After Irene: Cormorants on Lake Nelson

After Irene: Cormorants on Lake NelsonOur cormorant population has increased after the hurricane. We hope they'll stay.

Northern Flicker: After the Hurricane

Northern Flicker

Anna's Hummingbird: Cape Cod

Hummingbird

Cape Cod: Common Eider

Common Eider
The common Eider was the only addition to our life lists during our Cape Cod vacation.

Cape Cod Birds

Green Heron

Eastern Kingbird

Cedar Waxwing


We took a short vacation to Cape Cod. We mainly enjoyed the beaches and some nightlife, but went birding at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. It's a nice place but our schedule didn't permit us to be there during the best birding times.

Cape Cod: Female Baltimore Oriole

Female Baltimore Oriole

Cape Cod: American Oystercatchers in flight

American Oystercatchers in flight

Cape Cod Vacation

 
Jersey Shore: Point Pleasant

North Beach, Chatham, MA (Cape Cod)


It may be all the years we spent in California, but we just don't find most of the Jersey shore to be pleasant. This year, we decided to take a short trip to Cape Cod to relax. Our hotel offered day trips to a beach accessible only by boat that gave us the peace and quiet we were looking for, interrupted only by the barking of gray seals.

Photo by Marilyn- Sparta, NJ: House Sparrow Nest??

These chicks hatched from very small light blue eggs with brown speckles about 10 days ago.
My 8 year old son discovered the nest in a hanging fern on our porch as he took it down to water it... What a surprise! Wonder when they will start to fledge?

Royal tern: Photo by Rob

 

Royal tern at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Cormorant

CormorantThe cormorants are returning to Lake Nelson.

Black Crowned Night Heron grooming

Black Crowned Night Heron


We've taken enough photos of this night heron standing, waiting for fish. We are moving on to his morning grooming. We have seen but not photographed a juvenile in the area and will be looking out for him.

Black Crowned Night Heron

Black Crowned Night Heron

Belted Kingfisher: Finally

KingfisherWe worried that when the lake was drained this fall and winter, the birds that eat the fish from the lake would go away. The lake was filled in the late spring, and these birds are returning. There are fewer cormorants, herons and kingfishers this year, but at least one and possibly two kingfishers have returned. The kingfisher is the hardest to photograph because he rarely sits still.

Leftovers from Tobago, March 2011

Yellow-crowned Night Heron (juvenile)
Caribbean Martin


Here are a few photos we never got around to posting from our spring trip to T&T.

Red bellied woodpecker in jelly feeder

Red bellied woodpecker in jelly feeder

We have wren babies!!!

House Wren at Wren HouseThe woodpecker babies are almost grown and occasionally visit the feeders by themselves. The baby ducks are the same size as their mother. At this time of the summer, the baby wrens get all our attention.

Clapper Rail: Photo by Rob

Clapper Rail - Loveladies, Long Beach Island

Photo by Rob: Black Skimmers

Two black skimmers resting at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR