Earlier this week we went to the beach. First we went to Jones Beach on Long Island, New York, to enjoy the sun and water. It was a perfect day – not too hot with a lovely ocean breeze. Then we went to to Captree State Park where we barbequed chicken, hotdogs, and corn on the cob. We also ate potato salad, vichyssoise, watermelon, and honeydew. There were lots of people at Jones Beach but almost none at Captree. We got to use our lovely new 7 foot beach umbrella (amazon.com).
I hoped to see some winter birds but didn’t find many. Plenty of Brant, a Harrier or two and a few others. Here are some blue and brown winter beach landscapes. It was very cold.
After Nickerson Beach we drove to Jones Beach. I only saw one Piping plover at Nickerson. And no Skimmer chicks yet.
It’s been a long time since I went to Jones Beach on a Linnaean Society of NY field trip. I enjoyed the trip. It was nice seeing old friends. I was unable to photograph the snowy owl because of a couple of unethical photographers who went closer than 100 feet and spooked the owl. We went in search of the vagrant Spotted Towhee at Baldwin Park but we didn’t find it. Because I was with a group of birders rather than photographers I didn’t get many photos.
The Common Eiders were diving for mussels at the Coast Guard Station. Monk Parakeets are colonizing New York. They are originally form Argentina.
I antiqued a photo taken back in November 11, 2011 at Fire Island during a Linnaean Society of NY trip.
