Birds of early spring

Tufted Titmouse:



White-Throated Sparrow:





Hooded Merganser vs. American Coot:


Northern Mockingbird:


Two male Mallards fighting over female:


Killdeer:


Chipping Sparrow:


Flight of the Common Grackle:


Black-Capped Chicadee:


American Oystercatcher in flight:


Ruby-crowned Kinglet:



Female Northern Flicker:


Orchard Oriole:


Song Sparrow:

April afternoon

And some more nice pictures:













The detritus that is the result of a winter's worth of seagulls dropping shells on the boardwalk to crack them:

April morning

Just some nice pictures:

Monk Parakeets

There are all sorts of urban myths about how these parrots (actually, Monk Patakeets, but also known as Quaker Parrots) ended up living in and around New York City. The one I like is about them escaping from a broken shipping crate at the JFK airport. In any case, they not only survived through the winters but prospered to such a degree that many towns are now considering them to be a pest (they are many, loud, and trashy). The ones in these pictures are from a Ridgefield, NJ colony:





Tending to the colony nest:

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, April 8

An April afternoon spent at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge yielded several really good and interesting shots. Like this one - the best picture of the swan I've taken (or probably even seen):


Two Tree Swallows were fighting:


The Osprey was looking the other way:


Canada Goose was protecting the nest:


Belted Kingfisher was working on her dinner:




Little Blue Heron was flying home for the night:


Northern Shovelers were doing their shoveling:


Double-Crested Cormorants (one juvenile) were coming home to roost:


The Ruddy Duck was strutting his stuff:


And the Song Sparrow was preparing to belt out his tune (actually, he was more of a falsetto):


Parting shot:

Dunlins

Dunlins are interesting little birds. I recently had a chance to take a good look at them at Jones Beach. They are compact, energetic, and pushy. And I like their long downcurved bills:


It was in the middle of April, and the birds had just started to molt into their breeding plumage. Here a few birds are already showing the darker spots on their bellies:


They aggregated in huge numbers all along the water's edge:


When they fly, the entire hundred-strong flocks take off at once:

Jones Beach, April 8

If you thought that the only sunbathing that's going on on Jones Beach is between the months of June and August, you are severely mistaken. The beach is in use in all seasons. This past Easter Sunday, there were thousands of sunbathers on the beach. They enjoyed the sand and the salty air, occasionally tried the water (still too cold), chattered to each other and to passers-by. And periodically took to flight.



These sunbathers were Dunlins (the ones with the longer bills) and Sanderlings (the lighter grey ones), taking a rest during their spring migration. Here is a series of closer looks at what their flocks looked like:



There were a few more visitors enjoying the sun, like these American Oystercatchers:





A Black-Bellied Plover (in non-breeding plumage) was contemplating the next leg of his trip:



A shy Semipalmated Plover took its place far apart from the rest of the croud:

 One phlegmatic seagull (2nd-year Herring Gull?) was watching over the entire proceedings:


And when the day was over, it was time to go back home: