Terns

Plans for a week of intensive birding went awry when my birding companion took a bad fall and sustained a severe arm fracture ... followed by emergency room, then surgery, then recovery.

Nevertheless, there were good moments before the accident, most notable of which were the terns at Forsyth NWR.

Forster's Terns were fishing along the auto drive. Combined with wonderful afternoon light, they provided excellent photo opportunities.

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

Forster's Tern

In the documentary category are the photos of Caspian Tern and Gull-billed Tern ...

Caspian Tern - NOT - in too much hurry to post

Gull-billed Tern (center - Forster's Tern)

Good Birding!

Wetland and the Shore

I am in the midst of a short stay in Philly and have squeezed in some walks at Heinz NWR and at Cape May. Here are a few images.

The waders at Heinz were stand-out, including as many Great Egrets as I have seen in one place in a long time ...

Great Egrets

Great Egrets

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Green Heron

Along the shore, terns were the stand-out (alas, :( no Whiskered Tern)

Common Tern

Forster's Tern

Royal Tern

Royal tern

Good Birding!!

Turning Stones and Forster"s courting

My recent trip to southern New Jersey was a little early for shorebirds, but most species were present in modest numbers.

At Forsyth NWR, Ruddy Turnstones were actively "turning stones" ...

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

The bird with the turnstone in the preceding photos was capitalizing on the sand being churned to forage. When it finally presented its profile, it gave itself away as a Sanderling in glorious breeding plumage. I am accustomed to seeing the Sanderling as the wave-chasing white sandpiper ...

Sanderling (foreground)

One more Ruddy Turnstone, just because I like the pose ...

Ruddy Turnstone

Forster's Terns were in hyper-active courtship mode, with the ladies calling for food ...

Forster's Turn

... and the gentlemen doing their best to accommodate, though coming up from a dive empty was not unusual, as seen here ...

Forster's Tern

On his way with a gift for his lady ...

Forster's Tern

Good Birding!!

Samples from Cape May

Clapper Rail is easy to hear in the New Jersey salt marshes, but a sighting is often a matter of luck, or long patience waiting for one to walk into the open. But it is Spring, they have just arrived, the hormones are surging, and they are hyper. At Jake's landing I kept seeing the birds pop out of the marsh grasses, fly a short distance, then disappear into the grasses again. But I was patient and tried to be alert. The payoff:

Clapper Rail

Clapper Rail

Wrens are compact bundles of energy and irrepressible song. Higbee's Beach WMA teemed with Carolina Wrens; Jake's Landing hosted vocal duels from Marsh Wrens, and in various places House Wrens let their song tumble forth. It was a particular treat to see the House Wrens in a "natural" setting, rather than a backyard setting ...

Carolina Wren

House Wren

Marsh Wren

 The Red-winged Blackbird is rightly appreciated for the bright red epaulets which he flashes to intimidate rivals and attract females. The female is usually passed over as a rather dull, medium-sized, brown bird, but the one below demonstrated an often overlooked and under appreciated variety and beauty ...

Red-winged Blackbirds - female

Red-winged Blackbird - female

Red-winged Blackbird - male displaying

 Courtship season is going full tilt. Forster's Terns used the same land posting at Jake's Landing that I have seen them use in previous years. The gentleman on the right did not bring the lady a fish, and after a few moments she flew off in an apparent huff ...

Forster's Terns

... and across the marsh, the Willet winged back and forth with their "pee-will-willet pee-will-will-it" ...

Willet

 And finally, the Seaside Sparrow is not much to look at, and nor is his song much to listen to, unless you happen to be another Seaside Sparrow in the throes of the breeding season ...

Seaside Sparrow

Good birding!

Marsh Birds - Brigantine

The recent day trip to Brigantine yielded my first photos of the Gull-billed Tern, a regular but uncommon summer resident in Forsythe NWR ...

Gull-billed Tern

Forster's Terns were not very cooperative as they fished the channels, usually choosing to give me backlight or their backside, but this one grabbed a worm out of the mud and I grabbed a photo ...

Forster's Tern

The bubbling energy of wrens always engages me, none more so than the Marsh Wren. Notice that this one is wearing jewelry ...

Marsh Wren

Wrens are "troglodytes" - cave dwellers. There were at least two newly made "caves" in the vicinity of the singing male ...

Marsh Wren nest

I wonder why this hen Mallard had only one duckling following her. Did her eggs not hatch? Had a predator taken eggs? Or had predators taken the young ducklings?

Mallard hen with her lone duckling

Willets are common nesting shorebirds along the coast, their "pee-will-willet" carrying over the marsh grasses ...

Willet

In a post early this spring, I said that one goal for this season was to capture the Red-winged Blackbird showing his epaulets in all their glory. This gentleman cooperated magnificently ...

Red-winged Blackbird

Good birding!!

Forster's Tern Courtship

On a gray day one week ago, I was at Brigantine (Forsyth NWR). Forster's Terns were common along the loop road and many were in the midst of their courtship with the males demonstrating their prowess by bringing food to the females. I watched several fishing along the canal.

First, there is the hovering as he looks for small fish below the surface ...

... then the dive ...



I missed the splash down, but caught this series as he reemerges ...



He came up empty this time. I add the photo of the female as though she were protesting his ineptitude. The fact is, this is her posture as he eventually returns to her with food, though sometimes it also appeared that this was the posture of impatience if he was away from her for too long ...

from southern New Jersey

I had three days in Cape May and southern New Jersey - 1 1/2 days of beautiful, sunny weather, and 1 1/2 days of gray overcast and drizzle.  I'll come back to the nice days in future posts after I've had more time to sort the photos. For now, a few samples from a gray day at Brigantine (Forsyth NWR).

First an observation. On Monday and Tuesday the number of shorebirds was very small, and at the famous Reeds Beach where so many feed on the horseshoe crabs, there were none - zero - on Monday. Then Wednesday morning I began with a drive across Nummy Island: the shorebirds arrived overnight or early morning. There were thousands feeding in the marshy puddles of the island.

The same was true at Brigantine. In spite of the gray day and poor light, the birding was good.

Willets did not just arrive, however. They are well into their courtship and breeding cycle, chasing across the marshes with "pee - will - willet, pee - will - willet." This one was attending to its good grooming - bathing and preening.

Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlin, both yellowlegs, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated & Black-bellied Plovers, Whimbrels - all were present in large numbers. Focus here is on the Ruddy Turnstone, with Dunlin nearby ...

Four tern species were busy with their courtship - Common, Forster's, Gull-billed, and Caspian. This Forster's Tern was busy flying the channels and fishing, proving that he could be a good provider for the lady nearby ...

One highlight of the day was the American Bittern, which I do not see every year and seldom see very well ...

Good birding!