I don’t know why I woke at 3:30 this morning, but I am pleased to meet the chill in the air, it has been a while since I have felt cold. The day is starting beautifully.
Silence, pure silence! No one else up, not a bird singing, I can barely hear the waves crashing along the shore. Jack, my pup, didn’t even hear me get up. I think I will make some coffee and sit on the porch for a while and wait for the sun to rise.
The sun rises as I sit on the pier waiting for everyone to awake. With the air starting to warm by the suns rays, it is time to wake Christine and Jack. Jack is already up and waiting for his morning walk, Christine on the other hand is a little bit more troublesome. I take Jack out and he is enjoying the morning just as much as me. He runs, smells the air, looks around, and runs. He is a good pup.
Christine is finally awake, and now she is ready to go. Once her mind is set on something it is hard to change it. Off to Chincoteague we go.
What a day! Chincoteague is almost a ghost town again. We stop at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat, yuck.
The beach is just about deserted a few people here and there. We start walking down with the waves crashing the shore. It is pretty rough out, there is a hurricane off the eastern sea board which is causing a pretty strong undertow. The water is nice and warm though.
We have not been walking long when Christine ask me “what is that?”. At first I am not sure to be honest some type of little sandpiper. Tiny and quick, not skid-dish at all! A Least sandpiper is what it is.
We stay and watch him feed along a little pond of saltwater left on the beach.
I positioned myself on the sand to get a closer look, as the little guy approached.
He didn’t seem to mind me much.
He danced a long the edge of the pond feeding and preening.
What a great day to share with you,
little piper!
I hear Christine laugh and say “They are almost running over your feat!” I look behind me and a bunch of sanderling are running by.
I watch as one gets closer.
They are not shy today.
He fiddles with a mole crab and nearly maxes my minimum focus limit.
Off he goes!
We move on down the beach as Christine Looks for shells and I continue to look for more shore birds, I wish for once a piping plover would be kind enough to visit me and not just observe from afar. A ways down the beach and we come across some more shore birds feeding along a little salt pond.
A Semipalmated Plover watches closely.
And of course, running away!
Another Sanderling.
We continue down until the beach until we reach the no entry signs. You would not believe how many people I have seen enter these areas this year. I even had to say something to a guy and his kids about it. ”Oh I know.” was this guys response. No wonder I have only seen two piping plovers this year.
I sit down and watch all the shore birds on the other side, while Christine takes a quick dip in the ocean to cool off. We sit for a while looking out too the ocean and talk about what a wonderful day it has been so far. It is nice to have a supportive wife.
On our way back….
A piping plover!
Just one.
Very Shy.
What a great day this ended up being, wife, birds, beach, and life!
Somehow there are times that I forget to take in the beauty of mornings. The sunrise, the air, and the life it brings with the dawn of a new day.
My schedule and life lately seems to only revolve around my job. I Get up, drive, work, and sleep. Don’t get me wrong I like what i do but it often takes me away from my passion, mistress, or whatever you may want to call my alternative life.
I am talking about photography. It keeps me sane and grounded. And its not just looking through the view finder that relaxes me, it is the essence of being part off the truly big picture. It allows me to think clearly and see that life does not revolve around me or you but it simply revolves.
Life is beautiful and I hope that i do not have to be reminded again…
It has been a long and indecisive morning,waking up at 4:00 am gives a person a lot of time to think about what the days plan will be. We our suppose to head to Chincoteague today, but I am not sure if that is exactly what I want to do. I know Christine will have something to say about it, when she wakes up in the next 6 hours, but I still am going to try to plan the day.
I decide to browse Google Earth and try to find some secluded Islands in the bay. My goal here is to try and find some rookeries. After a few minutes of searching I find a little Island that has a small clump of trees, a lot of marsh and some sandy beaches. A good place to start looking! So this will be plan A, talk Christine into kayaking out to the Island, she can lay on the beach as I go trudge through the marsh, and walk the beaches. Pretty good plan I think. I am starting to think she is realizing that these places I want to take her are worth the trip.
Plan B Deal Island. If Christine decides she does not want to go kayaking, Deal Island will be a good second choice. I am kinda curious to see if the semipalmated plovers are back this year. We saw 6 last year! This was the first time seeing any type a shorebird at the beach house, at least in the last 5 years we have been going down there. It was pretty exciting. So this definitely will be a good plan B.
If all else fails Chincoteague it is, not that I don’t want to go, but I am simply not feeling it today. I often wonder what I am missing there, actually everywhere. Every time I am not in the field I feel that I have missed so many opportunity’s to share what we all are missing. I am just glad that I am not alone in the quest, to freeze time for future generations.
So the day is planned sort of.
Christine is up! It is 10:00 and we discuss my plans. She is set on Chincoteague, but I finally convince her to head down to Deal Island. We watch a couple episodes of Dexter then leave around 12.
The wind has really picked up, good thing she didn’t decide on kayaking, it would have made for a long day. At least its warm and the view is amazing, not a cloud in the sky. The osprey and martins are soaring. A royal tern flies by once and a while, but no signs of plovers or any type a shorebird. It is still early in the afternoon and the sun is high in the sky, the light is harsh.
It has been a few hours and an Egret just flew in. The tide is starting to go out and the sun has decided to start its decent in the sky. One lone egret, normal for down here. You can go a mile or two down the road and see more if you wish, but its nice to see only one, easier to keep your mind on the subject.
I watch as the egret enters the water slowly looking for prey. Once and a while lunging forward and picking a minnow out of the marsh grass. I’ve seen them take shad, catfish and eels, but my favorite prey to watch them catch is blue crabs. Its pretty neat to see them toy with the shell.
I just heard some plovers fly by. Maybe it is my lucky day. 11 have landed on the sand near by. 5 more then last year and they are in there mating colors. They have just stopped by to take a bath and due a little grooming. 20 minutes of shooting and watching them has made my day. They fly off just as fast as they have come in. Wish they could of stayed a bit longer, but I am sure they will be back.
It is amazing what a little bit of conservation does for wildlife habitat. 5 years ago there was barely any beach down here. The Army Corp of Engineers came down and helped design a bulkhead that would replenish the beach. The first few years were doubtful, didn’t seam to be really doing anything, but now the sand is moving in, grasses are growing and the birds have found their way back.
I hope in another five years or so the population of birds showing up down here continue continues to grow.
So one more pleasant surprise has shown up, a spotted sandpiper. I have only seen 3 since I started on this journey. 2 in Chincoteague 3 years ago. I found them, or stumbled across them, in a little pond off the beach. I was not sure what species they were I just knew I had never seen them before. It was pretty exciting to come home and look them up. Field Guides are a godsend…
Heading down to Scott’s Landing, it’s around 3:00pm. I really don’t expect much out of today, but am curious to see what the day may have to offer. It has been a while since I have been down here. They have remodeled the Gov’t shack that sits at the end of the landing, liked it better before the remodel. I should have taken a photograph of it, next time.
It’s a little breezy out here today. There are a few gulls and willets flying about. Off in the distance I can see a pair of Bald Eagles sitting on a blind, hope that they will eventually fly over this way. My luck with Eagles though has not been very good. I really need to spend this years winter down at Blackwater, learning more about them.
An hour has past and of course the Eagles have not moved from there post. I get out of the truck and decide to walk out to the marsh to see if I can get some shoots of Willets, Cormorants, or even a Gull. Walking to the waters edge and I set up my tripod and wait. I hear plenty of Willets and even see some Cormorants and Gulls.
A few willets scream at me as they fly by. Cormorants and gulls sit about 200 yards away watching me. A car drives down the road, I know that the occupants must think who is this nut standing in the marsh. They head down the road without a wave to say hello. I continue to watch the willets fly by. They are keeping there distance. Down at the beach it is much easier to shoot them. All they care about is getting their mole crabs and what ever else they come upon. This is fun though, waiting, allowing them to come to me. I guess simply because it is more of a challenge.
Hours have past and I head back to the truck. Those eagles are still sitting off in the distance atop of that blind. I know as soon as I pull a way the will head over. I drive down the long lane watching in the mirror to see them, but no luck.
I come across a little treat on the way home! A pair of foxes and 4 kits in a field. No where to park, I stop in the middle of the road. They are pretty far off and light is dim, but I get lucky enough to get one decent shot before the night begins. I will have to head back in a few weeks to see them again.
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You know sometimes I forget what is in my backyard. It started back here, that is my photography, I wanted to be able to shoot some of the birds that visited our feeders. I purchased my first camera back in 2004 and started shooting. I would sit back here for hours watching the birds and getting them familiar with me. I remember my first decent shoot of a Titmouse. It was some what exciting to be able to capture such an image.
Now these days I usually go out looking for some of the same birds that frequent our backyard and as luck has it they are difficult to find. Maybe it is the challenge of finding the same birds out in the woods or fields that takes me away. I am not sure what draws me to leave the sanctuary of our back yard, but I have realized it is not always necessary to venture so far away.
I have counted 10 different species out here today. From Hummingbirds to Pileated woodpeckers. It is very peaceful being able to sit out here and enjoy all the different songs.
The rain has stopped and my headache is finally gone. It is time to start hiking down the beach. On the way I stop and talk to a park ranger to make sure that the trail to the beach is open. He lets me know that the 2nd trail is open and is the only one accessible. So my 8 mile Hike is going to turn into only a 4 mile hike, thats OK. As I head down I see a few robins, swallows and 2 bald eagles. The mosquitoes are everywhere, I hope they are hungry.
Finally at the trail head to the beach. Last time I was here, last fall, there was a Sika grazing out in the marshy field. The field now is a pond and there is little out here. Up and across the dunes with hope of spotting a piping plover. A dozen or so willets and some blackbirds, but no plovers.
The sun has started to shine as I have taken my place along the beach, not another person in site.
The willets are combing the beach, as some pelicans head my way. I always have liked pelicans, so graceful in flight, glad to see them back. I look out to the ocean scanning for dolphins, but no luck today.
A few hours have past with very little going on. I should get back, even though I could stay out here all day. The hike back is pretty much the same, minus the eagles. As I am about to end my journey I see a Sika grazing some trees. Sitting and watching for a bit, trying not to scare her off. She looks young maybe a yearling. I do my best not to scare her off as I get up. I guess she could care less about me.
Time to head home.
4:30 am and I am up almost ready to go. My head aches from lack of sleep, but I have been waiting for this all week. Off at 5. I realize I left a tank of propane in the back of my truck, so back home. Ok 5:15 on the road. I know there will not be a beautiful sunrise and there may be a little rain, but I want to be down there when the birds awake.
6:00 and the shorebirds are already feeding. Yellow legs, willets, and dunlin in the marsh. Egrets and heron wading along the waters edge. I am here. I sit watch and listen as more birds fly in. 100 or so cormorants fly over head. Birds everywhere.
An hour of shooting and they rain begins. I am sitting in my truck now waiting, for a break in the rain, to head down 8 miles or so to a secluded section of the beach. I hope to see some piping plovers. The rain has stopped and itstime to go.
Just to let everyone know I have been super busy at work and home. My wife wanted a privacy fence so I have been working on that. Also as many of you know the weather has changed, grass has to be cut and the yard cleaned up. I have been non stop for the last week. New post and photographs coming soon.
The best part of putting the fence up has been the site of a Chickadee building a nest and a Mocking bird sitting on the new construction singing to us in the evenings….
Christine, my wife, and I are heading up to Ocean City. She wants to do some shopping and I want to see what might be on the beach. The wind is blowing but it is warm today. We stop at a couple shops and she does her thing and I go down to the news stand to see if the have any new magazines. I pick up a new copy of Nature Photographer magazine, there is a pretty good article on using a telephoto zoom lens. I have come to the conclusion, at least for now, that there are a lot of images that I have missed and will continue to miss do to the fact that I use a telephoto zoom lens to capture most of my images. A 500mm, 600mm or even an 800mm is out of the question right now, due to price, but I really think that it would take some of the fun out of my photography, if I owned one of these beasts. Someday though I will truly find out. Christine finally makes it back to the car and my thoughts drift from super telephoto lens and back to getting down to the beach.
We head down to the beach and see that there is not much going on. I wonder if people realize that it is to nice to be inside today. Down at the waters edge we can see a couple of gulls sitting and 1 Sanderling.
He is alone and not to worried about the two of us. We sit and watch him plunging his bill in the sand, running back and forth from the waters edge. I often wonder where they have been, the shore birds. Has he made his way from the Tundra or been here all year. It is hard to say, but I do wonder.
We walk the beach a bit more and I see some Gannets, over the Ocean, soaring in the wind. Their black tipped wings out stretched, allowing them to glide smoothly above the waves. The water is to rough to be out there today, but I wish I could get a little closer to them.
After a few hours down at the beach we decide to check out Assateague. Ponies along side of the road, as usual, and people crowded them. It would be so much fun having to wait for these animals to cross your path, but people seem to want to feed and pet them. I guess all the warning signs and threats of fines do not worry any of these people. What a shame.
There is not much going on down here. We see some kite boarders and watch them for a while, but that is it. The day is just about gone and it is time to go.
