Rattray Marsh 07/25

[MEGHAN]

Spend a few hours at the marsh yesterday morning. Great assortment of birds there. Anyone interested in shorebirds might like to know that over half of the marsh is exposed mud flats right now.

I was plesantly surprised to see this Bittern doing a flyby, only problem is he kept going.  


Green Heron followed closely behind


This Wren was singing up a storm


Common Yellowthroat tring to hide


A Kingfisher whose only objective for the day was to frustrate me


Not the best shots but something I have not seen before



The ever-present Killdeer


One of many Green Herons


A few of the many shorebirds




Hope you enjoyed the tour  

Meghan

[lovemypt]

Great set Meghan

Never seen a bittern at rattray.......are you still using your old lens or did somebody get a new super lens?

[gary yankech]

wow....the spotted sandpiper is eating a female common green darner. Nice series!. love the Bittern.

[MEGHAN]

Thanks Dave, I haven't seen a Bittern down there in a few years. I thought I heard one early last year but the sound was quickly drowned out by the Red Winged Black Birds. They are probably there every year but that marsh is pretty big so they could be anywhere. It's good habitat for them so who know. As for the lens, no I still have the 300mm 2.8. Still trying to decide between a 500mm or a 600mm.

Gary, thanks for the I.D on the Dragon Fly. I didn't know what it was except it was big. I have never seen one of these birds eat a Dragon Fly. They probably do it all the time but it was new to me. I do know it put up one heck of a fight and it took a while for the Sandpiper to put it out of it's misery.

Meghan

[BoboBird]

Great series.

That dragonfly is HUGE....

[MEGHAN]

Thanks Bobo, yeah he is big.
I couldn't figure out what it was for a few minutes. It never dawned on me it would be a dragonfly.

Meghan

[Irene]

Great collection, I was out at Rhododendron Gardens yesterday for a bit, for flower shots, and decided NOT to go over to Rattray, not sure why but I headed back eastward towards home. I shoulda went grrrr. LOL

[zx003]

Is your last bird a Pectoral Sandpiper!? That bird has managed to elude me for the second year in a row...

Great series Meghan, I especially like the flight shots those must've been difficult to capture!

[MEGHAN]

Is your last bird a Pectoral Sandpiper!? That bird has managed to elude me for the second year in a row...

Great series Meghan, I especially like the flight shots those must've been difficult to capture!

Thanks Matthew. The flight shots were a fluke on both counts. I take no credit for those.  
The shorebird I.D I can't you with. I thought it was a Yellowlegs. But what do I know.

Great collection, I was out at Rhododendron Gardens yesterday for a bit, for flower shots, and decided NOT to go over to Rattray, not sure why but I headed back eastward towards home. I shoulda went grrrr. LOL

Thanks Irene!
You should know to go with your gut. When it says go somewhere...go!
We'll have to make plans to go down there and have a look see.

Meghan

[thouc]

The last two pictures are Lesser Yellowlegs.

/Thomas

[MEGHAN]

Thanks Thomas for confirming the I.D.
Meghan