Boat Ride and Tiedemann's Pond

 

Today after Mass was the last time in who knows when that we will get to have brunch with our organist, because next week he will be gone, and then he's taking a job at a different church. Bummer! After we got home, Travalon and I took a boat ride out into the marsh, but we didn't see a single great blue heron. We went out into the channel to the lake and had better bird luck there, because we saw lots of terns, some of them sitting on the tops of the buoys and not even blinking as we passed by. But of course Travalon doesn't bring his good camera in the boat, so we didn't get photos. Then we went for a walk on Governor's Island. What a glorious day! I was inside for my usual Zoom meetings, and then Travalon and I went to Tiedemann's Pond. The Single B-Boy had mentioned seeing four herons and two cranes at the pond the other day, so I thought maybe I'd get to see a blue heron. And we did! This appears to be a young one, hanging out with some turtles.

Here is a mature great blue heron.

And a couple of mallards.

We saw lots of these tiny sandpipers running around on the mud, since the water level in the pond was so low.

I think this is a female red-winged blackbird...? We certainly saw - and heard - plenty of the male ones.

Look at this adorable mama! I think she's an eared grebe, but some fellow birdwatchers thought she was some sort of merganser, and I can see what they mean. Does anyone know for sure?

We also saw plenty of Canada goose families.

There were a couple of killdeer running around on the mud too.

And these adorable ducklings!

Here they are with mama, who looks like a female mallard.

We saw a pair of sandhill cranes being harassed by the red-winged blackbirds.

And we kept seeing beautiful orioles, but they were too fast for Travalon to get a photo. Instead, please enjoy this photo of a male cardinal.

I saw an oriole in our neighborhood on Friday, and we had recently invested in an oriole feeder, so I'll have to put it up, and then maybe we can get some fantastic photos of it close up, on the feeder.

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