Birds at Webby's Beach

Webby's Beach

Center Moriches, NY

June 12, 2014

Barn Swallow

Herring Gulls

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Great Egret

East Setauket, NY

May 14, 2014

Great Egret fishing in a fishless pond. What is it looking for? Tadpoles?

Learn about the Great Egret.

Scaups & Buffleheads in Moriches Bay

Scaups & Buffleheads in Moriches Bay

Center Moriches, NY, Long Island

January 29, 2014

Greater Scaup and Bufflehead are often found together in the ocean and bay and are Sea Ducks or Diving Ducks. They dive under the water to feed. They migrate along the coast in winter and pass through our area heading south in winter and north in spring.

More on the Bufflehead and Greater Scaup from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Kaler's Pond Audubon Center Feeder Station

January 9, 2013

Dark-eyed Junco (These birds are winter visitors)

Mourning Dove (They are ground feeders and live here all year round)

Song Sparrow (Usually feed on the ground. Has a brown spot on its chest)

Red-bellied Woodpecker - male (As the name implies, this large woodpecker has a red patch on its belly.

The Osprey Are Back!

The Osprey are back at their nest on Long Island!

Turkey Vulture in Manorville

 

Piping Plover on Fire Island, NY

Piping Plovers are Federally protected under the Endangered Species act. There is said to be less then 2000 pairs in the Atlantic population based on the latest surveys. Piping Plover nesting on Fire Island are surrounded by fencing that protects the parents, eggs and chicks from predators. A large area around the birds is roped off so the birds are not disturbed by people on the beach. Disturbance can cause the parents to abandon their nest. To find out more on the Piping Plover go to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Website.

Quogue Wildlife Refuge

Quogue Wildlife Nature Center

Painted Turtle

Painted Turtle chasing duckling. The painted turtles kept chasing the duckling away by swimming after them.

Very big Snapping Turtle was stalking the ducklings from under the water. I kept chasing the ducklings away from the turtle.

For some reason the ducklings started following me. Momma Mallard looked perplexed!

They were cute though!

What's wrong with this picture?

Carman's River - Shirley, NY

Mallard Duck - male

Mallard Ducks - female & male

Mute Swan

Great Egret

 

Quogue Wildlife Refuge: North Trail

 

Double Crested Cormorant

Yawn

Canada Goose

Red-winged Blackbird

North Fork Audubon Society News

The North Fork Audubon Society recently held the Spring Council Meeting for Long Island Chapters in Greenport, NY. Six Audubon Chapters were represented at the meeting - North Fork Audubon, North Shore Audubon, Eastern Long Island Audubon, South Shore Audubon, Great South Bay Audubon and Four Harbors Audubon. Also in attendance were Al Caccese, Executive Director of Audubon New York; Joe Montouri, Commissioner of Suffolk County Parks and Aaron Virgin, Vice President of Group for the East End. Following the meeting and a great homemade lunch by Diana VanBuren, president of North Fork Audubon Society.  After lunch the group took a nice hike to see the new bird banding stations and went birding at Inlet Pond. A great time was had by all!

Double-Crested Cormorant

 This Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus (approx. 33") was hanging out on a Buoy in Southold, NY. It is our most common Cormorant on Long Island. 

The Double-crests (seen in the photos at left) grow during the breeding season. Cormorants dive and swim under the water eating mostly fish. They disappear under the water and will surface a distance from where they submerged. 
 

Their legs are farther back on their body then a lot of other water birds because it helps them navigate and propel themselves better while they are chasing fish under the water. 

After surfacing they may come out of the water and extend their wings to dry off. They have some trouble taking off so you may see them running across the water while flapping their wings to take off.

*After a Cormorant dives under the water see if you can find them again when they surface.