Cedar Waxwing

It was in February that I first saw Ceder Waxwings. I have been taken by pictures of them and wanted very badly to get a first-hand look. In February, I had to stay in my car and try not to scare the birds away. That limited the quality and quantity of pictures I could take.

Last week when city birdwatching was slow, I took a jaunt into the Mini Golf Course at Pippy Park. On the road in I noticed birds flying all about. I stopped the car to size it all up. Much to my surprise there was a flock of Cedar Waxwings and American Robins feeding on the remaining, dried-up berries on the trees.

I was able to take some shots from the car window. Then, I parked my car and crept back into the zone. They were still there and not too concerned about me. It made for a great opportunity to look them over, watch their behaviour and take some shots.

These birds are very colorful with a range of colors from bright yellow on the tip of their tail, the pale yellow on their breast, light brown on their neck and head with a raccoon-like mask around their eyes. Their back is grey and brown with white on the wings.

There are usually red tips on the wings but they are not visible in this picture. It is actually from those red, waxy tips that this bird gets its name "Waxwing."

The Cedar Waxwing also has a great, stately crest on the top of its head. Sometimes it seems prominent and other times it lies down

and disappears altogether.

The Cedar Waxwing is extremely agile. It can and does put itself into some unusual positions in order to feed on the berries.  Yet, it remains vigilant, even when eating up side down.

A couple of days after first finding the Waxwings, I went back to the park to see if they were still there. At first there was no sign of them. I walked around the park and found very little bird activity. On my way back to the car, I cut through the children's playground and there they were. They had found another tree laden with berries.

There seem to be a lot of berries left this year.  Of course the story goes that the more dogberries there are - the greater the snowfall for the year. That didn't hold true this year. With the abundance of berries across the province, the Waxwings and Robins had an ample food supply and seem to have taken their sweet time coming to St. John's. Now that they are here, they are cleaning up the remaining supply.

This is one bird that I will never tire of. There is another variety of Waxwing that frequents Newfoundland as well. It is the Bohemian Waxwing. It is similar in appearance but of course, has some significant differences. If I am able to find and photograph one, I will share info about it.

It was on September 11 while birding the Southern Shore of Newfoundland that I came across a juvenile Cedar Waxwing. It was very long and slinky and had not developed its colors yet. Nevertheless, the shape and markings of the bird are clearly a Cedar Waxwing.

Spotted Sandpiper

One really great thing about birdwatching is that you can walk and re-walk trails and you will likely see something different every time.

I recently registered with the Grand Concourse to record the number of times I walk trails. That site also records the amount of calories you burn. That is a real plus. Multi-tasking is my middle name.

Well, I struck out around Long Pond yet again yesterday. When I came up on the small rocky beach just West of the Fluvarium, I found two small Spotted Sandpipers actively feeding.

My reading tells me that this bird is now in its breeding plumage which includes the round spots on its breast. I understand that these markings disappear in the Winter.

At the time I wasn't sure what type of bird this is, but I fired up the shutter on my camera to get record shots. My habit is to photograph, download the shots and then begin the search through my books until I find the match. This one was easy to match up.

The experience is somewhat like collecting trading cards. In the beginning, the goal is to get one of every kind. Through that process, I learn which birds are rare. Everyone wants the rare cards. This little sandpiper is  very common in North America and Newfoundland. It is a "must-have" for any collection.

I don't know the habits of this bird, but it was not open to being friends. Both little ones scurried around and were particularly cautious of my activities. This may change later on. It seems to be very common behavior of the birds that are first returning to the province at this time of the year.

"Late addition of a Spotted Sandpiper in flight." When I went for my routine walk at Long Pond, I spotted the Spotted Sandpipers:) They must be nexting in the area. In a flash the pair lifted off to head West. I was lucky to get a clear shot of one of them showing the wing coloring very well. To complete this entry, I had to upload this shot.

Northern Shoveler (Male)

I am now locating and photographing birds faster than I can process and post them. How wonderful!  I will soon be looking toward setting up a full-blown web site to better showcase the images that I have collected.  The new lens makes a huge difference in the quality of the shots and is a great motivator to keep shooting.

In the Fall I was able to photograph a female Northern Shoveler, but I had never seen the male of the species until this weekend.

Through the Discussion Group I located these two males at Forest Pond in Goulds. Over the weekend, there was one other reporting of a lone male Shoveler in the Central part of the province. It is amazing how the different species seem to all arrive at the same time but in different places.

This pair was skirting around the edge of the pond to feed but they did not welcome people into their activities. As soon as I would get near them, they would swim out toward the center of the pond. It took some patience to get these few shots.

This image shows the uniqueness of the Northern Shoveler's bill that prompts some people to call this bird a "Spoonbill".

In a sudden burst the Shoveler lifted off to get further away from my camera lens, I think. I was lucky to get a full and clear shot of its spread wings to show its full coloring. The male of the species is much more colorful than the female.

I have included a copy of a previously posted image of the female Northern Shoveler for your convenience. I have yet to see a pair together. These birds are not documented in the field guides as being a bird of Newfoundland, but they certainly do seem to show up here fairly regularly.

Update:  I added four new birds to my 2010 list this weekend:)

European Golden Plover

What an adventure! For a week now, I have been hunting the European Golden Plover. Yesterday, I drove around the fields in Goulds for several hours and finally, gave up.

Then, after supper, I looked on the Discussion Group postings and there was the location! I was going to go have a quick look and then go somewhere else. That's not quite the way it turned out.

The location was in a farm yard, and I had chosen not to drive there earlier. This time, there was a car already in the lane, so I decided to follow it in. I didn't want to block the other birder if he wanted to leave so I pulled off the main path.

After several minutes of scanning the field, I was alerted by the other couple that the birds were in the field. My daughter and I focused the binos and at last, we saw the European Golden Plovers. They were about 50 yards away, and I knew that I wasn't going to get any good pictures. Nevertheless, I took what I could.

Not wanting to disturb the other birders too much, I decided that I would leave the photographing to them. I got in the car and started to back up, but that didn't happen! I felt the tires spin and the car sink. I got out to have a look only to find that I had buried my front tires in mud - what a mess!

Thank goodness, I wasn't there alone. The gentleman in the other car studied my situation. I could tell he didn't think it was good. He had a tow line and was going to pull me out. He looked all over the underneath of my car and couldn't find a single place to hook up. Uh oh! He didn't give up. He walked over to a pile of trash that was about 30 feet from us and came back with a piece of old carpet. He had a knife (which I will buy right away) and cut the carpet into pieces to go under the front tires. Great idea but the carpet just became mired in mud and didn't do the job. I should mention that by now, we were all covered in mud! He then had the idea to reverse the carpet, putting the jute side up. We did that and cut more strips to create a longer path. He drove and my daughter and I pushed and slowly he backed the car out onto the path. He was so kind, and I was very grateful.

I was so afraid that all of our commotion had scared these tiny birds away, but no - they were still there. I was so glad. I hope he got some great pictures.

Why all this trouble just to see the European Golden Plover? Well, it is quite rare in North America. This bird doesn't even appear in North American field guides. It breeds in Greenland, Iceland or Siberia. It winters in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East but occasionally, it will get caught up in the winds and find itself in Labrador or Newfoundland. While this does not happen every year, it did happen this year. There have been about 50 European Golden Plovers spotted during this Spring but only six in the St. John's area. These three seem to be all that remain. If I missed them, I may not have a chance again. These record shots document my 80th species sighting in 2010, and I am very happy to have them. If you would like to see better pictures and learn more about this bird, visit   http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://identify.whatbird.com/img/4/34081/image.aspx&imgrefurl=http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/1020/overview/European_Golden-Plover.aspx&usg=__UP7sp1sKuwF9du_j6PzR3rNO5eo=&h=460&w=310&sz=30&hl=en&start=23&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Ja4ObVa5e3UHDM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=86&prev=/images%3Fq%3DEuropean%2BGolden%2BPlover%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLL_en%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

I must go now - there is a report of two male Northern Shovelers in Goulds. I don't have any pictures of them - yet.