Weekend on the coasts of MA & ME

Despite the fact that the coast is slow this time of year, I spent my weekend touring the coast. What may shock you all more than anything is that I didn't go to the NH coast at all! Instead I birded the southern Maine and northern Massachusetts coasts! Needless to say it was not really by choice but a matter that I agreed to tag along with UVM's Ornithology class that Ben is the TA for. We started on Saturday in Massachusetts on Plum Island:

Unfortunately there really weren't that many birds out and most things were pretty distant, but the scenery was still nice and the students had a good time.

While the students scoped some Black Scoters, Red-throated Loons, and Red-necked Grebes, I spent some time photographing the scenery as the birds were really too close to shoot most of the time. Here's a neat little effect of the sun in the sky:

The clouds were really neat during the day and created all sorts of fun effects as well. Throughout the day I tried to capture some of them - here's one of my favorite shots of the clouds over the dunes at Plum Island.

Sunday we switched gears and birded Maine a bit. On our way up to meet up with the class a Rough-legged Hawk flew over the car. We spent time at Scarborough Marsh and along the beach looking at Common Eider, Long-tailed Ducks, etc. Then we headed down to Marginal Way to look for Harlequin Ducks on the cliffs.

The trip had to end there as the students needed to get back. After they left I took some time to crawl along the rocks and try to snap a few shots of the Harlequin Ducks. Unfortunately the lighting was a bit tough but still fun to see them and the photos are better than anything I had previously.

More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkras/