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!