Bulletin #93 – Maine #2

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
October 24, 2009

Bulletin #93 – Maine #2

Hello friends,




The Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) is our largest gull at 30" in length with a 5.5 foot wingspan. It is a white headed gull with black back and pink legs. In the winter plumage, most white headed gull get extensive brown streaking on the head and neck. This gull stays almost completely white, as this winter bird shows.

Here is a winter plumaged Lesser Black-backed Gull for comparison. He has extensive brown streaking on his head and neck.






There were only a few land birds that I found and photographed. One of the best is everyone's favorite, the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalis). This bird was perched in a pine tree. When I set up to photograph him, he flew right across the road about 50 feet from me and 30 feet off the ground. This was my closest encounter with this magnificent bird.







There was a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicis varius). These juvenile birds have a lot of brown. Both adult males and females have red crowns and the red feathers start to appear through the winter. This bird has no red feathers at all on top of the head or on the throat.








A moment later, I was lucky to catch him as he flew off, with the spotted underwings spread wide.

I also found 2 butterflies to photography. The first is the American Lady (Vanessa virginensis). This butterfly is in the same family as the Monarch.

The other is the Clouded Sulfur (Colias philodice).

As we went up to Maine for the fall colors, I thought I would show you a few photos.

Here is the first and click 'next' 3 times to see the others

Here is a photo of the dramatic coast in Acadia National Park.

Lastly, the hotel we stayed at in Bar Harbor overlooked the port. Bar Harbor is a stop on the cruise ship itinerary, so we were lucky to see several different ships in port during our visit. One afternoon we had a violent storm and afterwards a beautiful rainbow appeared over the harbor, encircling one of the ships.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonaldemail: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2009 David McDonald
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Bulletin #92 – Maine

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
October 17, 2009

Bulletin #92 – Maine

Hello friends,

My wife and I spent last week in Maine at Bar Harbor on Mt. Desert Island. I wanted to go there for several reasons. It was during the height of the fall tree color and I hadn't seen autumn colors in 10 years. I grew up in Ontario, Canada so I appreciate the fall foliage. The only problem is, that leads on to winter and cold that I detest.

The second reason was that on a family vacation as an 8 year old, I almost drowned on a beach there (my first trip to the ocean) and sort of had a feeling that I had to go back there again.

Lastly, I was hoping to photograph some eastern and northern bird species.

There was a report of a rare European goose in Maine 2 days before I left. I also wanted to see a moose (never seen one) and I scheduled a whale watching trip to see some new mammals and the Atlantic pelagic species. I missed the goose, the moose and there were no whales on the trip!

This was also a bad time to be birding as the summer residents had all left, and most of the winter birds from the arctic hadn't arrived. There were only 2 species of shorebirds despite this being an island with 30 miles of coastline. The birds were at only 1 location - nowhere else. I am sure spoiled to be on the upper Texas coast. There are birds everywhere, all year long.

Here is a Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) in winter plumage. The term semipalmated means that the feet are partially webbed. You can see this feature on his left foot. The second photo of 2 birds shows the one in front with s few rufous feathers around his head. The rufous coloration is the breeding plumage, so he hasn't completely molted to winter plumage yet.

The other shorebird was a Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus). He is also in winter plumage with yellow legs, brown back, a single ring on the chest and no black on the forehead. As you guessed, he would also have partially webbed feet, but this photo doesn't show it.

If you would like to see a photo of this bird showing the webbing, I have one taken in Texas in 2007. Photo

A new bird for me to photo was the American Black Duck (Anas rubripes). These very dark plumaged ducks are sometimes considered to be the same species as mallards. For the present, they are different species, but they do hybridize with mallards where their ranges overlap. They look like a very dark female mallard, but have a violet speculum (wing patch), rather than the blue of mallards.

Here are a couple of photos with the second showing the violet speculum.

Another duck was the Common Eider (Somateria mollissima). This large (24") duck is the only duck with an all white back in eastern North America. The male in breeding season has white back and black breast. In non-breeding plumage, he is more brown. the female is all brown. The bill is yellow and extends onto the face up to eye-level. Here is a male on the ocean and a second one closer-up sleeping on a rock just offshore. The third photo is a female. This was a lifer for me.

I also got some photographs of a Common Loon (Gavia immer). This bird is known as Great Northern Diver in Europe. These large (32") water birds cannot walk on land as their legs are so far back on their body. In breeding plumage, they have a black head and neck with partial white ring around the neck. The back is spotted. This bird was just starting to molt from breeding plumage as he has white cheeks.

A moment later, I caught him rearing up out of the water with wings extended. Waterbirds often do this, but you have to be lucky to catch it on film.

The last bird is a Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle). There are 5 members of the alcid family exclusively in the North Atlantic . I had hoped to see and photograph all of them, but this was the only one I found. In breeding plumage these birds are all black with a large white wing patch. In winter. they become mostly gray. Here is a bird that appears to have caught an eel-like fish.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonaldemail: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2009 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Bulletin #91 – Fall Migration #2

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
October 2, 2009

Bulletin #91 – Fall Migration #2

Hello friends,


I have had the most disappointing fall migration with numerous visits to various birdy locations and nothing to see or photograph. Last Saturday, I spent 6 hours at various locations in west Houston and the Katy prairie and took not a single bird photograph.

Here are a few of the birds I did find over the past few weeks.






Here is a male Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula). The orange body with black head and wings makes this bird a rapid ID.






















His cousin is this female Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius). She is yellow with gray wings and wing bars.

The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerula) was the most common bird. I had several photos of them in the previous bulletin, but one of the characteristics to separate gnatcatchers in the field in the undertail coloration. This is the best photo I have obtained of this feature. He has white outer tail feathers with black interior feathers.

I saw this Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) on top of a tree. These birds are flycatchers. As I watched him, a dragonfly flew above him and landed on another bare twig within 3 feet of the bird. I thought this s little strange that the kingbird didn't take it for lunch.Here is a photo of the bird with the dragonfly over his head.

LaFitte's Cove nature preserve on Galveston Island produced a few good photos for me.

Here is a Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotita varia). These birds are usually numerous in the fall, but I saw only 2 this year.

Also, I refound the female Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris) in LaFitte's Cove. This is about 50 miles east of their normal range. I had first seen a female of this species here in late 2006. I had seen her annually until this year. I was afraid that she might have died or been displaced during hurricane Ike in Sept 2008. This was my first encounter with her in 2009, so it must be the same bird, as woodpeckers in general are non-migratory.

I am interested in all wildlife and will photograph other animals, insects etc if the opportunity presents itself.

I was at LaFitte's Cove at dawn one morning and found a pair of Coyotes (Canis latrans) in the marsh. This was my first encounter with coyotes since starting to do photography. One was actually lying on the ground. Here are a couple of photos.

At the end of August, there were swarms of small white butterflies in LaFitte's Cove. These are Great Southern Whites (Ascia monuste). The male in the first photo has black edges on the forewing. The female in the second has brownish wing edges. Notice however, the aqua tips on their antenna. This feature struck me instantly when I looked at them through the binos and is a field mark.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2009 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.