Snowy Owls Along the Coast

We decided to celebrate (more on this at the end) by going to the New Hampshire/Massachusetts coast in search of Snowy Owls! There's been a huge irruption of snowy owls all the way to North Carolina!! Check out this eBird map to see all the sightings. map of snowy owl sightings

first year snowy owl, probably female

Although we only saw 2 snowy owls, we were treated to lots of terrific waterfowl. Enjoy the photos.

male Common Eider

first winter male Common Eider with mature male

 male Surf Scoter

male White-winged Scoter

White-winged Scoters

Horned Grebe

Great Blue Heron

American Black Duck

We are finally back to regular blog postings!! Gerry was diagnosed with lymphoma in May. He spent a grueling summer and fall going through chemotherapy treatments and radiation. We a sooooo happy to say that he is now cancer free and we are looking forward to getting back to our normal life!!

Crabs, Crabs, Crabs

Gerry went to Rhode Island to visit family and did some birding on his own. He came back with lots of pictures with birds eating crabs. Must be the food of choice!

This Herring gull dropped the crab and then flew down to enjoy the meal.

This is another herring gull enjoying his crab, one leg at a time.

The gulls weren't the only birds enjoying crabs, here's a common loon with one.

common loon (winter plumage)

And here's some other birds he photographed.

double-crested cormorant

common eiders

common eider

red-throated loon (winter plumage)