A Herring Gull (Larus hyperboreus) chases an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) that just caught a River Herring.
This Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is flying to rendezvous with its mate. They both had taken off simultaneously from the water right below the bridge I had been standing on while waiting for them to take off. Both geese took off in my direction. The distance from their takeoff point to the bridge railing was short. As I was photographing their takeoff, I noticed they were barely going to clear the bridge railing. I ducked below the bridge railing. This goose aborted its flight to avoid flying in to me while its mate cleared the bridge railing and landed in the water on the other side of the bridge. This goose took a five minute break while continually honking back and forth with its mate. Then this goose swam a good distance away form the bridge and took off, this time gaining altitude and taking a flight path close to the woods away from the bridge.
A Great Egret (Ardea albus) moves on to another fishing spot in a salt marsh.
Five Canadian Geese drop in for a water landing at a salt marsh on the first day of Spring 2014.
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
A Green Heron heard me and took a peek.
Canada Geese (Branta canadensis)
I named this seagull Broken Beak. The front of both the upper and lower beak on this seagull is missing. The dark area on the front of the gull's beak is the inside of the beak.
I was standing in a field with my back to this tree when I heard a loud musical chirping. I turned around, looked up and there was this osprey eating a fish dinner.
Photographed in a salt marsh on Long Island Sound. The Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) is larger than Lesser Yellowlegs and has a longer bill grayish at base.
Fog hangs over a salt marsh as this Great Egret (Ardea alba ) executes a graceful landing on a mudflat.
A Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) had been diving for fish along a narrow channel in a salt marsh. As it came to the end of the channel it surfaced a few feet where was was standing.
The King Eider is a rarity around here but one appeared this winter and hung out with a bunch of Common Eiders. Many birdwatchers and bird photographers came for weeks to catch a glimpse, myself included. It took me two days of standing on the beach to get this shot. On the first day, this sole King Eider stayed too far out to get a decent shot. On the second day, it swam very close to shore and I captured this photo as it climbed up on a rock.
A Sanderling (medium sized sandpiper) pulls a snail from its shell.
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Three Canada Goose goslings (Branta canadensis) appear to be looking at their reflections in the water but are really about to get a drink of water. The mother goose is just a few feet away and closely watching them.
Female Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). The Towhee is usually found in thick underbrush as seen in the background of this photo.
Snowy Egret in Flight Portrait
It was cloudy with light fog when this Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) did a very close flyby.
It was mid morning as I stood in a salt marsh watching for birds. I heard a splash at the ocean end of the main water channel and a quick look through my camera's telephoto lens showed a small dark blue-gray bird which I had not seen or photographed before standing in the water near a mud flat. It was a 5 minute walk on a path through the woods to get where the bird was and I was hoping the bird wouldn't fly away before I got there. The bird was there on the east side of the channel while I was on the west side. While I was standing there, it flew over to my side of the channel and started a slow walk up the channel looking for small fish. The bird was a Little Blue Heron. There was dense woods between the path I was on and the Little Blue in the water so I had no clear shot of the bird. I followed the Little Blue for 20 minutes as it slowly headed up the channel fishing. By this time I was pretty sure it would continue on and eventually show up at a spot where I would have a clear shot. So I walked up the wooded path passed the Little Blue to the first unobstructed view of the water and waited. It started to rain but I decided to wait for the bird even though I had no rain gear. Eventually the Little Blue came into view and I was able to get great shots of it fishing in the rain. Suddenly, the Little Blue jumped out of the water onto a mud flat, looked in my direction and gave me its best portrait pose which you see in the photo. The concentric rings on the water are raindrops. The Little Blue stood there for a few minutes turning left and right for more great shots. Then it turned around and flew to the other side of the channel, landed on a mud flat and started walking back down the channel toward the ocean end of the salt marsh. I headed home.
This Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) flew into the salt marsh scattering all of the birds except the Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) either to the far remote corners of the salt marsh or completely out. The Ospreys are not afraid of bald eagles. In this photo, it appears the Bald Eagle is chasing the Osprey but it is the opposite. The Osprey is above the Bald Eagle and is shadowing it to keep it away from the Osprey nests.
Herring Gull In Flight Portrait
Larus argentatus
Snowy Egret (Egretta thule)
A Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) takes off directly into the setting sun.
As soon as this osprey (Pandion haliaetus) caught the fish, the Herring Gull (Larus hyperboreus) did everything it could to steal the fish from the osprey. They dipped, dived, twisted and turned and disappeared into the woods and the osprey still had the fish.