Super Summer Sampler

Seeking relief from the intense heat, I made a trip out to Long Beach Long Island. From the boardwalk I spotted numerous black-backed and herring gulls. Periodically, groups of lesser and common terns would dive past the breakwaters. On hand were many laughing gulls who sat in tight groups, occasionally heckled by the brazen ring-bills.
Occasionally the beach would fall silent and I soon saw why. An intrepid Osprey was flapping hard, making sudden dives towards the water. It made several sorties from the bayside over to the beach...I was lucky enough to watch it stoop!

and crash headlong into the ocean in a way I'd never seen before!

It then powered above the surf...

and turned towards me!

Looks like we both caught something!

Back in Morningside Park, a sudden thunderstorm brought all the crawdaddies out to spawn. I guess this guy just finished!

And one of the hawklets seems to be getting on just fine.

I watched him hunt a catbird, robin and sparrow with great vigor and abandon. Although not successful, I did noticed that this silenced the songbirds and as a result, this reliable way of locating hidden hawks was silenced.
Man have I seen the hugest hornets this year!

Summer Hours

Im keeping summer hours now--basically that means I am just coasting!--so my posts will be fewer and farther between. They will also probably be a few days behind as well. For example, here's some pic of a trip I took to Greenport, LI.
The Soundview Inn

Which as patrolled by huge gulls,


and this guy!


The inner harbor was lorded over by fishing boats,

and this fella!


(The works name is calld Morning Call. Its a bronze osprey taking flight from a piece of WTC steel.)

You said it buddy!

Peace to all this summer!

Kestrels

In addition to the RTH's and Peregrines I monitor, fledging season for the Kestrels is also here. I have been keeping a close eye on the uptown Kestrels as they come and go from the nest hole. Here's the male,

and the female!




Here they are perched together...


Like an arrow, the males slices from the shared perch!

He misses the lucky sparrow and flys overhead!

And alights on an antenna...

where he looks around,

before flying off!



and rejoining his mate, empty taloned!

Inbound LAG, outbound NEW.

Catching Up

This rainy day has allowed me to catch up on some of my work. Here's a collection of some recent pix from St. John's
The more you learn,

the more you urn!

Psssst!

What'd you say?

Come on it's not so bad!

Fledgling framed in foliage!

Empty nest syndrome!

2nd Cathedral Baby Fledges!

Just got word, the 2nd baby finally fledged today at 1030am...almost one full week after her older sibling. These things take time I guess!