Last month, my friend, Jon, and I made a trip to Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in search of waterfowl. American Coots were very common, but most of them were too far for photographs. Neither of us had good photos of this bird in our archives so we were determined to change that. We had a couple of Coots tease us up close, while grasses were in-between us and them; others were close, but back-lit.
As we were leaving the refuge, Jon pulled the car over to put his camera away. He pulled up at the opening of a small pond. I looked out my window and saw a Coot right below me.
American Coot taken from the car window
A Coot up close? CHECK! The sun was behind us? CHECK! We carefully got out of the car and Jon made his way to the passenger side. We snapped away at the bird for ten minutes while it foraged through the vegetation before leaving it.
Fun fact about Coots: When you see that black bird with a big white bill bobbing in the water, do not confuse it for a duck. Coots are more closely related to rails and cranes than they are to ducks! Just because it look looks like a duck (almost…) and acts like a duck, doesn’t mean it’s a duck!
In the beginning of the month, two friends and I headed to the coast for some birding in New Jersey. It was a great trip for both birding and bird photography. Shorebirding can often be frustrating since I am still a beginner with them and I usually see them far away through a scope. We had a nice break from scope views during this trip and were able to admire their real beauty up close. The following birds are some of the more cooperative shorebirds that we found at Forsythe and Stone Harbor. See the captions for more information on the birds.
We got great looks at this Least Sandpiper at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
We went to Stone Harbor and found some very cooperative Semipalmated Sandpipers
A couple of Ruddy Turnstones were with them
We found some Sanderlings on a jetty
Just a few Sanderlings…
Perhaps a few hundred Sanderlings…
As the tide came in the Sanderlings were flying off the jetty to the sand
I’ve never seen so many shorebirds running with the waves
There was an extremely cooperative Semipalmated Plover with them
I was happy to finally get good photos of this species!
