Cattus Island 4/11-- Little Blue Heron

I took a walk in the wind at Cattus Island today--I thought March was supposed to be the windy month. (The wind is more than an annoyance in the Pine Barrens--in dry conditions that prevail now, wind turns a small fire into an inferno. A thousand acres were burned the past couple of days down in the Chatsworth area, about 20 miles from here.) I started out around 11 A.M., so the songbirds, except for the blackbirds, were hard to find. They weren't even going to the feeders very much.

I was debating whether to lug my scope along--it basically means I have to sight birds one-handed, or spread out the tripod and put it down, by which time the bird is long gone, plus I get real tired of telling  people who ask me if I got any good pictures that it isn't a camera. Then they're puzzled. Taking pictures of birds they can understand. But looking at them from real far away seem weird.

I elected to take it and I'm glad I did. Because the birds on the bay were very distant, but with the scope I was able to sight Common Loon & Horned Grebe both in breeding plumage. With just binoculars they weren't even pin points in the water. It's getting late for these birds to be here, as evidenced by their fancy feathers.

I saw 5 Osprey nests occupied and watched two Osprey tear apart fishes. Toward the end of my walk I was looking at my 2nd Snowy Egret & 2nd Great Egret of the day in the marsh when I spotted my FOY Little Blue Heron right next to the Snowy. A little later, during my 2nd stop at the observation platform I saw another flying low.  When it landed in the reeds I saw that this one still had some juvenal markings with white on the belly. Most surprising to me was that the plume feathers on the head were still white, creating quite a striking contrast.

The day list:
25 species
Canada Goose  4
Mute Swan  2
American Black Duck  1
Bufflehead  10
Common Loon  1    Breeding plumage
Horned Grebe  1    Going into breeding plumage
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Egret  2
Snowy Egret  2
Little Blue Heron  2    One bird still had splotches of white on its belly and its plume was white.
Osprey  9
Herring Gull  25
Mourning Dove  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  1
Tree Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  3
Eastern Towhee  1
Chipping Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Brown-headed Cowbird  3
American Goldfinch  5