Sunday Bird

The light was pretty good for a while on the feeder this morning so I got set up to take a few shots of the visitors. All week there's been a steady procession of Chickadee's, Nuthatch's, Titmice, Goldfinches and Blue Jay's. Not this morning. Only this solitary squawky Blue Jay paid a visit while I was trying to photograph. For the photographers reading this the images were taken on a Nikon Z7ii and a Nikon 500mm PF using Manual Mode  at 1/2000sec, f/7.1 and ISO6400. 

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

More from Bombay Hook and Port Mahon

 A few more from Tuesday's little jaunt down to Delaware. There's a lot of Youtube and Internet babble and disinformation about how Nikon Mirrorless camera's can't do bird in flight shots. Wankers!

Bobolink

Forsters Tern

Forsters Terns

Forsters Tern

Great Black-backed Gull

Great Blue Heron

Osprey

Painted Turtle

Snowy Egret

Bombay Hook NWR and Port Mahon Fishing Pier

I needed to smell a bit of salty air as I do occasionally. There were some nice birds being reported from Bombay Hook NWR and as it's an hour closer than the NJ coast at only 2 and bit hours Delaware was my destination. It was a misty start when I left at 6am and made it to Bombay Hook just before 8:30, Siri was great navigator. The bity flies weren't nearly as bad as the last trip but I still got nailed a few times by evil bastards. The light was pretty good all day with a slight hazy overcast which reduced the harsh lighting a lot. I was shooting at 1/6500's for some of the day which was nice. Heres a selection of the birds I saw during the day.

Bobolink

I once waited for hours up at the airport on St Mary's for this Bobolink that popped up out of this walled weedy garden for about 5 seconds every 2 hours. I think it took about 3 days to get a glimpse of it. I was really dedicated in those days.

Forsters Tern

Mississippi Kite

This young Mississippi Kite was not at all bothered by us, it just sat there looking down at us from the wire  towards the end of the Port Mahon road on the Delaware Bay.

Mississippi Kite

Mississippi Kite

Osprey

This young Osprey was doing a splendid job cleaning up the Bay and collecting the bits of plastic off the water.

Osprey

Osprey

Momma Osprey was keeping a beady eye on her offspring.

Roseate Spoonbill and Great Blue Heron

One of 4 Roseate Spoonbills from the Daly Overlook at Bombay Hook.

Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill and Blue-winged Teal

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

 

Carolina Chickadee or Hybrid?

This/these Chickadee's look like Carolina Chickadee's but my Merlin Sound ID app ID's them as Black-capped. So....... are they hybrids I wonder. No problem with identifying the Downy Woodpecker.

Chickadee

Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

This is what a couple of broods of kids will do to you.

After a summer raising a couple of broods of kids the Cardinal is asking himself "WTF! If only I'd known."

Northern Cardinal in April

Northern Cardinal in September

Hodge Podge

 The dictionary definition of Hodge Podge is a confused mixture. Sounds about right for this lot.

American Toad by the side of the garage

Marine C130 up at the Hawkwatch

Marine C130 dropping anti missile flares

Five Lined Skink up at the Hawkwatch

Northern Parula

Winterberry in the front yard, the birds will be happy

Winterberry

Greater Legs or Lesser Legs?

Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs? That is the question. I don't see enough waders living where I do to get really au fait with identification. Yellowlegs are not the easiest to separate but I think I got the Lesser ID correct from the other day but I'm having doubts. This is one from the field just up the road and I think maybe this is a Greater Yellowlegs. Seemed to be a bigger bird than the ones the other day, the bill seems longer and the nostril seems to be well clear of the feathers. 

Greater Yellowlegs


I think😆

Greater Yellowlegs

I think😆

Lotsa Legs

 One of the nice things about the aftermath of last Wednesday's downpour is the little temporary ponds that have sprung up in the fields around home. Coinciding with the peak of wader migration it's no wonder that there's lot's of waders taking advantage of them. 

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs