Saturday, February 28, 2009

the gardener is on the beach

How are your bird ID skills? My mom knows them all pretty well. I just like to photograph them.

least sandpiper
snowy egret willit
royal tern
royal tern on the beach laughing gull
flight flying - ruddy turnstone?
flip flops Copy of IMG_4882

I'm only a little bit sun burned from a day on the beach.... (I wonder how my little seedlings are doing back at home in the cold snowy North.)

garden birds (Hortus Aves)

16 comments:

Chiot's Run said...

Looks like you're getting your vitamin D. Hope your seedling are doing OK.

Randy Emmitt said...

Kathy,

Your top bird is a Sanderling, always chasing the waves in and out,, dead give away. The next bird the wader is a Snowy Egret, the yellow feet are under water, but that is what it is. The bird next to is is a Willet. Your tern close up is a Royal Tern so is the photo below it. The gull in the sky is a Ring-billed Gull and next to it in flight looks like a winter Ruddy Turnstone.

Dennis said...

Gotta love going to the beach in Feb.! Back home it looks like there's a Nor'easter waiting for you.

Matron said...

They look like seabirds to me!! Gosh.. is that sunshine I see? Wow! But where's Skippy?

kathy said...

Thanks for the IDs Randy. We didn't know the sanderling or the ruddy turnstone in flight. Great to know.

Matron, it IS sun. A real shock to my system. Skippy is at home with the rest of my family. They are watering the seedlings and hanging out with Skip.

Johanna said...

Vitamin D will kill those winter blues! My kids and I head for Culebra (and then Puerto Rico) this Monday. We need Vitamin D too! Hi to your family and enjoy the down time. Skippy will be so excited to see you when you get home!

Dan said...

Nice Egret photo! I have yet to photograph one.

kathy said...

Doesn't Vit D feel good! Enjoy your travels Johanna!

Unknown said...

I would have guessed: Shell bird, royal white bird, skinny legged bird, cautious bird..with short legs, blacked headed flying bird, Jonathan, adolescent bird, shoeless bird, Floridian birds…aren’t you lucky! I hope Skippy is tending to your garden at home.

Anonymous said...

Like you Kathy, I love to get pictures of them (when they stay there long enough for me to grab my camera!) but don't know much about identifying them. Your pictures do come out well! Here is CT they are predicting some snow (and I think MA too?) but nothing in reality so far. Hope your seedlings are hanging in there and doing lots of growing....

Peggy said...

Seeing people on the beach this time of year just seems all wrong to those of us in the north! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathy en all, glad you named the Sanderling when we visit Naples, FL we love these little birds. Being a townie I love to get up at first light and walk the beach they fascinate me running backward and forward in and out of the waves. Such a beautiful place and I am very lucky to know we are visiting again end April.
Happy Sunday and St. Davids Day to all.

Lisa said...

Hi, Kathy-
I love the overlap that pops up in the blogging world - I know Randy (from his work) as an accomplished nature photographer here in the SE, so it's fun to see his comment on your blog.

I hope your travels back to the snowy north go smoothly; it's not looking too good at the moment. And, how great to have some warm beach weather and birding as a respite.

Lisa

kathy said...

I love all the comments, too. Wonderful.

Today was a wild and windy day in Southern Florida. A cold front came through with dark clouds and temps plummeted to, gosh, almost 60*F. Brrr ;-)

The ocean was wild - big waves, blowing sand and foam - and flocks of sea birds hunkered down on the shore. I shot "rolls" of film and will have to add an off-site link as I realize this is not a bird blog. But its hard to resist sharing the experience...

Unknown said...

Beautiful photos, and your blog is very much after my own heart - birds, gardens, food...

Mrs. Finch said...

I'm so jealous of your bird pictures! I've been trying to take a picture of each different type of bird I see - and I only have one of these! We hope to stop by Hawk Mountain, PA during our honeymoon - they've had 240 different species of birds there annually.