NY_Girl's photostream

The beach is scarce and I found this afternoon only gulls, Semipalmated plovers and this one juvenile Sanderling grazing the beach. The shorebird came pretty close to me which was nice to grab this shot.

Straight out of the camera shot.

The juvenile Black Skimmer sure knows how to parade itself in front of their parent in a defensive stance, encircling or following wherever their parent walks to. I believe from my own observation, that the juvenile Black Skimmer does this to let their parent know they are hungry. It is not territorial. Time and time again, I notice the parent flies away only to return with an eel. This day was the day after Hurricane Earl and the winds were high as well as the tide. It was difficult for the adult Black Skimmers to get their food.

Only three juvenile common terns remain where I have been photographing. This particular banded juvenile Common Tern awaits for its parent to return with food. The patience of such a young juvenile is commendable. It was well worth the wait for the parent returned with a huge fish.

Since there was a high wind this morning due to remnants of Hurricane Earl, the Black Skimmers entertained themselves by bathing in puddles of ocean water rather than skimming the ocean for food.

The day after Hurricane Earl swept across the eastern seaboard, missing suspected regions, the increased high winds gave rise to rough waves as it left Long Beach of Long Island New York flooded with water a few hundred yards away from the parking lot. The boardwalk leading to the beach area was blown apart and pieces of wood planks were scattered all over.

The Black Skimmers were making the best of the "day after" by wading and bathing in large puddles of ocean water that has yet to dry up.

Amazing what high winds can do. I literally could only photograph for about one half of an hour due to the sand storm. I could barely see to manually focus!