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Writer's pictureBarbara Seith

Back to Basics

Back from Maine on Sunday and it was POURING! Regardless, I went to Galilee Bird Sanctuary and looked for some Whimbrel (along with a few other birders) in the deluge. Then I stopped at Succotash Marsh just to see what was going on -- here is a photo from the parking lot at Succotash.

Monday was a lovely day, but the tide was high went I arrived at Quonnie -- AND I saw no birds, so I chose another route. Several Salt Marsh Sparrows were flitting around.

Succotash Marsh

Salt Marsh Sparrow

Yellow Warbler

Salt Marsh Sparrow

Then back to Galilee Bird Sanctuary...

Common Grackle

Baby Barn Swallows

Willet

Willow Flycatcher

After a quick trip up to Quonset

Purple Martin

Red-tailed Hawk

Back to Quonnie on Tuesday morning and my friend Sue came down as well. We had about 1.5 hours to high tide. It was pretty quiet, but we had a few nice birds.

Quonnie Breachway

Common Tern


American Oystercatcher

Also visited Succotash to see my Osprey family & caught up with a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Succotash Marsh

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Osprey nest - Cap'n Jacks Restaurant - Three Fledgling

My new OM1 Mark ii camera & lens arrived today. It is a very different animal from my previous camera, so it is going to take some getting used to. It weighs about 1/2 of what my previous camera/lens combo did - and my shoulder injury was a large part of the decision. It also has bird eye tracking (Woo Hoo), but I haven't mastered that -- It will take me a while to "own" this camera like I did my previous one, but I'm going to make it work!


Here are some of my first attempts.

Quonnie Breachway

Before I changed any settings

Common Tern

Willet

After I changed some settings

Great Egret

Grabbed my "old" camera for this shot.

Thursday was Whale watch day -- Beautiful day for a Whale Watch. Was going for the birds and we didn't see any of the rarer species that have been seen lately (South Polar Skua & Pomarine Jaeger) but I did get one new life bird. The human company was excellent (Scott T, Sue P & Bill T). Once we got into whale territory, the boat was rocking -- but here are some photos in between the swells...

France Fleet Whale Watch - Lady Francis

Fin Whale (2)

Minke Whale (6)

Wilson Storm-Petrels (1000)

Great Shearwater

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whales with Shearwaters & Wilson's Storm Petrel

Humpback Whales withWilson's Storm Petrel

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Great Shearwater

Humpback Whales with Shearwaters

Mixed Shearwaters & Wilson's Storm Petrel

Humpback Whales with Great Shearwater & Wilson's Storm Petrel

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Great Shearwater

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale with Great Shearwater

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale with Great Shearwaters

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Humpback Whale

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Friday was rainy and gloomy, so I skipped the birding...

My plan on Saturday was to go to Newport in the early morning, but then I saw a report of a Whimbrel at Quonnie on Friday afternoon. I figured I ought to see what's there, but wasn't planning on staying long and at @5:30 it started raining a bit. Then it stopped and I stayed. I was logging some birds on my eBird list and I looked up -- & Ta Da -- Four Whimbrel are wandering around the point. I had my new & my old Camera -- and I am glad I did - I think I need to work on the settings on the new Camera.


Then six more Whimbrels flew in -- WOW! I put the word out even thought it was only 6am -- Whimbrels are not rare, but they are an in-demand bird! Then I just sat and played with my New Camera until two fishermen walked up and flushed all the birds. Thank goodness Sue & Chris had arrived in time to see them fly because they didn't stop once and come back like we were hoping they would.


As we left there was one more flyover -- so a total of 11 Whimbrel at Quonnie.

Quonnie Breachway

Whimbrel-palooza - New Camera

Whimbrel-palooza

Old Camera

Since I had some time before the beach at Succotash Marsh opened, I headed over there to scan the Sweet Spot. There were three more Whimbrels! (and a few other birds). This time people had time to arrive and being a community minded birder I waited until the first birders arrived. It was good the weather wasn't so great -- made it easier to stay in my spot for longer.

Succotash Marsh

Whimbrel Bonus

Old Camera

New Camera

Whimbrel

Great Black-backed Gull

Juvenile Least Tern

That's 14 Whimbrels in one day! Excited to see what tomorrow brings!


Nothing new today -- except the camera I'm still trying to get my arms around. In addition to the camera, I've started trying to use Topaz. It's a tool that used AI to correct photos that are less than perfect. It was tough to figure out when I bought it in 2021, but now it is literally drag and drop and the results have made me happy or at least saved some images. Like these

Tern Rookery, Newport

Original Photo Topaz Adjusted


More from the Tern Rookery

Baby Common Terns

Common Tern

American Oystercatcher

Galilee Bird Sanctuary

Cedar Waxwing

Flora

Baby Barn Swallows about to be fed

Going to work with an OM System Ambassador next week to figure out what settings I should start with. Wish me luck!



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