The Birdy Site: Christmas Break Birding: Part 1, Testing the New Camera

Earlier this year, my camera broke.

My Canon Elph 100 HS had a lens error shortly after returning from the NY Birder's Conference and was unable to work. This was very disturbing news, as this had been my very first camera and I had done some good digiscoping with it. However, that particular camera was also my third replacement due to lens errors and so this gave me an excuse to upgrade my camera a bit.

You can't see it here, but trust me, it's broken.

And so, on Christmas, a replacement magically appeared. It is a superzoom camera, the Nikon P600, with 60x optical zoom and many of the manual controls of a DSLR. What's more, it is smaller and lighter than my D3100, making it easier to carry.

Nikon P600

And so, in order to test out this new camera, I began today a new series for this Christmas break...

Christmas Break Birding

Episode #1

Nassau County, North Shore

For winter waterfowl that like to hang out in saltwater, Stehli Beach on the Long Island sound is a great place. I needed to get some first-of-season saltwater ducks and besides, it would be a good place to try out the new camera. So I went.

There was nothing doing in the swamp on one side of the parking lot, so I pulled out the scope and checked the sound. I found a Long-tailed Duck. Then I found another. And another. This kept up until my count was 64.

Popping out from the masses of Long-tails came two Horned Grebes, which I easily identified by their weird shaped heads. A Red-breasted Merganser was also bopping along the waves, and soon came very close to shore, allowing good looks and photos. A whole bunch of duck sp., actually probably scoter sp., stayed way far out with the skyline of the Bronx behind them, and with the wonderful looks I got, I officially identified them as Black Blobs. A Great Black-backed Gull floated in the water. Two Sanderlings landed on the shore.

At this point, it was getting dark, so my parents drove to another location, Mill Pond. One of the numerous places called Mill Pond on Long Island, this one is a relatively small pond situated right next a road, so that one must stand behind the guardrail to view the pond. Here there where the ubiquitous Mute Swans, as well as a whole crew of scaups, which I called Lesser Scaup due to the pointy head. Some Hooded Mergansers hung out on the other side as Buffleheads came in closer, and Northern Pintails stayed far far away. Three American Wigeon hung out and acted cool.

And now, I leave you to take a look at the pictures, all taken with the P600. Enjoy, until tomorrow's episode!