Our rare Purple Gallinule in Erie County, PA 10/9/11

Only the 2rd ever sighting of a juvenile Purple Gallinule at Presque Isle. Last one was 10/1999! We were given credit for the score at the Presque Isle Audubon Society

Migration Day 4 Cedar Waxwing Feeding Frenzy

8/28/2011 Knox Farms State Park, East Aurora, NY

About to leave as we happened upon this insane feeding frenzy of Cedar Waxwings. Over a large field and they would take breaks on the wooden fence. At one point, we were standing about 10 feet from each other taking photos and a waxwing came in-beween us, mid air and plucked the critter from existence. "did you hear that?" It was so close we heard the waxwing snag it right out of the air. Pretty fucking cool. I may add more pics as I continue to edit, but time...

Migration Day 2 Continuation. Who cares about shorebirds.

So as I was leaving the oncoming storm I noticed a Bald Eagle hovering/swaying in the wind above route 18 near Calvin E. Krueger park, so I violently double backed toward the Wilson Lake St. Pier from which I had just left. I got to see the eagle unsuccessfully fish for well over 5 minutes. It was spectacular. At one point, he suggested that he was going to perch in the tree right next to the stranger lady who was watching the scene with me, but instead, he flew right over our heads and kept swaying and balancing and drifting towards Olcott.

The pictures below show how close he was to us, but I was seriously battling high winds, leaves, raindrops and a camera not that irks me to no end.
































On the way home I stopped at a farm stand and heard a bunch of noise in the rafter: baby barn swallows just about ready to leave the nest:


















With wheels on my ass,

B.

2011 New York State Migration

Many of these pictures may not be up to the standards of, well, myself, but I wanted to document the sightings of my fall migration travels around Western New York.

8/20/2011 Day 1

We started at Owl Woods in Braddock Bay, where we saw absolutely nothing. The heat was oppressive and the woods were still, aside from angry red squirrels and frolicking chickadees.

We pressed on toward Lake Ontario where we were sure to find a flurry of shore birds willing to pose for the camera, give interviews, etc. To my dismay, one lousy spotted sandpiper made an appearance.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER #1













Day 2 8/21/2011

It's going to rain on your head @ Wilson NY




























More day 2 to follow