LONG ISLAND BIRDS IN FLIGHT

[gary]

so i thought i would get a thread of northeast birds started, and while i haven't got the color of the tropical/florida birds, and not yet a large assortment we do have a few, now i'll start off with the good old seagull, common enough here, and one of the few birds available year round



and another one, these are right next to a small parking area, next to a busy road, that has a few tables and benches and a half dozen parking spots. but it is at the head end of a creek, and bait fish get pushed up here in summer, so the seagulls make a living

[url=https://k-gphotos.smugmug.com/2018/BIRDS-IN-FLIGHT-2018/33118/i-5ZsHgXp/A][/URL]

now these i realize have no great artistic merit, i am most of all trying to get my groove going with this A9, wow, what can i says about the autofocus, it is spoken of on the internet as the best one out there right now, and fanboys aside, it might just be, these all taken with just a consumer grade kit type lens, the 70-300, f4.5-5.6, not a G or GM grade, and not too bad in close

 

[gary]

so after a few chores, on the way home, almost an afterthought i went down to a different spot, mattituck inlet, by the old mill restaurant, a narrower spot in the creek that comes in from long island sound, sitting in my truck, watching the scene, a few gulls, and some diving ducks, which were working, but not flying, when i see a much larger bird on the other side of the creek, and then another, wheeling and circling in quite the acrobatic display, hey wait a minute, those are ospreys, oh man am i about to watch osprey porn??? so i jump out the truck, and slap on the 100-400 and grab myself some a9 bif goodness

[url=https://k-gphotos.smugmug.com/2018/BIRDS-IN-FLIGHT-2018/33118/i-RBzbbSr/A][/URL]

right about now i realized i have hit the osprey jackpot, there are at least 7 that i can pick out, i'm guessing that this is a male trying to impress a female with his husband potential and provider skillset, that's a good old fat new england menhaden in his claws, also known as bunkers, a member of the herring family, but even nastier tasting than those things in a tin, there used to be a large industry of fishing offshore from long island for these things for the oil and as fertilizer base when i was growing up, right up until the late 60's



i guess this one was just hungry as no others were around, i patiently waited but it never tore up it's fish while perched here, just eventually flew off





and while i haven't watched this perch long enough to know individual birds, i think this is a different bird, i don't think that it would have needed to fly off and come back to keep it's fish from being stolen, i never saw any others trying to get in onto another's fish, and i did not see any nest repairing activity going on, and look at all the garbage bag material used as part of the nest



and this clinched it, i am ordering the 1.4 tele ext asap, i want a little more reach for this perch