Matt Bango Photography

Over the past week, I’ve spent some time birding and shooting at both Liberty State Park and Sandy Hook. I’ve been going to Liberty State Park early in the mornings before work and Sandy Hook on the weekends. I’m still trying to figure out the best areas for both birding and photographic opportunities at Liberty State Park, it’s a challenging area to get some good shots. There were some good birds to shoot over the past week, none of them rare or early migrants, but fun nonetheless. Palm Warbler numbers have increased significantly over the past week and a nice flight of Savannah Sparrows came in Friday morning.

On Saturday, I traveled to Sandy Hook which turned out to be a fairly slow day due to northwest winds the night before. Even though there weren’t many new species, I was able to practice my shorebird and beach photography techniques on some not very cooperative birds. First up were the American Oystercatchers who seem to be a reliable bird at Sandy Hook so far. There were at least 5 different individuals, but only one was cooperative and feeding. The others tended to fly around and were extremely vocal. Following is my favorite Oystercatcher shot of the day:

I then came across a pair of Laughing Gulls who were extremely difficult to approach. I was only able to shoot them for a few minutes or so before they decided they had enough and took off.

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