Plum Island-Part Two

More pictures from the trip to Plum Island this past Sunday. The picture above is of a male Common Eider in eclipse plumage.

An Eastern Meadowlark singing from the top of a twig. Several birders were there to get glimpses of this all with various scopes and fancy camera equipment. The two photos here were digiscoped. Although not crystal clear, I was happy with these photos as they are the best Eastern Meadowlark photos I have taken to date. For some reason it has been hard for me to highlight that gorgeous yellow they have in their plumage.

One of the most stunning birds of the summer and it has one of the prettiest songs of all of the song birds in my opinion.

A lone Killdeer on top of a rock pile. I was very happy I was able to pick up the red in its eye. This was a welcome site as I haven't seen one of these birds in over a month now. I have heard them from time to time, but wherever they have been, they have been good and hidden!

A male American Goldfinch on top of some thistle. I am guessing it's for nest building! There were three other males in or around the same location doing the same exact thing. They were so engrossed in their task at hand that they didn't even notice me taking pictures at a close range.

Digiscoped Gadwall. There were quite a few of these ducks in one location and was one of the last birds we saw for the day.

One of several Great Egrets spotted throughout the day.

And one of my favorite egrets (second to the Cattle Egret, because I am dying to see it), which is the Snowy Egret. There were several of these birds all over Plum including what I presume to be a family who were flying around various locations throughout the reserve.

Here are some pictures I took of a lone Snowy Egret. Such a good looking bird.

This was the first time I had ever really seen one with its neck stretched out like in the photo above. They don't look as stocky as they normally do when in this position (at least to me anyways).

Last one I promise. ;o)

And a picture of what I am presuming to be a juvie Yellow Warbler. Check out how fluffy its feathers still are. So cute and came right out once it heard some pishing! I am telling your juvie birds can't resist the sound of pishing because they are still so curious about everything, which I totally appreciate. ;o)

A couple of pictures of a flock on birds in flight. I have no idea what they are, but it was interesting to see them all flying around and thought it made an interesting picture.

If anyone knows what they are, please let me know via email or comments (that is if you can tell from the lousy pictures!).

And last but by no means the least, another picture of a Song Sparrow! I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to these birds. Talk about billboard advertising here! Out of all of the birds I have seen this spring and summer, I believe this bird is the most territorial and vocal about defending it.

Tomorrow will be a gull post and I know how much you all look forward to seeing those. ;o).