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Thursday, October 7, 2010

Weekend in New England, Part 1

What a great weekend we had in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont! Our New England whirl started with a visit to AB's parents in southern New Hampshire and a trip to Plum Island, MA.

Here are some of the birds we saw there, despite the rain and cold:A young Great Black-backed Gull, maybe first year? I'm basing this on the pics in my Sibley.
A full-grown GBBG. There were a LOT of these gulls all over New England; I didn't see many other kinds of gulls, at least not sitting still so I could ID them.

In the Salt Pannes area of the park, we saw these guys:A lot of birds in this group. I think I see a Least Sandpiper there, in front of the bird on the left. The bird with the wings in the air? We'll get to him. Next to him on the right are what I believe to be two Greater Yellowlegs. Then there's the bird in the lower right. Let's look at the next picture.
Okay--there are a few Greater Yellowlegs, but there is still the matter of the bird in the foreground and the bird who's lighter in plumage and facing to the left. Next picture:
The birds, the pale one near the middle and the one in the foreground, were the same kind of bird, but neither one wanted to show me any kind of helpful hint for the camera. I have gone over and over my Shorebird Guide and my Sibley, and the closest I can come is winter-plumaged Black-bellied Plovers. Comments, anyone?

More pics of them:

Here's the best one I got:
Black-bellied Plover?
See how camera-shy he was?

We also saw several Snowy Egrets:

I wish the weather had been better, and that we'd gotten there earlier in the day. Still, it was nice out there. I'd like to go back there soon.

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