Happy Birthday Audubon!

Today, April 26th, 2014, marked John James Audubon's 229th birthday. Needless to say, this is a very important occasion. Without Audubon, it is certain that certain birds that are here today would be extinct. The world, especially the birding world, would very, very different today without Audubon.

In order to celebrate this important anniversary, I went birding. The best way to celebrate anything.


First stop was Muttowntown Preserve. I had received an email saying that was a Red-headed Woodpecker hanging around the nature center there. So, I went.

I pulled in to the parking lot, strapped on my binoculars and stepped into the woods, walking down the trail. Nothing showed.

Finally, something showed: another birder. I knew he was a birder because he was wearing binoculars on a chest harness similar to mine and a camera with a giant lens. I walked over to him and asked him the typical birding question: "Do you have anything?" He whispered back, "Red-headed Woodpecker."

And so I looked, and there was no question about it. The bird, unmistakeable with it's deep crimson head, thrilling white back, jet black back, and, when it flew, white patches on black wings, was a RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. This bird most certainly earns the caps and bold type, as it is not only a beautiful bird, but also now a threatened species, thanks to (of course) humans and their disgusting behavior.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Muttowntown didn't offer much else, except a lone Canada Goose sitting on her nest on an upturned root in a pond. That was nice, but I wanted to move on. 

Canada Goose Nest

And then it was off to my favorite birding spot of all, Tappen Beach. It started before we got to the beach: both Ospreys, were on their nest. They should be ready to lay eggs pretty soon, but for now, I was just thrilled to see them at their old haunts. 

Tappen Beach Osprey Nest

Osprey Close-Up

I pulled over at another nest, this time a Peregrine Falcon nest. This nest is sitting on the smokestack of an abandoned power plant. Stupidly enough, numerous pigeons live and nest right next to the falcons. This is a fantastic grocery store, always stocked, for the nesting falcons. Now, one falcon swooped away, but the other, probably the male, had a pigeon he had procured from the downstairs grocery store and was plucking it. The feathers were flying all over, surrounding the eating falcon and settling on the road. He flew before I could get a picture, but then settled down on his nest, and allowed for some photographic time. 

And then, Tappen Beach itself. It was, unfortunately, dead, except for a bunch (39, to be exact) Brant.

We tried to go down by Duffy's Bait and Tackle, but that, too was dead, with the exception of a few Song Sparrows, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls and a nice view of the two Ospreys on their nest. 

Ospreys on Nest

And that was it. I went home. But not sadly, as I had seen plenty of birds, including the Red-headed Woodpecker which was a lifer. And so it was fine birding for the celebration of John James Audubon. 

Red-headed Woodpecker in flight

Tappen Beach, Spring is Here!

I visited Tappen Beach to photograph gulls for a photo essay I'm working on about them. But, as always, I ended up birding.

First bird of the day: Osprey! Two adults were on their old nest on a cell tower. I can't wait for the eggs to be laid, thus beginning the new season of monitoring my Tappen Beach Ospreys!

"Hi! You're back to watch me lay eggs!"

Next, I just walked around and photographed gulls, down by the lookout. Some Buffleheads hung around in the middle of the inlet. Then, after really, really concentrating on two Herring Gulls to photograph, I walked down to the car. Lo and behold! A Killdeer flew in front of me and landed on the sandy beach! Lo and behold! It was simply a Mourning Dove that chose to forage on the beach! So much for that Killdeer.

Here are some of the fantastic (not bragging) gull photos I shot today.

Great Black-backed Gull scarfs down a giant fish

Herring Gull dropping food to crack shell

"Don't worry! I"ll get it!" 

B&W Ring-billed Gull

Down on the sandy beach, as I photographed the Great Black-backed Gull swallowing a fish, I flushed some Brant. They flew around the inlet, and then came back to land right next to me. I aimed the camera at them, and held down the shutter. Take a look at what I got.

Brant landing

On the way back, I decided on a whim to take a stop at Duffy's Bait and Tackle, where I walked down a disgustingly dirty ramp that ran down to the water. After I got there, I was disappointed, seeing only Canada Geese and Mallards. 

Soon, though, there was much more than that. My mom said, "there's an egret, or a heron. It's too small to be an egret." I raised my binoculars. Could it be? I raced back to the car and and grabbed the scope. Aiming the sight tube at the little white wader, put my eye up to the eyepiece, twiddled the focus wheel, and then my heart thrilled as the scope filled with the image of an adult SNOWY EGRET in full breeding plumage. Not only was it my FOS, but it was my 101st lifer!

Snowy Egret

I put the scope back in the car. As I did, my dad pointed out to me that there was a "small diving bird" in the water. I looked out with my binoculars, and saw something that mildly resembled a loon. Of course, I now had to get the scope again. I did. The diving bird stayed underwater, but when he popped up, I quickly aimed the scope at him and looked through. What I found was an extremely close view of the Red-necked Grebe that has been hanging around for a while. It was a very, very close view, no more than 50 feet away from us. I could see him well enough to notice that he had some feather tufts on his head, just coming into breeding plumage. I could also notice the remarkable resemblance to the illustrations in Peterson's Guide; in fact, if I had seen the illustration next to the bird, I would have though I was having double vision.

It was a great day of birding, and brought me some fantastic photos and a lifer!

Oyster Bay in Early Spring

Today, I birded some areas in Oyster Bay, Long Island, to try to get a last glimpse of waterfowl before spring came, whereupon I would be engrossed in warblers flitting through the trees at ridiculous speeds and struggling to tell the two dowitchers apart.

I started out at Theodore Roosevelt Park, which seemed to be an extremely attractant for young romantic couples. I was not interested in romance. I was interested in the Ospreys soaring over the water and parking lot, and generally being beautiful birds. Numerous Bufflehead and a lone Double-crested Cormorant floating out there. Ring-billed and Herring Gulls grabbed food from the parking lot, and four female Hooded Mergansers hung out by the piers.

The best bird at that place were four Long-tailed Ducks floating and diving way out. Soon, I knew, they would be heading north, starting to breed in small arctic ponds on the tundra. I felt thrilled to see them before they took off, heading north.

Bufflehead

Next, it was Mill Pond. And it was good, better than the beach. More Ospreys circled over our heads, and more Buffleheads swam and dove in the water, but there was also a Great Blue Heron, resplendent in breeding plumage, and my FOS (first of season) Great Egret, its long tail plumes waving in the breeze.

Great Blue Heron

As many beautiful birds as we could see, The Bird of The Day was, or were, a large quantity of Tree Swallows swooping and diving over the water. They are fairly common birds in the spring, so why were they so exciting, you ask?

The reason is, as I stood, swinging my binoculars around wildly to follow the antics of those swallows, their blue-green backs reflecting the setting sun, I rejoiced and marveled at the fact that, in almost three years of birding, those Tree Swallows were the centuplicate bird, another avian diamond going about it's daily activities that had let me be privileged enough to witness it. 

There's another way of putting it. The Tree Swallow was my 100th Life Bird. 

And so we left, me having seen my 100th bird. It's always fine heading home after a great day of birding, and so I went contentedly into the car and let the pond slide away behind me.

Mill Pond

If anyone wants to hear something totally unrelated, two Mourning Doves have laid eggs in a nest in my backyard. I will make a post about that soon.

Double-crested Cormorant