The picture of this Brown Pelican was taken on Fort Myers Beach, Florida. The picture of this Brown Pelican was taken with the CANON EOS7D and the CANON 100-400mm lens and the CANON 580EXII flash.

On my recent trip to Southwest Florida, I was so pleased to be able to take pictures of Pelicans as well as the many shorebirds that are present in this area. I was able to capture birds at sunrise and sunset which is not very practical for me at home living in the East Village of Manhattan.

The picture of this Semipalmated Plover was taken at Jones Beach in Nassau, NY. The picture of this Semipalmated Plover was taken with the CANON EOS7D and the CANON 100-400mm lens and the CANON 580EXII flash.

Jones Beach on a beautiful fall day with the temperatures in the 60’s was wonderful. There were thousands of assorted shorebirds on the beach. It was the the first time I have photograped a Semipalmated Plover in nonbreeding plumage.

The picture of these Semipalmated Plovers was taken at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This species is socially and most often genetically monogamous, and both sexes actively care for eggs and their chicks. I took this picture with the CANON EOS7D with the CANON 100-400mm lens at the south end of the East Pond at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

The picture of this vagrant American White Pelican was taken at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.The American White Pelican occurs mainly in western and southern portions of North America, breeding inland in colonies on remote islands and wintering along warm southern coasts. Since this one American White Pelican has been spending the last few weeks at the East Pond of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, he has obviously lost his way which is called a vagrant bird in the birding vernacular. This is a male breeding American Pelican as indicated by the notch on the center of the beak.
This picture was taken with the CANON EOS7D and the CANON 100-400mm lens. I finally was able to get close enough to the American White Pelican to get a decent shot. I had been seeing it from the south side of the East Pond but I finally walked up to the “Raunch” through the fragmites in order to get as close as I could to this beautiful bird.

The picture of these Greater Yellowlegs in flight was taken at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. I took this picture with the CANON EOS7D with a CANON 100-400mm lens.

This was taken at the north side of the East Pond at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in the evening light. The East Pond water was lowered for the Shorebird Migration making it easier to enter though the north part of the pond. It is a beautiful vantage point to see the pond and taken advantage of the setting sun.

The picture of this Semipalmated Plover was taken at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge during the Fall Shorebird migration. This picture was taken with the CANON EOS7D with the CANON 100-400 lens.

The picture of these Wilson’s Phalaropes was taken at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge during Fall Shorebird Migration. The Wilson’s Phalarope is a pretty shorebird with distinctive features–both physical and behavioral. Female phalaropes court males, display colorful plumage, and fight off rivals. A semi-colonial nester, this aquatic shorebird breeds in northern prairie wetlands, and winters on South American salt lakes. With fringes on their toes, they swim well, often whirling in circles as they feed.
I took the picture with the CANON EOS7D and the CANON 100-400mm lens. The 5th Annual Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Shorebird Festival attracted over 100 people. There were wonderful leaders who generously shared their knowledge about shorebird ID and behavior. To top off the day Kevin Karlson gave a talk and slide presentation of his wonderful photographs of shorebirds and his “impression” technique for id’ing birds

The picture of this Least Sandpiper was taken at Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge during Fall migration. I used the CANON EOS 7D with the CANON 100-400mm lens. It was taken at the south end of the East Pond at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where there were hundreds of Least Sandpipers among other shorebirds resting and feeding for the next leg of their long journey to Northeastern South America.