Snow BuntingJeff and I started the day looking for scoters, jaegers, gulls and the recently seen Purple Sandpiper but apart from some nice views of Bonaparte's Gulls, we didn't score on any of the others. We did see a couple of Snow Buntings flying over but it was way to dark for shots at that time (oh, and they would have been a small smudge at best anyway as they weren't exactly close!).
Then we went hunting for Red Crossbills but struck out on those. However, we did see several Red-breasted Nuthatches and a flock of twelve Pine Siskins so I wouldn't call it a bad stop.
We then went back to the lake's edge at North Point Marina looking for more scoters, jaegers, etc. We never did find any of those but I did get a chance to get a little closer to some Snow Buntings! The Snow Buntings have been a bird I've been trying to find for a year or so - last year I always seemed to miss them but as we saw them in a few locations today, I think I'll get a better chance this season.
The Snow Buntings are a winter resident, moving north to breed. We see the non-breeding plumage at this time of year, whereas the breeding plumage is a simple white & black. One day I'll go and see them in their breeding areas...but not this year.
-- Snow Buntings Part 2
I went back to North Point Marina today (Sunday) to try and get better shots of the Snow Buntings. I was under the [mistaken] belief that the weather forecasters knew what they were talking about when they said the clouds would break up. However, despite the lack of sun, I did get some closer shots of the Snow Buntings today. The picture above is one of them.
It was fascinating watching how they feed, what they feed on and their general behavior. After a short while I could see a distinct pattern and used that to my advantage: the birds tended to feed south along the road, so I got a little further south of them and waited for them to come to me! In the end, I got to within about eight feet of the birds, of which there were ten.
Then we went hunting for Red Crossbills but struck out on those. However, we did see several Red-breasted Nuthatches and a flock of twelve Pine Siskins so I wouldn't call it a bad stop.
We then went back to the lake's edge at North Point Marina looking for more scoters, jaegers, etc. We never did find any of those but I did get a chance to get a little closer to some Snow Buntings! The Snow Buntings have been a bird I've been trying to find for a year or so - last year I always seemed to miss them but as we saw them in a few locations today, I think I'll get a better chance this season.
The Snow Buntings are a winter resident, moving north to breed. We see the non-breeding plumage at this time of year, whereas the breeding plumage is a simple white & black. One day I'll go and see them in their breeding areas...but not this year.
-- Snow Buntings Part 2
I went back to North Point Marina today (Sunday) to try and get better shots of the Snow Buntings. I was under the [mistaken] belief that the weather forecasters knew what they were talking about when they said the clouds would break up. However, despite the lack of sun, I did get some closer shots of the Snow Buntings today. The picture above is one of them.
It was fascinating watching how they feed, what they feed on and their general behavior. After a short while I could see a distinct pattern and used that to my advantage: the birds tended to feed south along the road, so I got a little further south of them and waited for them to come to me! In the end, I got to within about eight feet of the birds, of which there were ten.
0 comments:
Post a Comment