Black Crowned Night Heron

Over the past ten years or so we’ve seen a big time increase in the number of strange birds like this down and around the harbor.  I don’t know what to attribute it to but between the egrets, and herons and snowy owl, it’s becoming a bird lover’s paradise.  With my average camera I just didn’t have enough lens to capture this guy from the distance I was shooting with great clarity.  If you are a bird lover or wildlife lover you owe it to yourself to check out Steve Borichevsky’s Shooting My Universe and Jim Barber’s Jim B Media

These guys are pros with great equipment and steady hands to capture some incredible birding shots.

Black Crowned Night Heron, originally uploaded by captjoe06.


Common Eider Young On A Camel

Thanks to Jim Barber for helping me identify these Common Eider Young. I had to slowly walk up so they wouldn’t fly off.

Ducks on A Camel, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

Common Eider With Young On A Camel

The baby ducks are in the middle.

Ducks on A Camel, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

From Jim Barber, resident bird expert-

“Common Eider with young. Common Eider breed on Ten Pound Island but they just started doing so about five years ago. Their range is expanding. I took some of the first photos of Common Eider young in Gloucester harbor at the time and they were published in Bird Observer magazine.
They are source of “eider down”. In Greenland they have vast farms of eider nests and the down is collected from the nest under strict government regulations.”

Chickity Check It- Jim B Media

All this time I thought I had added a link to the incredible art and photography of Jim Barber, but when I just looked it wasn’t there.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you owe it to yourself to see some of Jim’s incredible photography. This is how a real photographer takes and displays pictures as opossed to my hack work.

Anyway here’s a link-

Jim B Media