Hello all,
If you read Jason’s most recent post, then you know that I filled in for him yesterday so that he could have a well-earned rest. He already summarized much of what happened, but I thought I would share a few photos that I got from the count yesterday. You will notice that despite the fact we were conducting a waterbird count, many, if not most, of these photos will be of raptors and songbirds. There is a good reason for that. Most of the waterbirds that we count are probably a mile or more off of shore, which means they are well out of camera range. The raptors are often times flying directly overhead, which makes them much easier to photograph.
And for fun, here is a video of a female Red-breasted Merganser being chased by four males. Notice the funny head movements of the males. This is courtship behavior.
After the count was over, Jason and I headed up to the Hawk Watch for a few minutes, where we found this rather cooperative Savannah Sparrow.
Jason and I then made a trip to nearby Dingman Marsh to look for Ring-necked Ducks. There were many there and we also found this Singing Pine Warbler.
