Hello winter friends! As the herons, egrets, and plovers have departed for parts warmer, Cape Ann welcomes mergansers, buffleheads, grebes, and so many more. Overcast morning walk along the shores of Niles Pond –
Male and Female Red-breasted Mergansers
Juvenile Pied-billed Grebe
Male Buffleheads and Female Red-breasted Merganser
Brace Rock
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Related
Published by Kimsmithdesigns
Documentary filmmaker, photographer, landscape designer, author, and illustrator. "Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly" currently airing on PBS. Current film projects include Piping Plovers, Gloucester's Feast of St. Joseph, and Saint Peter's Fiesta. Visit my websites for more information about film and design projects at kimsmithdesigns.com, monarchbutterflyfilm.com, and pipingploverproject.org. Author/illustrator "Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden."
View all posts by Kimsmithdesigns
Male and Female Red-breasted Mergansers
Juvenile Pied-billed Grebe
Male Buffleheads and Female Red-breasted Merganser
Brace Rock
Good Morning Gloucester 
Technically…..those images are not “shorebirds.” 😉 Really nice photos.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rob, I read that technically speaking, shorebirds are birds in the order Charadriiformes, sandpipers and plovers, for example. But I also read that generally speaking, shorebirds are any bird that frequents the shore. Do you you think it is incorrect to refer to birds that visit our shores as shorebirds?
LikeLike
Teaching folks about “birds” is a great. The photos you take and information you share is excellent. The nomenclature can be confusing and I like keeping it a precise as possible. “Shorebirds” tends to be a general term and, I suppose, could include all birds found at the shore but I’ve seen sparrows pecking along the beach “shorebirds?” Shorebirds also include gulls and terns, but ducks are different and grebes are even more peculiar.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great point Rob, thank you 🙂 In retrospect, I could have titled the post “They’re Back! Beautiful Birds that Visit Cape Ann Shores in Wintertime,” or something along those lines. Thanks again for writing.
LikeLike
I also noted a few buffleheads over the weekend … and was so happy to see them because they’re my favorite winter visitor. Thanks for your post and great pictures, Kim.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aren’t they so entertaining–I love their head bobbing and territorial courtship rituals!
LikeLike
Brings a whole new meaning to bobble heads 🙂 Dave & Kim 🙂
LikeLike