2016 12-27 Staten Island-Delta
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Upon arriving at the main gate for Yolo Bypass and finding it locked, we quickly moved into “alternate plan B.” It was cool, partly cloudy with very little wind as we began our slow drive from north to south down Staten Island. The flooded fields had a lot more water than our previous trip (2016 12-02), and a multitude of cackling geese and coots were feeding, resting, and preening. Coots scattered back into the water from the grassy shore between the ponds and the road as cars passed by. Flooded and not-flooded fields had many sandhill cranes. Overhead, thousands of geese flew by at various altitudes Some geese came in for a landing, others continued flying from south to north.
The paved portion of the road had several red-tailed hawks on the telephone poles. They were a more skittish than usual and took flight as cars passed. The wires between the poles had a few areas packed with European starlings, and several American kestrels were perched there. The kestrels were also more likely to fly away than on previous trips.
One large raptor did not take flight as our car crawled close enough to capture photos using 600mm – worth of glass. This was a large adult peregrine falcon, perched on the cross beam at the top of a telephone pole. Soon enough it was obvious why this bird did not fly…it was busy feeding. Its prey was an unidentifiable bird, and the peregrine was sending its feathers flying in the breeze.
After a long while it grabbed the carcass and flew to the next telephone pole. We left it alone to enjoy its meal. After the paved road became a dirt road, the abundance of raptors declined except for a few harriers moving across the fields. Harriers seem to not perch much and are seen mostly flying low, soaring from right to left, searching for prey. Other species look like they have landed on a high perch to serve as a stationary vantage point for finding their victims. Lately harriers are therefore hard to photograph.
At the end of the dirt road there is a closed gate marking the beginning of private property. A corrugated aluminum shed houses a half-dozen large harvesting machines. A tall water tower stands near the shed with its tank collapsed and rusting. The wooden floor holding this tank is disintegrating and planks are completely missing in a few spots. And the gaps from missing planks were our primary reason for coming to this location. Although not present on a very windy day (2016 12-02), an earlier trip (2016 11-13) yielded some photographs of a single adult great horned owl. Today we re-located this adult and nearby, in another hole-n-the-floor, a second owl was perched. This second owl, as you will see in the images, had some sunlight on it and was an extremely light color. I don’t think that the sunlight was solely responsible for this color variance. Was this a large juvenile color? Was this a member of the Arctic race
After standing for an hour behind the camera with the 600mm on a fully-extended tripod, aimed sharply upward at the owls, Suellen and I decided to pack it in. Before we headed back up the road, we checked the aluminum shed and found the barn owl we had seen inside resting on the same perch as before.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry, with a lot of help from
Suellen Perry
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Read MoreUpon arriving at the main gate for Yolo Bypass and finding it locked, we quickly moved into “alternate plan B.” It was cool, partly cloudy with very little wind as we began our slow drive from north to south down Staten Island. The flooded fields had a lot more water than our previous trip (2016 12-02), and a multitude of cackling geese and coots were feeding, resting, and preening. Coots scattered back into the water from the grassy shore between the ponds and the road as cars passed by. Flooded and not-flooded fields had many sandhill cranes. Overhead, thousands of geese flew by at various altitudes Some geese came in for a landing, others continued flying from south to north.
The paved portion of the road had several red-tailed hawks on the telephone poles. They were a more skittish than usual and took flight as cars passed. The wires between the poles had a few areas packed with European starlings, and several American kestrels were perched there. The kestrels were also more likely to fly away than on previous trips.
One large raptor did not take flight as our car crawled close enough to capture photos using 600mm – worth of glass. This was a large adult peregrine falcon, perched on the cross beam at the top of a telephone pole. Soon enough it was obvious why this bird did not fly…it was busy feeding. Its prey was an unidentifiable bird, and the peregrine was sending its feathers flying in the breeze.
After a long while it grabbed the carcass and flew to the next telephone pole. We left it alone to enjoy its meal. After the paved road became a dirt road, the abundance of raptors declined except for a few harriers moving across the fields. Harriers seem to not perch much and are seen mostly flying low, soaring from right to left, searching for prey. Other species look like they have landed on a high perch to serve as a stationary vantage point for finding their victims. Lately harriers are therefore hard to photograph.
At the end of the dirt road there is a closed gate marking the beginning of private property. A corrugated aluminum shed houses a half-dozen large harvesting machines. A tall water tower stands near the shed with its tank collapsed and rusting. The wooden floor holding this tank is disintegrating and planks are completely missing in a few spots. And the gaps from missing planks were our primary reason for coming to this location. Although not present on a very windy day (2016 12-02), an earlier trip (2016 11-13) yielded some photographs of a single adult great horned owl. Today we re-located this adult and nearby, in another hole-n-the-floor, a second owl was perched. This second owl, as you will see in the images, had some sunlight on it and was an extremely light color. I don’t think that the sunlight was solely responsible for this color variance. Was this a large juvenile color? Was this a member of the Arctic race
After standing for an hour behind the camera with the 600mm on a fully-extended tripod, aimed sharply upward at the owls, Suellen and I decided to pack it in. Before we headed back up the road, we checked the aluminum shed and found the barn owl we had seen inside resting on the same perch as before.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry, with a lot of help from
Suellen Perry
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