Black Tern, Pec Sand, White-rumps & camera update

We've reached the first week of June, and right on cue the number of bird reports are dwindling. But as far as I'm concerned, we're still in the middle of the best part of spring migration - shorebirds and terns. Right now certain coastal hotspots are teeming with these birds. This afternoon I walked out Sandy Point near low tide and quickly found a breeding plumaged Black Tern that was loafing around with many Leasts and a few Common Terns. I was able to get reasonably close...close enough to land a few quality photos. Also present were 4 White-rumped Sandpipers.






Black Tern at Sandy Point (several photos throughout this blog can be clicked to see a larger version)

Earlier in the day I stopped into the RR trail in Stratford just after high tide. The marsh was mostly flooded, so birds were scarce, but there was a late Pectoral Sandpiper among a dozen commoners. In another couple weeks we will be calling such birds early fall migrants.


Pec Sand in Stratford

I've now had the brand new Canon A590 IS for about a month now, and I'm finally starting to get a feel for digiscoping with it. Check out the Black Tern shots above, and the Least Tern photo below. Those are my two best shots on the blog I think; they're not bad for hand-held digiscoping. I would certainly recommend this camera to anyone. It's probably the best bang for the buck out there, for those of us on a budget. I bought through Amazon and had the camera with extra memory card within a week for $175 including shipping! You can't go wrong with that, can you? The expert digiscopers are starting to review it as well, with positive opinions so far. I would have to agree. Check out this forum for digiscoping: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/DIGI.html

In addition to the digiscoping, the ability to 'digibin' is very cool. I've been able to get identifiable shots of warblers in the woods, and it sure helps for documenting a rarity. The Lark Bunting from a couple weeks ago was only in view for 1-2 minutes and I was able to fire off several quick shots. I'm going to have fun with this. So far I suck with flying birds, but some practice should allow me to improve.

It looks like I have much of tomorrow free (I have the week off from school, for once), and I'll likely devote that to shorebirding in the rain if there's no lightening. Here's hoping for a great bird. After that, Kim and I will be spending Thurs-Sun at Lake George, NY. Then it's back to school for the summer...

- Nick

Comments

  1. rmharveyJune 4, 2008 at 7:37 AM

    Another good web site for discussion of digiscoping is BirdForum: http://birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=305

    Hopefully the long string for the link won't get mangled too badly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nick BonomoJune 4, 2008 at 9:53 AM

    Thanks Roy, that's a great source of info.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warblers in Flight: A Photographic Collection

While active migration has always been my favorite bird behavior to observe, my interest in the phenomenon called “morning flight” of nocturnal migrants had been minimal due to the unfortunate reality that I lived well over an hour’s drive from the nearest known reliable observation site, Bluff Point State Park in Groton, CT. In autumn 2020, thanks to improved public access to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison, CT, I began to explore the northern tip of Willard’s Island as a morning flight viewpoint and was pleased to find that under the right conditions a reliable flight could be observed there. The volume of birds passing through is not large (a small fraction of what passes through Bluff Point), but the flight line is consistent and can be observed under good lighting conditions. Between autumns 2020-22 I visited the site 20 times in total and recorded 27 warbler species in morning flight. All but a few of these have been photographed, often poorly! I immediately found mysel
Read more

Last winter's gull review

Today's cooler, blustery conditions combined with the appearance of an Ivory Gull in Cape May got me thinking more about the upcoming gull season and reflecting on last year's. The 2008-09 gulling in the northeast was pretty damn good and included a few really exciting birds. The season started out with a bang exactly one year ago today with CT's first Slaty-backed Gull . On 12/12 an adult Thayer's Gull put in a brief appearance at the Windsor-Bloomfield Landfill, CT's premier gull hotspot, followed by a first-winter bird on 12/23. A Black-headed Gull spent the winter in New Haven Harbor. Perhaps 'gull of the year' was a subadult Glaucous-winged Gull in Rochester, NH, found by Scott Young...a first record for New England. Meanwhile Gloucester, MA was once again the gull capital of New England. I happened to already be up in Boston when news of an adult Ivory Gull broke on 1/17. I still get chills thinking about that weekend. Of course there were plenty
Read more

Iceland in April

Image
April is an exciting time for the nature enthusiast to visit Iceland. While the weather can still be quite cold and snowy, winter's grip is loosening and signs of spring abound. Several minutes of daylight are gained each day, but there is still enough nighttime darkness to observe the aurora borealis through at least mid-month. It turns out that early spring is also an excellent time for whale watching, particularly if you are keen to find Orcas. Spring migrants are beginning to arrive, including flocks of European Golden Plovers and the first Atlantic Puffins of the year. Given all that, it made sense to consider a long weekend visit to Iceland in mid-April, especially since it is a direct 5-6 hour flight from the northeast USA. Known appropriately as an expensive destination to visit, costs can be considerably reduced by hiring a campervan. Being a super popular mode of transport + lodging in Iceland, there are plenty of companies to choose from. During this shoulder season, I r
Read more