Day 271 - 28th September 2015 - Seaweed, Shorebirds and Wild Roses

Here we are back to Monday, temperature is +7 and a work day. Going with positive thoughts that is is a good week and not a repeat of last week! Lots to do, I'll be off by the middle of October so want to clean up a lot of loose ends and finish off some research. Exercise class tonight, hoping to get back into that schedule again.
After a chilly morning, the day did warm up. We spent the morning making spaghetti sauce (25 lbs of tomatoes) and tried the canning method as the freezer is quite full. Not keen on that - seemed like a lot more work. After doing a few things around the house and getting the sauce done, we decided to go birding in the afternoon. Surprise, Surprise! When we got to the highway we figured a quick run to Hemeon's Head would be the place. Lots of Gulls around, including a number of Ring Billed ones, a Harrier was in the area hunting, but I never did get good shots of him. Song Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows popped in and out of the bushes. We walked way down the beach and a couple of little Sanderlings ran ahead of us. A few Semi-palmated plovers flew in as well. Checked out the lake and there were 6 Shorebirds together - my good luck 3 lifers in that group. Nothing can perk you up like seeing new birds! Back home, got supper and I thought about the Blood Moon but I knew I'd never make that.

I love taking shots of the kelp and seaweed that washes in on the beach.







Yellow-Rumped Warbler in the hood.

Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher and Stilt Sandpiper. It was a good find!

Wild Roses are still in bloom along the shore.

 Time for take off!

The Ring-Billed Gulls





Enjoy your day!

Day 270- 27th September 2015 - Solitary Sandpiper, Blue-winged Teal and Turkey Vulture

Brrr, it's chilly this morning at +2. Temperatures are dipping a little more each morning. Chance of a frost but I see fog rolling in so that may postpone it for another day. Still a while before daylight, so it's hard to tell yet. Larry picked 2 big buckets and a bag full of tomatoes last evening. Spaghetti sauce in the making.  I've got the craving for a big pot of soup this week, so maybe later today I'll put that on to simmer.  Might squeeze a few hours out for some birding today.
Beautiful Saturday, sun was out, perfect kind of day.  We puttered around in the morning, then headed off toward Barrington to do shopping and pick up the stuff (heat something or other) for the roof to help prevent ice build up/back up this winter that we had ordered a few weeks ago. Of course never to take the straight line, we went via Port Clyde through Thomasville, Baccaro then to Cape Sable Island and back to Barrington.  Doing some birding helps ease the pain of grocery shopping. Not a lot of shorebirds around. Saw a few, plus a Turkey Vulture, Kestrel and maybe a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron.

Waiting for the tide.

The Solitary Sandpiper was in one of the coves at the lake, haven't seen much of them lately.

Turkey Vulture at Thomasville

Blue-winged Teal.


















The water at Crow's Neck beach was pretty but cold I bet.

Black-bellied Plover I think.








Enjoy your day!

Day 269 - 26th September 2015 - Black & White Warbler and Sunrise

Saturday morning, stars are all out, temperature is +6. The Owls are more vocal in the evening and mornings now. Nice to hear them again. No idea what plans are for today - groceries, housework, maybe some birding. Will see what the day brings.
Well yesterday morning the pump wheezed it's last breath (after I bathed), our timing was good for that purchase. So we purchased a pump on the way home and picked up my new laptop - with all my photos, documents etc. transferred over to it. Happy, happy! Lately our friend Kenny spends more time at our house helping Larry fix things than he does at home. It was good of him to come over last night after supper and they got the pump installed. Next is the Oil Barrel sometime over the next few days/first of the week. Then hopefully everything will be quiet for a while.

Black & White Warbler.

 Mornings just keep getting prettier over the lake.

He was quite willing to pose.

I'm not sure who this little guy is, quality of photos are bad. I thought maybe a Kinglet, but not sure.

Enjoy your day!

Day 263 and 264 - 20th & 21st September 2015 - Whale Watching

So last Sunday my computer crashed with all my photos, anyway thanks to a great technician, I'm back in business with a new laptop and all my photos retrieved! So here's our trip from last weekend. 
Had a very foggy drive to the Island, made good time with a few pit stops along the way. Luck was with us and the fog cleared around noon, so Dorothy and I were able to go whale watching with the Freeport Whale and Seabird Birds Tours aboard the Georgie Porgie. It was a great trip - saw a number of whales but not many birds. A couple of whales even came right along side the boat.

 The Georgie Porgie! Great boat, Captain and Tour Guide.

Phalaropes. It's hard to take photos of little birds bobbing in the water while you are on a moving boat.

 Gull.

 Gull with a zodiac full of whale watchers.

 Whale Fin.

 Love watching them bring up their tails then splash them back down.

 I'm not quite sure what this is.

When you see this green color in the water, it means there is a Whale there. Pretty cool as it was next to the boat a couple of times.

 Little action - big bodies!

 And the tail goes back down.

Another Gull - most appeared to be immature.

They are covered in barnacles.

It was so hard to catch their spray, but finally have a number of tries I did.

And we got a show of his belly.

 This might have been a Whale named Sockeye, but I'm not 100% sure.

Greater Shearwater.

So that was our Whale watching trip - a great time. If you haven't booked and gone - put it on your bucket list - it's great fun!






Enjoy your day!

Day 268 - 25th September 2015 - Hermit Thrushes, Black & White Warbler and Sunrise

Friday, thank goodness! Temperature is +8, a little cooler each morning but the stars are all out, with promises for another fine day. Happy to see the end of the week. Oil Barrel picked up yesterday, new pump and hopefully (fingers double crossed) laptop today. Telephone repair man arrived yesterday (after me saying no one would be home) and left a note saying the issue is in the house, reschedule an appointment. I fixed the problem last night - it was the phone  - an Aliant phone (previous repair visit said the phone was alright). Since we are only using 1 jack and 1 phone, I disconnect it, plugged in and charged up one of the cordless ones we haven't been using and bam! I've got service. At some point we'll buy a new phone (cordless don't work when the power goes out), but not this week.  Exercise class last night - a good work out as usual. Apparently my Abs have not been used lately. Larry & Kenny got the old Oil Barrel down and drained.

 There were several nice chubby Hermit Thrushes around that were willing to pose and come quite close.

Black & White Warbler.

A little mist rising from the lake as the sun shines on.

Palm Warbler.

The gangs all here! This is actually only a small section of them. It was probably a flock of 50.






Enjoy your day!

Day 267 - 24th September 2015 - Lake, Goldfinch, Chipmunk and Phlox

Seems the temperature is dropping a little more each morning, +7 today. By mid morning the sun will be out and warming things up. One thing I notice is how quiet it has become in the mornings and evenings. I only hear the owl early in the morning, no other birds are singing. Haven't seen a Hummingbird for quite a while, not even a migrant on their way south, so I guess this weekend the feeder will come in. Time to buy some black oil sunflower seeds and start filling the other feeders.
A good day at home, just what I need to get some things into perspective. Although I would rather have been outside, I spent most of the day doing housework and catching up on odd jobs inside, hoping the telephone repairman would turn up. But of course that did not happen. Cooked a roast for supper, along with swiss chard and carrots from the garden.

I love mornings on the lake these days.

The Goldfinches re molting, not quite as pretty as they were a month ago.

Fungus are popping up in the forest, but this is the first colorful one I've seen this season.

My Phlox hedge is stilling holding it's own.

From the Vessey bulbs I planted this spring. Love the color.

I stumbled upon this little guy under an Apple tree.







Enjoy your day!