Daily Pictures #261

Immature Ivory Gull spotted in Cape May Harbor today!

Some info on them. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ivory_Gull/id

Report from CMBO blog: http://www.birdcapemay.org/blog/

This message was edited Nov 27, 2009 12:51 PM

Reddirt, great picture of your BB!

Wow, Pelle, are you by any chance going to Cape May Harbor soon? These gulls are beautiful and such a rare treat. Hope you'll be able to photograph them.

Just a few of the several dozen Grackles hanging around today.

A photo of my 2nd Goldfinch of the season hanging out with some friends.

Here's a Dark-eyed Junco. Also the 2nd of the season in my backyard. Saw my first Cedar Waxwing yesterday, but no pic yet. The season is finally going:)

Nice pics GP and Missy!

Hi Duc, No I won't be going to Cape May. It has become quite cold with high winds in NJ.

Here are some photos of the Ivory Gull in Cape May that were sent in by some lucky folks.

Click to Enlarge- http://www.birdcapemay.org/blog/

Nice pics everyone.

Duc the Dove was checking out your turkey dinner.

Margarett those Coots look just like ours except maybe the feet but I could not clearly see your birds feet.

Grassmussen nice shots; I hope you stay the weekend in Arizona so that you can have an opportunity to see the desert life which will be the total opposite of the colder environment you live in - be sure to have a hat though. If you make it to Tucson - you must go to the Sweatwater Wetland - yes there's a wetland in Tucson although man made. You will see all kinds and I mean all kinds of birds (falcon, hawk, warblers, blackbirds, Gila WP, wrens, sparrows, many species of ducks, soras, rails, coots and others). I only wish I carried my bigger lens and tripod (only had the 200mm and 1.4x but still was able to get some nice shots here). Sweatwater wetland is a hidden gem - small but popular for birds. I'd recommend this spot to anyone visiting Tucson.

I've thought of going someplace a little warmer after the holidays, Tucson would be nice. Maybe South Texas. I'll keepTucson in mind.

Wow, I was tired of hanging out on the awful pics thread, so I thought I'd post my awful pic of two Ruby-crowned kinglets on the daily anyway. Now that I've seen your pictures, I won't pollute this thread with mine! WOW, WOW, WOW! These are some of the best ever.

Al, the Ferruginous -- holy cow!
Duc, I've never had that clear a pic of a waxwing. Resin, thanks for the info about their feathers, fascinating.
Marna, love the nuthatch with the berry. That's the kind of picture that I'm dying to get.
Shoot, I shouldn't have started b/c they are all so GREAT! Goldfinches! I can't wait to have goldfinches.

Gorgeous shots on this thread everyone...I appreciate seeing them all!!

This morning we had high winds coming off the lake which seems to bring the bigger birds past our house. I ran for my camera when my hubby said there were three eagles coming our way.

These two immature eagles were so fast that by the time I got them into focus, they were across the lake, but I wanted to share the pictures anyway. There were times when I just was amazed the two birds didn't fall down into the lake when they rammed each other.

Again, they were a great distance away. I need a longer lens!!!

Another one..

They started heading back towards me here, but just not close enough.

Still not close enough.

This is the clearest I could get.

According to my bird guide, these are 2nd year Bald Eagles.

This message was edited Nov 28, 2009 12:53 PM

Very cool shots duc!!!! Thanks so much for posting them!


Wow, now there is a Spotted Towhee seen by several at Palmyra Cove Nature Park, NJ!! All these birds are way out of their range. Very interesting!

Here is some info on them:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Spotted_Towhee/id

That's some nice shooting Duc...love that last shot and now I know that there is a 2nd year Bald Eagle that has been cruising our farm!

Pelle...good grief...what's with all the out of range birds in NJ? Something in the water?

Nice shots All! Nice capture Duc, look's like they were having a territorial dispute, I guess the first one to let go is the loser.

Pelle, Cape May must be some sort of holiday resort for bird's. lol

Well the sun came out today so I was able to take a few shots. 1st Red-bellied WP

Downy

Noticed this House Finch looked frozen..

That's because this was just a few branches over...pretty sure its a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Another shot of the S-s Hawk

Mallards

Thought this was a nice overall shot.

Nice looking female Cardinal.

Red-tailed Hawk

Last one, a little closer shot of the R-t Hawk.

Very nice shots Burd!! Love all of them!

Not sure why but it's pretty neat to have the Ivory Gull, Swainson's Hawk and Western Kingbird all there at one time.

Looks like you have some activity, Burd! Took the visiting grandsons for a drive out to Lake Thunderbird yesterday after the OU game. We saw 2 mature eagles-- a first for both of them. They seemed to enjoy it. Saw a lot of deer as well.

A couple of gobblers flew onto a wheatfield among some deer we were watching.

Another shot of the gobblers.

Burd, you have a wonderful variety of birds there-wow. I'd sure like to see a Red-bellied and Cardinal come west for a visit. If Pelle can see our birds, there must be a chance.

Reddirt, congrats on the eagles sighting. They sure are fun to watch. Great pictures of the turkeys too. We had four here at our house the day before Thanksgiving. Guess they thought they'd be safe, and they were.

I got these Great Egret photos on Turkey day when we were out in the kayak.

another one...

Another one.

Found this Great Blue Heron standing on the shore and watching us.

We found these White Pelicans standing on a sandbar.

They sure are pretty when they're taking off. The Coots didn't come out very clear in the foreground, but you can see the one Double crested Cormorant took off with them.

This message was edited Nov 29, 2009 7:35 AM

3 cardinals on the feeder yesterday, one was probably this year's bird

Reddirt those are some handsome Tom's you got, think they know its safe to come out now. lol

Duc, if I ever lived in Cali, it would be near your location, you have so much going on and the weather seems to be nice all the time. :)

Pelle, sooner or later they will have to do a study on all these out of range visitors, I still think its gossip among the bird's. lol

Some of my pics were from the backyard plus I went to Sheldon's Marsh for an hour. I miss all the marsh activity, cant wait till spring.

This message was edited Nov 29, 2009 11:20 AM

Nice pics Red!

Duc, I love your flight shots of the Pelicans and Great Egret!