It was a beautiful morning to be at the beach. These Least Terns were photographed 10 minutes from my home. I can’t wait to get back there! Can you guess my favorite? Click on the images to see a larger, sharper version.
I’m headed to Nickerson tonight for a private session before my scheduled workshops—wish us all luck!
I just received word that our Kenya trips planned for September and November have the green light. It has been such a bummer being grounded due to Covid restrictions but I am now seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. US citizens that are vaccinated do not have to quarantine and that is great news!
Paul and I have a couple of spots on each trip if anyone wants to get on a safari just let me know.
Details below:
Kenya, Maasai Mara ~ African Safari
September 10- 20, 2021/ 10 Nights / $8999.00
Limit: 7 photographers
Kenya, Maasai Mara ~ African Safari
September 21- October 1, 2021/ 10 Nights, $8995.00
Limit 7 photographers
We will have a private flight charter so that all of our camera bags can be carried on-board. . This photo tour will be an amazing adventure with the very best guides and photographic opportunities.
Unlike many other game parks in Africa and around the world, we do not face restrictions on when we can leave and return to the camp. Even more important is that for the most part, we can drive off-road in the area of the Mara that we are staying in. So we will not have to put up with the excruciating frustration of having to remain on-road when e.g. a Cheetah, Lion or Leopard is in hunting mode 200m away and we can only see small dots through our longest lenses.
The plan for most mornings is to get up at 5.15-5.30am, have a quick coffee/tea/cookie and then leave the camp by 5.45-6.00am with a packed breakfast and lunch. It is critical that we leave before sunrise to locate the animals that we want to photograph before the sun comes up. Many of the cats are most active in the very early morning. Usually we will try to locate the cats that we have been with the previous evening. Often though, we will chance on wildlife encounters and stick with these. The guides have radios in all the vehicles such that on occasion, we may split up. Our guides are in radio contact with drivers from other camps and lodges. This gives us a good chance to get to wildlife encounters quickly assuming they are occurring near to our existing location.
Vehicles
We will use 3 stretch/modified Toyota Land Cruisers. There will be three rows of seats in each vehicle so that each person has a row to themselves. That way everyone can shoot unencumbered irrespective of what side of the vehicle the action is taking place.
The vehicles are designed so that you can shoot out of the sides or standing, out of the top. The top of the vehicles have two roof hatches which we remove at the start of each day (they rest on the top of the vehicles next to the openings such that they can put back on if it rains or if we need shade.
The side of the vehicles comprise either large roll down windows or roll up, transparent canvass sides. Again, we roll these canvass side up before we go out each day but if it rains, they can quickly be rolled down.
*A detailed information sheet will be sent upon sign up.
I just got home from a nice trip to Nickerson Beach with clients, I saw a few old friends as well. We had lots of great opportunities with some very young Common Tern chicks. We witnessed everything from begging chicks to adults feeding their young—we even saw a few brutal beatings endured by the tiniest of chicks. On our way back to our cars we watched as a soaking wet tern chick made its way back from the water’s edge with mama guiding it to the colony —but only after a few fights. The little chick was aggressive and probably gave his mother more than one worry… she looked knackered. I will try to share some of those images shortly.
I spent most of the morning engaged solely on the tiniest of chicks. Some still with their egg tooth. The egg tooth is only visible when they are newly hatched. The chicks use this egg tooth to penetrate the eggshell from inside, allowing them to break free from the shell. After a short time, the egg tooth falls off or is absorbed into the bill. Note the egg tooth on each of these photos.
Most of the tern chicks we saw were still incredibly young. On my last visit I saw at least a dozen eggs that had been overcome by the tide. The eggs mixed in with seaweed were mostly cleared form the beach on this visit. Even with all the lost eggs, it seems to be a good-sized colony that is flourishing nicely.
Large crop but I wanted to show the egg tooth.
There were dozens of tern chicks at Nickerson along with a healthy colony of Black Skimmers and I saw a lot of Oystercatchers. I also saw one Piping Plover in the middle of the beach. I heard him calling and I heard another though I did not see it. I didn’t spend anytime near the waters edge but will be doing that soon.
I did see that the tide had come up very high and washed away over a dozen tern eggs. Still there were loads of little ones smattered across the dune area—running out hastily to be fed. The little one featured above was one of a two chicks waiting to be fed. The feedings seem so violent especially compared to the way oystercatchers feed their young.
We watched as an adult brought in some type of small crab to feed to her young—at first they rejected it over and over but she was persistent and kept taking it away so that no other bird would grab it, then forced it on the chicks over and over again. Finally one of them accepted it and chocked it down and I do mean chocked.
Black Skimmer
My friend Jim Fennessy and I drove to NY early in the morning to photograph the birds at the beach in NY. We had just finished photographing the Common tern colony after spending a wonderful morning with the terns. Mostly locating eggs, chicks, and nest scrapes for my upcoming workshops.
On our way back to the car we spotted a pair of Black Skimmers that had walked to the middle of the quiet beach to take a nap. As it began to make a comfy bed, I saw this pose and decided I needed to capture it. Jim and I army crawled on the sand and got very close to this skimmer being extremely careful not to disturb it or its mate. Because we got down low, we were able to include some of the blue sky in the frame. We left the birds as they fell fast asleep— such a great morning and memory.
