The last couple of weeks since my last post have been rather trying. Instead of enjoying the delightful Fall weather in Vermont, I dealt with a computer crash/infection/or some - @#$% - thing. Stress and lost time, but its working, and I seem not to have lost anything of importance.
Finished the recovery job in Philly, then celebrated yesterday with a trip to Cape May - a delightful, pleasant Fall day. Just being outside meandering about some of my favorite spots was fulfilling - the kind of day when you don't have to see anything "special," because everything is special.
Just a few samples, beginning with the
Carolina Wrens - they were singing and chasing one another. Since breeding season is over, I presume the rivalries had to do with older males chasing off younger males, and younger males trying to find some territories of their own. Whatever it was precisely, it was entertaining.
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| Carolina Wren |
My cats awakened me very early for breakfast, which meant getting to Cape May at dawn ... which in turn meant some wonderful early morning light. A few samples ...
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| Northern Cardinal |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| Great Blue Heron |
No dawn light on this
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but this one was much more accommodating to my camera than the ones I tried to photograph outside my kitchen window in Vermont - no keepers from Vermont, but a nice, if fleeting, pose from this one.
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
Cape May is famous during the Fall for hawk migration. I did not spend much time at the watch platform, but that hardly mattered. The hawks were visible overhead all over the area. On several occasions, I looked up to see several accipters (sharps & coops). Here is a
Sharp-shinned Hawk ...
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| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
A few butterflies were still flying - one Monarch, Clouded Sulphurs, Common Buckeyes, and in several locations,
American Lady ...
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| American Lady |
No trip to the coast is complete without some time watching the
Sanderlings chase, or be chased by, the waves ...
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| Sanderling |
... and finally ... just because it is Fall, a time of glorious color before the bleak monotones of winter.
Good Birding!
