Oh, Those Golden Slippers!

The yellow "slippers" on the snowy egrets set them apart from other herons like the great egret. I saw my first snowy egrets in July 2015 at Marine Park in Brooklyn, and spent much of the summer of 2017 watching these beautiful birds with great personalities at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, Wolfe's Pond and Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island, Marine Park, and Pelham Bay Park, near Orchard Beach, in the Bronx.

Snowy egret, Wolfe's Pond, Staten Island, September 1, 2017

Snowy egret, October 19, 2017, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

These beautiful birds were so much fun to film. I have posted two videos in the Filming the Feathers series, the first covering July 25, 2015, to September 21, 2017, and Part II from September 29 to October 21, 2017. You can watch them catch and eat fish, and run around, sometimes looking as if they haven't a clue where they're going!

Another Silly Video by Susan Kirby. The snowy egrets (Egretta thula) are delightful herons, somewhat smaller than the great egrets, with black bills and black legs that end abruptly in yellow "slippers." Part I in the Filming the Feathers series shows snowy egrets at Marine Park, Brooklyn; Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens; Wolfe's Pond and Lemon Creek Park, Staten Island; and Pelham Bay Park near Orchard Beach, Bronx.

Another Silly Video by Susan Kirby. The snowy egrets (Egretta thula) are herons with personality, somewhat smaller than the great egrets and with black bills and black legs that end abruptly in yellow "slippers." Part II in the Filming the Feathers series shows snowy egrets at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, from September 27 to October 21, 2017.

I took loads of pictures of these photogenic herons. Here are some taken in 2017, and you can see more on the Snowy Egrets page.

On the Beach With Black Skimmers

I saw my first black skimmers (Rynchops niger) on October 31 at the beach at Wolfe's Pond on Staten Island. I was mesmerized, and was able to watch them again on November 4. The longer lower bill is fascinating, as the birds use it while skimming the water to pull up small fish.

Black skimmer, the beach at Wolfe's Pond, Staten Island, November 4, 2017

Black skimmers, October 31, 2017. Note the bands on two of the birds.

The first Filming the Feathers video is very short, featuring the shorebirds on October 31. The second video, from November 4, is more extensive, with more time spent with these birds flying, skimming and resting on the beach. I was particularly taken with how much these birds seem to enjoy the company of other skimmers, and how their flight is so synchronized.

Another Silly Video by Susan Kirby. A brief view of a group of black skimmers (Rynchops niger) on the beach on Oct. 31, 2017, near Wolfe's Pond in Staten Island. You can see the longer lower bill quite clearly. You can also see that several of the birds are banded.

Another Silly Video by Susan Kirby. A second look the black skimmers (Rynchops niger) that have been skimming, flying and hanging out around the beach at Wolfe's Pond in Staten Island. The first video was filmed Oct. 31; this longer version was filmed on Nov. 4, 2017.

These photos of the skimmers in flight were pulled from the October 31 video.

These photos were taken October 31 and November 4.

More Little Shorebirds

The semipalmated plovers have been delighting me all summer and fall. I have seen them in the Bronx (Orchard Beach), Staten Island (the beaches at Mount Loretto and Wolfe's Pond) and Queens (Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and Broad Channel American Park). They are talkative little birds, and when I saw flocks of them at Broad Channel, they were really peeping up a storm (you can listen to their calls on the Audubon site). The "semipalmated" part of their name refers to the partial webbing between their toes. 

Semipalmated plovers at Broad Channel American Park, August 28, 2017

Orchard Beach, September 20

Broad Channel, August 28

These little shorebirds eat insects that they dig for in the mud and sand on the shorelines. They are distinguished from killdeer by their single dark band across the chest (the killdeer have two bands). They have short black bills with an orange base.

Another Silly Video by Susan Kirby. Semipalmated plovers (Charadrius semipalmatus) have been all over New York City's shores this year, often mingling with other insect-eating shorebirds at Mount Loretto and Wolfe's Pond on Staten Island, Broad Channel and Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, and Orchard Beach in the Bronx.

They have been such fun to photograph, and these photos range from June 1 to October 4.