Sunday, November 6, 2016

Good Friends and Good Birds

October 30, 2016

Soon after my surgery, I got a note from one of my favorite friends,  Tracy, that she and husband, Dutch, were ready to come pick me up to go birding.  We decided on October 30. Carol, a volunteering friend, joined us, along with my hostess, Natalie, and her daughter, Ellen.

We all met at East Beach Park and were soon enjoying common birds while searching for the pomarine j aeger that arrived here in July.  We noticed a man taking pictures, looked where he was aiming, and saw the bird sitting on the beach.  We approached the bird carefully, and were soon enjoying good looks of it. Later, while we were trying to identify the bird species resting together along the easternmost beach, the bird flew in just in front of us.

I apologize for the poor picture quality. I'm having to use an inferior method of holding my camera at waist height and look into the screen.  And I'm using the camera to just ID birds from distances too far to make good pictures.  Then I am making you look at them.


Not all fliers were birds

Royal Terns and herring gull

How many species can you identify?

Incoming brown pelicans

A Forster's tern flew in

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We discovered several black skimmers in the mix


The only marbled godwit we saw checking out the trash

Black bellied plover

Pomarine jaeger

Successful fishermen with their stripers

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We checked out a couple of nearby birding spots, but high tide and lots of fishermen had cleared the birds out. Natalie and Ellen had to leave for Natalie's symphony practice but the rest of us headed west to find very few birds along Eight Mile and Sportsmens Roads.

Then it was lunch time, so we adjourned for a lovely lunch.  Dutch and Carol treated Tracy and me because it was Tracy's birthday and I was all crippled. 

It was another great day and more are on the agenda.



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