Jamaica Bay Part Deux

It was a quiet day out at Jamaica Bay this September....

Clouded Sulphur

Impress all your friends by knowing the name of this common New York butterfly!

Canadian Goose

 Double-Crested Commorant

I like their bright orange bill.

Commorants & Swan

Unidentified MagicBerries

Turkey Birds - June 2011

Here are some birds we saw on our trip to Turkey back in June. 

Arabian Magpie

These guys were all over the place.  This picture was taken in Cappadocia in the Zemi (Love) Valley.

Cool.

Not sure what these birds are but you can't beat the Red Valley backdrop at sunset.

Unidentified

This was by far the weirdest bird we saw...that head! that beak! I think he has a teeny tiny bug in his mouth but we had the small camera so we couldn't get really up close and personal.  This was taken in a really old looking cemetery (that stone to the birds left is a grave stone) just outside of Cavusin, the "ghost town" in Cappadocia.

Super Cool DragonFly

Poolside in Antalya.  We love all winged creatures!

Unidentified

Check out those legs!  And Please don't enter the travertines.  We saw a lot of these guys in Pamukkale, all over the site at Heirapolis.  Whoever can identify wins a bird painting by yours truly.

Unidentified

I thought this was a canary, but I'm not sure now.  We ran in to Neil and Wanda, a South African couple we had just met over at the Plutonium, at a snack bar where we spotted this little yellow fellow taking in the sunset over the travertines.

Next post.....we're back at Jamaica Bay!  Buckle up!

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge - Spring Migration

SPOTTED: Lots of birds!  These were taken this past May.  Spring migration was happening in a big way out at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge for our inaugural (but surely not our last) visit. Not pictured below but seen:

Glossy Ibis
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird

Grey Cat Bird

Two Tree Swallows perched on their nesting box

 This Song Sparrow looked like a tiny hawk!

 Baby Canadian Goose

Different kind of bird

Yellow Warbler
These were all over the place but most of the time they were just little flashes of yellow zipping past you. I love the bright red streaks.

Black and White Warbler  

He was eating bugs out of this knot in the tree

Upside down!

White-eyed Vireo?
Not sure about this guy, we only got his back side but he is distinctly yellow.

American Redstart

Red-winged Black Bird
This was the first bird we saw when we arrived at Jamaica Bay.  It occured to me after the fact that since I can't see very well in my left eye (the one I was shooting with) all of my manual focus shots were just a bit off.  Oh well, plenty more opportunities to get a good one of this bird, they were all over the place!

Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron
The parent was sleeping in a large tree just behind this pond.  We were excited and had never seen a black-crowned night heron before so we had no idea what it was.  "Penguin?", somebody said.  Then the baby came by, along with a more experienced birdwatcher, and the mystery was solved.

Forgot to turn on the red-eye reduction. 
 

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (AKA STORM CROW!)

This was probably one of my favorite spots during this trip.  I think it was a juvenile, the white on his chest was soooooo fluffy. 

Eastern Towhee
Textbook, really.