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banjon > Double-crested Cormorant

Every once in a blue moon, you get lucky and a wild bird poses for you. A Double-crested Cormorant gave Richard a full 18 minute photo shoot. More photos from this amazing shoot here .

Explanation of how Richard got this series of shots:
He was driving along the shore road at East Pennant, NS when he spotted this Cormorant drying out on some rocks right next to the road. Cormorant feathers absorb water so they must dry off when they come out of the water. Usually they do this off shore on rocks or old wharf posts that protrude out of the water at low tide. They are usually too far out to sea for a close-up shot of any kind.

He drove to the nearest turn-around spot hoping the bird would stay put. Then he coasted the car as far off on the shoulder as possible and turned it off. Using the car as a "blind", he leaned over on the passenger's side and started shooting. He was no more than 6 ft. from the bird. We haven't had an opportunity like that since. It's all a matter of being at the right place and at the right time ... luck.

East Pennant, Nova Scotia. 18 October 2008.

banjon > American Pipit (Anthus rubescens).

Description: 6-7" (15-18 cm). A sparrow-sized, slender brown bird of open country. Crown and upperparts uniform brown; underparts buff with streaks; outer tail feathers white; legs usually black. Often bobs its tail and usually walks rather than hops.

Habitat: Arctic and alpine tundra.
Migration and winter: beaches, barren fields, agricultural land, and golf courses.
Range: Breeds from northern Alaska, Mackenzie, Canadian Arctic islands, and Newfoundland, south in mountains to California, New Mexico, and northern New Hampshire. Winters across southern states and north to British Columbia and southern New England.

Nesting 4 or 5 gray eggs, thickly spotted with brown and streaked with black, in a cup of grass and twigs built on the ground in the shelter of a rock or tussock.

Voice: Flight song a weak and tinkling trill; call a paired, high-pitched pip-pip.

Discussion The American Pipit was formerly considered a form of the Water Pipit of the Old World. The absence of a breeding species of pipits in the open country of the eastern United States is due to the fact that until recently forests covered this area. In winter large flocks gather in open fields. When disturbed they rise in unison, wheel, turn, and resume their feeding. In the North the American Pipit feeds on the countless insects on the edges of tundra puddles, whereas in alpine meadows it visits unmelted snowbanks. Warm air rising from valleys below transports many insects to high altitudes where most of these die and are frozen in snowbanks providing food for the pipits. Source: eNature.com .

Hartlen Point, Nova Scotia. 27 September 2009.

banjon > A Lesser Yellowlegs vs a Squid. See the battle for survival in gallery .

Grand Desert, Nova Scotia. 20 September 2009.

banjon > Whimsical.

I love to do some beach combing on the beaches early in the mornings. My treasures are light, texture, color, and depth. This one has it all. Enjoy!

Conrads Beach, Nova Scotia. 06 September 2009.

banjon > Poetry in motion.

An early morning walk on an empty beach is surely akin to paradise. The crisp breezes and salt air are exhilarating. I like to call this photo Poetry in Motion.

Conrads Beach, Nova Scotia. 06 September 2009.

banjon > The Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) in breeding plumage. A medium-sized shorebird similar in appearance to the larger Greater Yellowlegs. It is not closely related to this bird, but instead to the much larger and quite dissimilar Willet (Pereira & Baker, 2005); merely the fine, clear and dense pattern of the neck shown in breeding plumage indicates these species' actual relationships. Adults have long yellow legs and a long thin dark bill, about the same length as the head. The body is grey brown on top and white underneath; the neck and breast are streaked with dark brown. The tail is white. These birds forage in shallow water, sometimes using their bill to stir up the water. They mainly eat insects, small fish and crustaceans.

Their breeding habitat is clearings near ponds in the boreal forest region from Alaska to Quebec. They nest on the ground, usually in open dry locations. They migrate to the Gulf coast of the United States and south to South America.This species is a regular vagrant to western Europe, and the odd bird has wintered in Great Britain. More information available at: Wikipedia.org. .

Conrads Beach Marsh, Nova Scotia. 14 August 2009.

banjon > Photo Sharing: Sunday August 16/09 - Conrads Beach, Nova Scotia.

A rainbow reflects in the wet sands following Hurricane Bill at low tide. The waves you see are about 6 meters high, but lower than they were at high tide - some surpassing 10 meters.

banjon > The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica).

A seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic is its brightly coloured beak during the breeding seasons. Also known as the Common Puffin, it is the only puffin species which is found in the Atlantic Ocean. The curious appearance of the bird, with its colourful huge bill and its striking piebald plumage, has given rise to nicknames such as "clown of the ocean" and "sea parrot".

The Atlantic Puffin is 28–34 cm (11-13.5 in) in length, with a 50–60 cm (20-24 in) wingspan. The male is generally slightly larger than the female, but they are coloured alike. This bird is mainly black above and white below, with gray to white cheeks and red-orange legs. The bill is large and triangular, and during the breeding season is bright orange with a patch of blue bordered by yellow at the rear. The characteristic bright orange bill plates grow before the breeding season and are shed after breeding. The bills are used in courtship rituals, such as the pair tapping their bills together. During flight, it appears to have grey round underwings and a white body; it has a direct flight low over the water. The related Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) from the North Pacific looks very similar but has slightly different head ornaments. The Atlantic Puffin is typically silent at sea, except for soft purring sounds it sometimes makes in flight. At the breeding colonies the birds make a deep growl.

About 95% of the Atlantic puffins in North America breed around Newfoundland's coastlines. The largest puffin colony in the western Atlantic (estimated at more than 260,000 pairs) can be found at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, south of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Puffin viewing has also started to become popular in Elliston Newfoundland, previously named Bird Island Cove, located near Trinity. Here, puffins have been known to be tame enough to get even 2 or 3 feet away from them.

Our apologies for the quality of these photos, but they were taken with a 300m lens and the Puffins were too far away to get better shots. The photographs were taken near Bird Island off Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Unlike the Puffins in Elliston Newfoundland, these birds are quite wild and stay well away from the boats. Humans are not permitted on Bird Island for a closer look as it is a protected breeding habitat for a myriad of birds. More information available at: Wikipedia.org .

Bird Island, Nova Scotia. 11 August 2009.

banjon > The Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is a member of the family Bombycillidae or waxwing family of passerine birds. It breeds in open wooded areas in North America, principally southern Canada and the northern United States.

These birds' most prominent feature is a small cluster of bright red feathers on the wings, a feature they share with the Bohemian Waxwing (but not the Japanese Waxwing). The tail is typically yellow or orange depending on diet. Birds that have fed on berries of introduced Eurasian honeysuckles (seen here) while growing tail feathers will have darker orange-tipped tail-feathers. Adults have a pale yellow belly. Immature birds are streaked on the throat and flanks, and often do not have the black mask of the adults. More information available at Wikipedia.org .

More information compliments of P.J. Blake on Smugmug . The red tips on the wing feathers are actually waxy deposits, not feathers themselves, hence the name "waxwing." The waxy tips are thought to have some relevance to age, but in truth no one is entirely sure what the purpose is. There are only three species in the Bombycillidae family in the world, and North America has two of them.

Salt Marsh Trail, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 8 August 2009.

Double-crested Cormorant

Every once in a blue moon, you get lucky and a wild bird poses for you. A Double-crested Cormorant gave Richard a full 18 minute photo shoot. More photos from this amazing shoot here .

Explanation of how Richard got this series of shots:
He was driving along the shore road at East Pennant, NS when he spotted this Cormorant drying out on some rocks right next to the road. Cormorant feathers absorb water so they must dry off when they come out of the water. Usually they do this off shore on rocks or old wharf posts that protrude out of the water at low tide. They are usually too far out to sea for a close-up shot of any kind.

He drove to the nearest turn-around spot hoping the bird would stay put. Then he coasted the car as far off on the shoulder as possible and turned it off. Using the car as a "blind", he leaned over on the passenger's side and started shooting. He was no more than 6 ft. from the bird. We haven't had an opportunity like that since. It's all a matter of being at the right place and at the right time ... luck.

East Pennant, Nova Scotia. 18 October 2008.

> Double-crested Cormorant

Every once in a blue moon, you get lucky and a wild bird poses for you. A Double-crested Cormorant gave Richard a full 18 minute photo shoot. More photos from this amazing shoot here .

Explanation of how Richard got this series of shots:
He was driving along the shore road at East Pennant, NS when he spotted this Cormorant drying out on some rocks right next to the road. Cormorant feathers absorb water so they must dry off when they come out of the water. Usually they do this off shore on rocks or old wharf posts that protrude out of the water at low tide. They are usually too far out to sea for a close-up shot of any kind.

He drove to the nearest turn-around spot hoping the bird would stay put. Then he coasted the car as far off on the shoulder as possible and turned it off. Using the car as a "blind", he leaned over on the passenger's side and started shooting. He was no more than 6 ft. from the bird. We haven't had an opportunity like that since. It's all a matter of being at the right place and at the right time ... luck.

East Pennant, Nova Scotia. 18 October 2008.

Double-crested Cormorant

Every once in a blue moon, you get lucky and a wild bird poses for you. A Double-crested Cormorant gave Richard a full 18 minute photo shoot. More photos from this amazing shoot here .

Explanation of how Richard got this series of shots:
He was driving along the shore road at East Pennant, NS when he spotted this Cormorant drying out on some rocks right next to the road. Cormorant feathers absorb water so they must dry off when they come out of the water. Usually they do this off shore on rocks or old wharf posts that protrude out of the water at low tide. They are usually too far out to sea for a close-up shot of any kind.

He drove to the nearest turn-around spot hoping the bird would stay put. Then he coasted the car as far off on the shoulder as possible and turned it off. Using the car as a "blind", he leaned over on the passenger's side and started shooting. He was no more than 6 ft. from the bird. We haven't had an opportunity like that since. It's all a matter of being at the right place and at the right time ... luck.

East Pennant, Nova Scotia. 18 October 2008.

Camera: Nikon Corporation (Nikon D80) |

More details: exif |

Original size: 3872px x 2591px |

Current: 400px x 268px |

Other sizes: Small • M • L |

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Keywords: doublecrestedcormorant eastpennantsambrocreek

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