A photo bouquet of summer flowers, some with butterflies, bees, dragonflies and a ladybug.
Baby Pictures
There are very few critters cuter than baby birds, and Nickerson Beach on Long Island has provided a nursery for piping plovers, American oystercatchers, black skimmers, common terns, and least terns, and probably several kinds of gulls, for several years. I have spent much of this summer filming the little ones and taking baby pictures. Since the oystercatchers are some of the first chicks to hatch, they are the first to have their own Silly Videos and photo galleries.
Oystercatcher family, June 12, Nickerson Beach
Several of the beaches in New York have protected areas cordoned off to allow these birds to nest relatively undisturbed. The oystercatchers are usually the first to stake out their breeding homes, and their kids are the first to hatch. If you get too near to the string “ropes” protecting the dunes, the parents will buzz you, and if you don’t go away, they will sometimes stalk you with backs raised or fake a broken wing to distract you from their chicks.
Mama American oystercatcher and two little kiddies, June 4, Nickerson Beach
There are two videos chronicling the oystercatcher families that I saw on the beach. The first part of The Kids Are All Right shows the families from May second to June 12 and features music by Saint-Saens. The second part also has bassoon accompaniment with music by Jadin and Freithoff.
The oystercatcher kids are just the cutest little birdies I’ve ever seen, and it was so much fun to photograph them. The photos in this slide show were taken June 4 through June 17.
The photos of adult oystercatchers and their youngsters were taken May 2 through July 30.
A Super Snow Moon Rises Over Fort Tilden
On February 19, 2019, a super snow moon occurred. I was fortunate enough to be on the beach at Breezy Point in Queens, near the Silver Gull Beach Club, when the Moon appeared at 5:49 p.m. behind the sands of the beach at Fort Tilden. We watched the moon for 10 minutes as it rose in the sky, until it disappeared behind the clouds at around 5:59.
Super snow moon over the beach at Fort Tilden, seen from near the Silver Gull Beach Club at Breezy Point.
I took video of the moon rise, which I speeded up to 125% and set to Paul Pitman’s performance of the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven (sort of obvious, but it works!).
We kept walking on the Fort Tilden beach as we headed to the bus, and watched as the supermoon changed from a bright orangeish-pink ball into a bright white moon, with the flashing lights of planes landing at Kennedy Airport crossing underneath.
Time-lapse (8 seconds) photo of supermoon with lights of planes landing at Kennedy Airport.
The supermoon in all its glory, February 19