Sunday Birding

I’ve been really wanting to get out birding for a while – a real trip and not a quick run out to a local spot – and on Sunday finally made it up to Sandy Hook where they had been seeing a number of rarities for the area. Unfortunately, the weather and birds didn’t cooperate very well, and my ‘rarity’ search was a bust – but I did get to see an amazing number of Greater Scaup in Spermicetti Cove. I would put the total number easily over 3,000 – this picture is just a small fraction of the total.

Although much of my birding trip today was a bust, the nearly-famous Pole Farm did give me a chance to see a number of different birds of prey (6 species in all). The best look I got was this male American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) who landed on a pole about 3m from me. This is the look I got after the shutter went off the first time. But I also got to see a merlin, red-tailed hawk, bald eagle, northern harriers and the bird it was all about, a short-eared owl, although I have no pictures of that last one (still). Oh well – just some incentive to go back, I guess!