Birding in Hammonasset - First Outing with the new Camera!

 So as the title says, my dad and I went to Hammonasset Beach State Park on Sunday morning. We saw many birds, even a lifer here and there. I was hoping to get some Snow Buntings, since they had been sighted. So we set off for Hammonasset Beach.
 It was an hour-long drive from where I live, but it was worth the drive. As soon as we pulled up, we saw a small flock of Horned Larks, a lifer for the day.
 This was also the first picture with my new camera. Even just on the drive up we saw all kinds of sparrows, blackbirds and gulls. I knew it would be a good day. As soon as we started walking we were flooded with crows, grackles, and Red-winged Blackbirds. They were everywhere throughout the park, and here are some of the photos.
 So, we continued walking, As we went, we saw a Tree Swallow, another year bird. They were here early, and it was good seeing them for the first time. They seemed very cold, though. I guess they just weren't ready for that morning CT wind! (That would make two of us. I was also very cold.) We kept walking and saw more blackbirds and such, and they were very loud. We took a short detour, and we saw some doves and cardinals. Not many good photos came out of it though. All the photos are on the bottom of the post.
 However, we did hear some good news. We were looking at Song, Swamp and Fox Sparrows (the latter two are yearbirds) along with Purple and House Finches (yearbirds as well). There were also some blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and robins. Someone said that there was a Snowy Owl sighting at the boardwalk! Of course we wanted to see it! We went out there, and while seeing some Killdeer as well, we got a bad view of it. It was very far away, but it was there! I was excited to see it.
 After that, we saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler, which was very hard to photograph. Worse yet, my camera ran out of battery right about then! I will always remember to charge it from now on. So we decided to run back to the car, drop it off, and go see the beach.
 As we went to the beach we saw some Lesser Yellowlegs and some more crows. We saw lots of gulls (mainly Herring) on the beach. We also saw some black-headed gulls in the distance, but it was too inconclusive to identify. Even though the Bonaparte's Gull was most common in Hammonasset at this time, I didn't want to be assumptive and add it, because it would be a lifer. So I just called it Laughing Gull in my personal list and said gull sp. on eBird when I reported it. We also saw some Mallards and Black Ducks in the ocean, and a quick flyby of Red-breasted Mergansers. At the end of the point we turned around and headed home.
 Well, we didn't go home just yet. We went to another area in the park, still in search of the Snow Bunting. We did see some Hooded and Common Mergansers (that completes the merganser trifecta!) as well as some Great Black-backed Gulls (yearbird). After a quick look at more Mallards and some Canada Geese, we went home. We didn't see a Snow Bunting but I had a great time birding. Also, I did check Horned Lark off my life list, as well as adding ten yearbirds!
Photos:

Red-winged Blackbird

Horned Lark - Lifer

Hooded Mergansers and Common Merganser

House Finch

Snowy Owl

Common Grackle

Mallard

Tree Swallow

Great Black-backed Gulls

Fox Sparrow

Lesser Yellowlegs

Song Sparrow

Killdeer

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Mourning Dove

American Crow

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

New Camera!

Today I am getting a new camera just for myself. Usually I use my dad's camera for picture taking, and most of the time he just takes all the pictures. But I am getting a camera for myself and it's a Nikon P510. I am very excited, and other birders are saying it's the best camera in my price range. I have been saving up money for like three years waiting for this camera. I am gonna get it some time today, and I will go birding tomorrow and get some nice pictures with it. I will most likely post those tomorrow too.

Birding in Hartford

Today, on Sunday, I took a short drive out to Hartford, about 30 minutes away from my house in eastern CT. My dad and I went to the Riverside Park, and even though it was cold some of the water was unfrozen and there was some good birding there.

We came in and saw a Northern Flicker, but it flew away too quickly to get a photo. When we got out of the car we would hear crows galore, and they were easy to see! There had to be 150 crows there, and they were very loud the whole time.

 These crows were some of the many crows that were in the trees, and there were many different individuals. Some of them were standing on the ice, and some were in the trees. But wherever they were they were calling loudly.
There were also some seagulls there. I didn't get any good photos, but I did get some. They are on Flickr, and the link is on the bottom of the post. I actually don't know what it is, but I am believing they are Ring-billed.

Tufted Titmouse

We saw some ducks in the distance, but had no idea what they were. So we went closer, and it actually yielded some other sightings. More crows, of course, and we saw some songbirds in the woods that we went by. We saw a Tufted Titmouse, a Northern Cardinal (no picture), we heard a Black-capped Chickadee, and we even saw a Downy Woodpecker in the trees, pecking. We also spooked some Mallards, who flied away quickly. I kinda stink at getting flight shots but I tried to get some.

Downy Woodpecker

The highlight however, was a flight picture. It was a juvenile Bald Eagle, which was something we were aiming to see the whole time. It was in flight, and since it was just soaring very slowly I could get a good picture. One of them is below, in flight. It was great to see the Eagle, which even though it isn't a lifer, is always a delight to see. We looked for the adult bird but we couldn't find it. We saw a quick view of a Red-tailed Hawk flying away, but we couldn't get a picture of it. But the eagle was certainly a highlight.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

So soon we got to a place where we could see the ducks that were just a dot on my vision a while away. One was a Brant, all by itself in the river. When I reported the sighting to eBird I found out that that Brant was the first Brant sighting ever reported to eBird! I was very excited when I found this out. We kept going (this is when I heard the Cardinal and then saw it, but we couldn't get a picture), and we found out the other birds were Common Mergansers. It isn't a life bird, but it's still a good sighting. We walked back, took some more crow pictures, and saw a small group of Canada Geese on the way out. Later we saw robins, starlings and pigeons too. But it was certainly great to see the eagle.

To see more of the photos: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100012535@N07/sets/72157641775733483/

To see all my photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100012535@N07/