Chirps and Cheeps

Purple Sandpipers are infrequent but not totally unexpected visitors in Western New York. I had my second view of one this year at Irondequoit Bay this past week. The first one I saw this year was in the spring at Goat Island in Niagara Falls. I was thrilled with that bird because I had found it on my own and had the pleasure of both spotting and identifying it. Prior to today, by the way, I've only seen two Purple Sandpipers total - so when I heard about this one, I was excited to see it.

Although it was uncomfortably close to Christmas, Celeste and I decided to go and we met up with Pat Martin at the bay. The three of us enjoyed a very, very cold hour out on the pier watching the sandpiper sleep!  He did pop his head up for a few moments - and I'm so glad I was paying attention because I caught a few photos of him. We had marvelous views!

The Long-tailed Ducks out in the bay were fun to watch and listen to too.  Their calls are quite humorous to me.  We left, frozen to the bone, and did a little more birding of the area with nothing noteworthy to report.  On my way back home late in the day, however, the Medina Snowy Owl was out. I grabbed a few poor photos of it in spite of the low light. He's a real beauty and I can never help myself!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that, on my way to Medina in the morning, I saw three gorgeous male Ring-necked Pheasants out in a corn field.  It's been a long time since I've seen a male, so I stopped to admire and photograph them. What a nice way to start the day!