More Little Shorebirds

The semipalmated plovers have been delighting me all summer and fall. I have seen them in the Bronx (Orchard Beach), Staten Island (the beaches at Mount Loretto and Wolfe's Pond) and Queens (Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Broad Channel American Park). They are talkative little birds, and when I saw flocks of them at Broad Channel, they were really peeping up a storm (you can listen to their calls on the Audubon site). The "semipalmated" part of their name refers to the partial webbing between their toes. 

Semipalmated plovers at Broad Channel American Park, August 28, 2017

Orchard Beach, September 20

Broad Channel, August 28

These little shorebirds eat insects that they dig for in the mud and sand on the shorelines. They are distinguished from killdeer by their single dark band across the chest (the killdeer have two bands). They have short black bills with an orange base.

They have been such fun to photograph, and these photos range from June 1 to October 4.

Feathered Rattlers

I often hear the belted kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) before I see them. I hear the rattle, then spot the bird zipping over the water, often smacking down to catch a fish or crayfish. These colorful, big-headed birds hang out along rivers and shorelines — including the water areas of Central Park, Mount Loretto Unique Area and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where I filmed them for the Filming the Feathers video. The females are the colorful ones in this bird species, having a blue "belt" and a rusty colored "belt" (the male has a blue belt).

Belted kingfisher, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, September 30, 2017

The video is accompanied by harpsichord music, and features kingfishers filmed at Central Park, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Mount Loretto Unique Area.

Usually the belted kingfishers are pretty far away, so my photos are generally not that crisp and clear. I did have a nice opportunity on September 30 to see a kingfisher up close at Jamaica Bay, though, so you get more of these photos. The first three photos were taken in Central Park, the fourth at Mount Loretto and the last, close-up shots at Jamaica Bay.

Lady Hawks

In the Middle Ages, falconers called merlins (Falco columbarius) "lady hawks," and noblewomen used them to hunt sky larks. These small, fierce falcons became endangered because of DDT, but have made a comeback and now can be spotted on shorelines hunting small birds and dragonflies.

Merlin, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Sept. 27, 2017

The merlins filmed in the Filming the Feathers video were seen in Central Park on March 9, 2015; at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens on Aug. 16, Sept.23, Sept. 27 and Oct. 3, 2017; and over the beach at Wolfe's Pond in Staten Island on Sept. 29, 2017. Two of the merlins filmed were banded.

Banded merlin, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Aug. 16, 2017

Banded merlin, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Oct. 3, 2017