"The Birds"

Hundreds of them!  Mostly European Starlings but quite a few Common Grackle and Red-winged Blackbirds too.  (It was snowing heavily when I took these shots.)

If you click on the photo below to expand it and look closely, you can see the epaulettes on the Red-winged Blackbirds.

Killdeer on the First Day of Spring

Spotted four Killdeer on the lawn in a cemetery today.  They are the first I've seen this year.

Gusty Winds

High winds create huge waves behind ice dunes on Lake Erie this last day of winter.

Female Northern Cardinal

Nice day for a walk in the woods!

Boutwell Hill State Forest in Cherry Creek, NY

Winter's Grip

Changing Sunset

Different views of tonight's sunset taken with the same camera and lens.

Mammatus Clouds

Harbingers of Spring

American Robins and Daffodils!

Winter's Last Stand

White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer in an abandoned vineyard this morning.  

Pre-Spring Swamp

Just waiting for my favorite birding swamp to thaw.  As soon as it does, it will be teeming with life!

Red-tailed Hawk

Waiting for the Sunset

Ice dunes on Lake Erie.

Redhead Duck with a Fish

Osprey

Mockingbird

Preening Brown Pelican

Ring-necked Ducks

Laughing Gull

Snowy End

Snowy scenery on the last day of February.

Nesting Season Begins!

I found these female House Sparrows collecting nesting materials today!

Little Blue Heron

Hummingbird Migration has begun!

The first reports of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds reaching land after crossing the Gulf of Mexico are coming in from Alabama, Louisiana and Florida!

Spring is coming!!!

Click on the highlighted links to reach the hummingbirds.net migration website.

Snow Goose

Piping Plover

I took this photo of a Piping Plover in winter plumage near Fort Jefferson on the island of Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas of Florida.  From the Cornell Lab website:  "A small pale shore bird of open sandy beaches and alkali flats, the Piping Plover is found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well as inland in the northern Great Plains.  Because of disturbance by people, all populations are considered endangered or threatened."

Common Myna

Scenes from the Florida Everglades

Black-crowned Night Heron

Glossy Ibis

Anhinga and Nest with Little Ones

Green Heron

Purple Gallinule

Snowy Egret

White Pelicans

Tricolored Heron

American Alligator

Little Blue Heron