was our lucky day. First we found the female sitting high up in a newly leafed tree. She looked like a female Scarlet Tanager without the black wings. Then one of the people in our birding group said that he had the male in view. I rushed over to the person who spotted it and then I saw it too. I was expecting an adult male but it was an young adult male. It looked like a mix between a male and a female Summer Tanager. It had a bright red head and a green body. In a way I think it was nicer looking than a fully adult male. LIFE BIRD!!!! We got 2 more good birds for the day. The first was a Cape-may Warbler and the second was a Wilson's Warbler. Year birds both.

Here comes the Sun

Sunrise.

Bird+Bird+Bird+Bird+Bird+Bird+=Lots of birds

Sanderlings

Tree Swallow flying on a feather

Purple Finch

Killdeer

Saltmarsh Sparrow with bug

Goat

Goat.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Petersham

A pond.

Some flowers.

A dandylion puff.

A Green Frog.

Mink.

Mute Swan

Mute Swan