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A birding buddy and I witnessed a real avian donnybrook the other day. We emerged from the woods next to a marsh and heard Blue Jays making a racket. Then we spotted a commotion in a big dead tree about 100 meters away. At first glance it appeared to be a raptor chasing another bird.Continue reading “This tree ain’t big enough…”

Kingfishers are a tough subject, at least for me. They seem to detect me with some early warning system. I will spot one sitting in a tree near the water and just as I get ready to take the shot, zoom! Off they go to the other side of the pond/swamp. They wait until IContinue reading “Kingfishers”

Bird activity has increased as the summer wanes. The youngsters have fledged. The adults have finished their seasonal molt. Migrants are preparing to leave, passing through or moving in. Here is some of the action I captured a few days ago. Various shorebirds continue to congregate as they pass through the area. Two common speciesContinue reading “Birds on the Move”

I went out with a Massachusetts Audubon group recently. We followed the new Covid-19 protocol: maximum 10 people, masks, distancing, no shared equipment and no carpools. And we were always outside, of course. The morning started in the fog. It made identification difficult and photography even more difficult. This is what it looked like fromContinue reading “Foggy Morning Birding”

Large groups of shorebirds are migrating through the area. They stop in Massachusetts to rest and grab some food on their way from the Arctic to their winter homes. This is just a very small portion of a large flock, mostly Semipalmated Plovers, resting on the beach at Sandy Point on Plum Island. More birdsContinue reading “Plovers and Friends”

I watched two Ospreys fishing last week. They were unsuccessful but I took some photos before they moved on to better fishing grounds. They were about 600 meters (660 yards) away, if I read the Google map correctly, when I took these shots: The Double-crested Cormorants in the last shot seemed to be interested. TheContinue reading “Ospreys”

Here are some Heron photos from the same outing that produced the Sanderling photos in the previous post. First up is a Great Blue Heron that flew across a pool, making its croaking call all the way, in order to join a flock of Lesser Yellowlegs. I photographed these Night Herons later in the morning.Continue reading “Herons”

Sanderlings are those little birds you see running along the edge of the water, chasing the incoming waves on almost any sandy coast in the world. They breed in the arctic but winter along the coasts of every continent. I got these photos on the south end of Plum Island, Massachusetts. These birds may beContinue reading “Sanderlings”

I mentioned in a previous post that there are two species of Yellowlegs. They are a bit hard to tell apart but the differences are more obvious when they are together. This is a photo of a Greater Yellowlegs walking behind a Lesser Yellowlegs. The Greater is a larger bird and its beak is muchContinue reading “Yellowlegs Buffet”

Birds in flight are always interesting subjects. Here’s a Mallard flying in to join the flock. This Osprey hovered over the Merrimack River and did a quick dive. But it aborted at the last second and headed back up for another try.