Busy Bird Day

We started out with a bike ride this morning and as we neared the bay beach I glanced over at the marshy area across the street and the birds were very near the road just on the other side of the tall grass.  There were a few places where you could see through from the road so I quickly turned my bike around and got out my camera.  There was a woman walking in the same area and she had a camera also - with a very big lens.  She motioned for me to step into the weeds where there was a path made to get some pictures.  I did not have my newest camera with me with the zoom lens so after I snapped a couple of pictures,  HWNSNBP and I quickly high-tailed it back to the condo to get the newer camera and drove back to the place we had seen the birds.

The woman was still there and I think we surprised her a little when we came back, but she happened to live right across the street on the bay and told us that there was another path that she had made a little further down across from her house.  

She said that the birds are usually in this area nearer the street at this time of year and later in the morning they will take off over the bay to Long Beach Island for the rest of the day.

A trip to the lighthouse was next on the agenda, but as we were getting ready HWNSNBP called up to me to bring my camera quick.  He said there was a hummingbird at the plant in the barrel at the base of our stairs.  It stuck around long enough for me to get some pictures, but I had to disappoint him and tell him that this was not a hummingbird but a hummingbird moth.  You can tell the difference by the antenna - hummingbirds do not have antenna.  It's not easy to see that when they're flitting around so fast.  But what appears as a beak is actually a proboscis much like that of a butterfly that curls into a spiral when it's not straight out feeding.  (click on the picture to make it larger)

When we did get over to the lighthouse we trudged walked out to the end of the rocks and I spent some time sitting on my towel while HWNSNBP did some surf fishing.  He did not have any luck though.

On the way back I had to stop frequently because of my hip and at one point, when I looked over to the rocks and saw this Ruddy Turnstone.  I don't recall seeing these birds before but I do love their coloration.

And some more birds on top of the rocks.  

What I did not take a picture of was a poor seagull who had tried to steal someone's bait only to have swallowed the hook and he/she had the leader and bobber protruding from it's mouth.  Several people tried to corral it, but being a bird and frightened and most likely in pain, it flew off as we neared.