Birding At Plum Island

 

Plum island is a place i've wanted to go birding for a while. Ducks, birds of prey, and others migrate to the new England coast during the winter, from the arctic, making the area a wildlife photographer hotspot. There have been sightings of snowy owls, barred owls, short eared owls, northern harriers, and rare waterfowl. I also heard there is sometimes a coyote who hunts on the side of the road. I went on the 15th. On my way to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, I noticed A northern harrier circling over an airfield...

...I payed the 5 dollar entry fee to get into the Wildlife Refuge, and parked at the first lot I could find, and headed down to the beach. The wind was powerful and freezing, and was blowing sand into my eyes. I had picked the wrong day to visit the island. I decided to make the most out of my day though, since I had already driving for an hour and a half to get there. I walked out onto the beach. I didn't look for snowy owls because according to other wildlife photographers, there are none around this year, because this winter is mild compared to the "Snowy Owl Explosion Years", when they were easy to find. The warmer weather means they don't migrate as far south, as they prefer arctic conditions.

The wind forced me to stick to the marsh side of plum island. Cold ocean mist was spraying into my face and the gust so powerful, it was blowing my lens, blurring all my shots. This weather was a signal that a snowstorm was about to happen...

And as I started driving down the road, along the inner marsh side of plum island, I saw more harriers, flying against the wind while they hunted for voles. Northern harriers are one of the only diurnal birds of prey that hunt by listening for prey. The wind seemed to make hunting a lot harder for them that day.

This harrier was using the wind to hover in place, almost perfectly still. I took this photo using my car as a blind, as you can see from the black window frame in the top left corner of the image:

                                          A few times, I did see them land, but I think the loud,                                           harsh wind was making it hard for the harrier to hear it's prey, because the whole time I watched it, it was missing it's targets. Here are some photos of one hunting... 

    

            

This was one of my first experiences photographing wildlife with a crowd. I pulled over to take photos of a harrier, while another car pulled over seeing the same thing. By the time the harrier left, 5 cars had stopped and parked, and there was a whole group of photographers. Later on that day, I realized the same thing was happening all over the place, with cars building up at the side of the road whenever a harrier was nearby.

There are "wildlife observation areas" up and down the main road. I pulled over at each one, but I wasn't seeing anything too interesting. Finally, I parked at a live parking area. Next to the road was a large pond, filled with ducks. This area is called the "salt pannes." In the salt pannes, I saw that there were maybe 50 ducks, feeding and trying to stay out of the wind. A few rare species, that I have never photographed before were mixed into the flock...

Northern Pintail

American Black Duck

Long-Tailed Duck (at a nearby boat launch)

Bufflehead

I didn't find any owls that day, or the coyote, but I had fun exploring the area, and seeing new waterfowl. I left when it started to snow. I plan to return the area over February break