Winged Runners

I've been digiscoping birds and wildlife, with an iPhone (iScoping), for almost 2 years now. It all started when I tried to iScope a Vesper Sparrow at Smith Point County Park by manually holding my phone up to my scope's eyepiece. I was amazed at how well the iPhone camera matched up with my eyepiece. Months passed and I began to think of how I could invent some sort of adapter that allowed me to iScope birds with a more "hands free" approach that allowed for instant camera to eyepiece line-up. I spent way too much time fumbling around, trying to find the sweet spot and I ended up missing many birds. I was a little late in thinking I had this great invention idea as I found out that Meopta Sports Optics had already did the work for me! They created the Meopix Adapter. A snug mount that securely fits over your iPhone with a built in mount that perfectly aligns the iPhones camera with your scopes eyepiece. Many of you may have already seen my post back in early Se...

Gray Seal Pup - iScoped with Meostar S2 Spotting Scope and Meopix Adapter Gray Seal Pup - iScoped with Meostar S2 Spotting Scope and Meopix Adapter Slowly getting back into the routine after my trip abroad, readjusting to the cold weather but more so to life with a stomach. I contracted some weird bug in Panama, still waiting to find out exactly what, but was finally back on my feet today. I took the dog for a quick walk at Smith Point this morning, which was dead, as far as bird life went. Very slim by way of land birds so I took to the ocean side to have a quick gander. A decent number of White-winged Scoters were within scoping reach of the beach. Other than that, slim pickings. I noticed a dark object resting on the beach, just east of the outer beach entrance. As I approached, I saw what was an obvious Grey Seal pup. Its body looked to be in good condition and I finally saw its eye open (it's alive!), scoping from about 50 feet away. The 30 pound pup started slowl...

I only had a couple of hours to bird on Saturday, 1/2/13, so I decided to stick somewhat locally and search for some waterfowl. I checked all of the nearby goose roosts, my favorite being West Brook Pond in North Great River. West Brook continues to have solid goose numbers but the Greater White-fronted disappeared after the recent freeze event. I decided to head south to Timber Point Golf Course in south Great River. Timber Point is an attractive site for birding. The course runs along the west side of the mouth of the Connetquot River. I've seen Dovekie here, in the channel near the police basin, as well as Tundra Swan in the course ponds. Ross's Goose - iScope image taken at Hecksher State Park in East Islip. Taken with Meostar S2 Spotter and  Meopix Adaper Lately, all I've been seeing is the same flock of brant but knew it was only a matter of time until a Canada herd developed. The County annually hires a "goose chaser." Some young guy with a Coll...

Finding the right Anser is not an easy task. Then again, that all depends on which one you are looking for. In New York State, the "right Anser ," as I see it, is the Pink-footed Goose ( Anser brachyrhynchus ). I last laid eyes on a Pink-foot almost a year ago, after I reported one on 2/21/12 in Holtsville, NY. I detailed many goose herds leading up to that day, I couldn't pass up on any herd, and it finally paid off. It was great to study this rare visitor from eastern Greenland. One of my earliest blog posts was written about this goose. Story and photos can be seen here: http://dereksnest.blogspot.com/2012/02/pink-footed-goose.html Record photo of the Pink-footed Goose that I found in Holtsville on 2/21/12. The bird was among many Canada Geese, as they usually are when spotted  outside of their normal range. Note the pink legs/feet, rich brown head and neck blending into grey toned upper parts. Broad white band at tail tip. A real beauty. The genus Anse...

Red-breasted Nuthatch                      Derek Rogers During last Fall and Winter, you'd have been hard pressed to find a Red-breasted Nuthatch around Long Island. Some of their historic breeding sites, like the pitch pine forests at Brookhaven National Lab,  did hold this species throughout the year. But, for the most part, there was little movement. This year has been a different story. Solid numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches started getting reported in the late Summer months islandwide. This relatively early arrival time has been, in the past, known to signify a finch irruption. For Long Island, this generally means that the winter finches (Pine Siskin, Purple Finch, Crossbills, and Redpolls) might move south and visit our beaches, forests, and bird feeders. The photo on the right shows a classic view of a Red-breasted Nuthatch. I particularly like the perspective of this shot, the bird's classic, clinging and curio...

 Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper         Derek Rogers  I entered the iPhone world relatively late. It was in November 2011 when I upgraded from my ancient “flip” phone to the iPhone 4. Shortly after I purchased my iPhone, I was at Smith Point County Park viewing a Vesper Sparrow through my scope when I decided to try and digiscope the bird using my iPhone camera. I was shocked at how well the camera matched up with my scope and knew I’d be using this technique often. I later found out that this technique had a name, “iScoping.”  Juvenile Baird's Sandpiper                   Derek Rogers  I’ve been having a blast using the iScoping technique and have produced some outstanding quality images and videos. I use the Vortex Razor HD Spotting Scope with the Razor HD 30X Wide Angle Eyepiece. I’ve noticed that the 30X wide angle eyepiece really make...

 Adult Buff-breasted Sandpiper                      Derek Rogers  While we're still within the window of shorebird season, I wanted to write about one of my favorite birds of the world, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper. There's something about the grasspipers that really attract me. I'm sure it has a lot to do with my fascination for the far north and the high Arctic habitat in which several of our migrant shorebirds breed. Buffys nest way up in the islands of the Arctic, as far as northern areas of Baffin Bay. They are common migrants throughout central North America (Great Plains) but uncommon along the Atlantic Coast. Nearly all of the Buff-breasted Sandpipers that reach Long Island during Fall migration are juveniles.  Brown/Rufous Fringed Scapulars                 ...