Well, this is not actually a post about birding by the sea, but birding by the Long Island Sound at Hammonasset Beach State Park. Images in this post are from a trip to Hammonasset in mid-January when I met world eBirders Julie Hart and Daniel Schlaepfer with four additional visits in February. Julie was kind […]
Whilst birdwatching in the Jubail area I saw a few good birds but very few migrants. The Egyptian Nightjars that I saw a few weeks ago are still present with at least three birds seen. This site, like the one in Al Hassa, seems to hold Egyptian Nightjars throughout the summer now indicating birds may […]
The Whimbrel that had been reported daily at Carlos Pointe for nearly a week prior to my visit was of course not guaranteed to be there. The Whimbrel was difficult to identify as it was found to be loafing with its bill hidden in its right wing while surrounded by Marbled Godwits and Willets. The […]
Although there was a very welcome breeze at dawn on the morning of 11 August, I was not prepared to walk miles from Carlos Pointe at Big Carlos Pass along Little Estero Lagoon with the temperature already at 78 degrees. The primary purpose of my visit to the freshwater pool at Carlos Pointe was to […]
Last weekend when I checked visited the Westbrook shoreline early in the morning. Right from the start I knew it was the right tide and right time for seeing shorebirds. As I started to walk up the beach a yellowlegs seemed to be leading the way. This may not look like the ideal place […]
A very rare setting full strawberry moon was observed on the summer solstice this week with the occasion not to return again until June 2062. The moonset above (image 1) was photographed at Siesta Key Beach in June 2016. Celebrating the occasion was my birding expedition to Access #5 at Siesta […]
With plenty of indoor time available due to Tropical Storm Colin and a persistent stormy weather pattern this past week in Southwest Florida, I made flashbacks of June visits to five different wildlife venues going back to 2011. The Ruddy Turnstone above (image 1) was photographed at Little Estero Lagoon in […]
For good reason Little Estero Lagoon comes in a close second as a favorite Southwest Florida wildlife venue behind Bunche Beach Preserve. The birds were very accommodating as I continued my walk south toward Carlos Point and back. The Black Scoter was an especially nice find with their behavior “ridiculously tame” as world wildlife photographer […]
An early May visit to Little Estero Lagoon south of Fort Myers Beach was very rewarding with a walk of the beach beginning at the Wyndham Garden Hotel. The north lagoon was active with wading birds like I had never seen before at this location. There was a feeding frenzy underway the likes of which […]
A trip to the Dhahran Expro Wader Roost produced plenty of waders of a good variety of species. The tide was not ideal but plenty of birds were along the edges including both Lesser and Greater Sand Plovers in small numbers. Curlew Sandpipers, Eurasian Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwits and Dunlins had the largest number of […]
I see ruddy turnstones in the nicest places — ocean beaches, mud flats, jetties, rocky shores, and boat docks. There are usually a few of them around New York and New Jersey in winter. I saw these in Cape May, New Jersey. They can be found wintering on the coasts of five other continents, too: […]
Between September 16 and 19 I led a couple from Canada around birding spots in Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka and Oita prefectures. Before the tour started, I took the ferry across to Kumamoto from Shimabara, spotting a large flock of Streaked Shearwater just out from Shimabara Port, and then Brown Booby as the ferry neared […]
I visited Daijyugarami, Saga prefecture, last Friday to see what birds had started migrating through. The highlights were a solitary juvenile Asian Dowitcher, a Long-billed Dowitcher in breeding plumage, a Red Knot also in breeding plumage, a Broad-billed Sandpiper, a Long-toed Stint, four Black-faced Spoonbill, one Saunders’s Gull, a few Black-tailed Godwit and plenty of […]
