Terns Terns Terns

There is a place on Long Island called Nickerson Beach. In summer, birders and photographers flock there, drawn by the large colony of nesting Common Terns, as well as oystercatchers, skimmers, and various other cool things like that.

Nickerson Beach is best summed up in photos, as no written account of a visit can really attempt to capture the essence of the experience. Therefore, I choose to present you with some of my better photos from my recent visit to Nickerson. Enjoy.

This Common Tern is sitting on eggs.

The birds at Nickerson don't seem to be phased much by photographers
anymore.

Ironic that by far the best flight shot I took that day was with a  135mm
lens.

As they say, half of photography is luck. This oystercatcher took off as
I hit the shutter.

Only at Nickerson Beach.

Baby Terns!

A Review: Merlin

Finally, here's the tool non-birder's have been asking about for years: a tool that allows a user to upload an image of a bird for instant computer identification. It's called Merlin, and it's from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

I tested Merlin with some clear, easy shots, and then threw some harder ones at it:

As you can see, Merlin has not yet mastered the very fine points of identification. A fine human birder would take note of the orangish-red bill and legs plus pale primaries and put that together to get Forster's Tern, rather than Common Tern, which has darker primaries and a red bill and legs.

Let's take a look at some of the harder photos I threw at Merlin and how it did on them. 

Hooded Merganser--Wrong

Long-tailed Duck--CORRECT

Least Sandpiper--CORRECT

Wood Duck--CORRECT (the correct answer is the third one listed)