The Common Eider is such a beautiful water bird. I love it when I see them swimming around. There are quite a few of them at Boat Meadow Creek and Rock Harbor this winter. (Click on blog link for more photos.)
The first photograph is of an adult male. The 2nd photo is of a male during its first winter. And the last photograph is of a female Common Eider.
Any birders out there, please let me know if this is correct!
I walked right by this Red-tailed Hawk sitting on the sign by the road the other day and he didn’t even move. I didn’t see him until I turned around to look at something else. I had walked right underneath him… about 5 feet away.
I didn’t have my camera as it was really windy, so I took a few photographs with my iPhone. I kind of liked this one… it was a bit artsy looking. What do you think?
I love the Northern Cardinals when they come to feed in our yard. The males are so beautiful with their vibrant red color while the females have a brown-gray body with red wings and tail. They have a very distinct call or song which you identify just about anywhere.
This male was just checking things out on our feeder. Beautiful bird, don’t you think? They stand out so vividly with their holiday colors.
This Long-tailed Duck has been hanging around Boat Meadow Creek for a while. We read that thousands of them had stopped off on the Cape with the last couple of storms. This is the first one that I have ever seen.
A Long-tailed Duck is a small diving duck which has a dark brown back and a white head with a large black cheek patch. It spends the longest time under water relative to its time on the surface. They can dive to depths of 200 feet. Pretty cool, huh?
Have you ever seen a Long-tailed Duck?
I had noticed some new shore birds swimming about Boat Meadow Creek, so we went over to investigate. There were quite a few sea birds in the creek so I got my camera out and just clicked away. When I got home and put them up on my computer, I realized that I had gotten photos of 4 different kids of sea birds. This first one is the White-winged Scoter.
The White-winged Scoter is a medium-sized duck, which is mostly black with white eye patches and large white wing patches. The male has a red, yellow and orange bill with a small black know while the female has a dark gray bill with a small know. This looks like a female.
We have read about so many different kinds of birds that have been sighted so far this winter on Cape Cod, it will be fun to try to find them. Have you ever seen a White-winged Scoter?
