Dawns bloggy blog: Storms a comin…

Howdee all,

Jeff washed the Homey…so naturally we were ready for rain.

This storm came a day after he washed Homey..

Usually it happens much sooner..

I think Jeff is out of practice ;)…

We knew by the clouds (and the weather forecast) that we had a few hours for our morning walk.

We decided to walk to the jetty to see the Razorbill

One lone fisherman at the end of the jetty..

Those dots are Horned Grebe

There are hundreds of them in the area..

We saw the Razorbill ~they were out past the opposite jetty..

We watched them a while before heading back..

On our way off the jetty we spy this little bird..

Jeff and I weren't sure but it looked like a pale Savannah..

After looking at our guide we determined it was an

Ipswich Sparrow

A pale version of the Savannah..

Usually seen further north..

Storm clouds to the south…

I picked up that sweet little dried out sea urchin to add to my

Huntington Beach State Park treasure collection

We stopped again when we saw this little sparrow

The Ipswich Sparrow is a geographically isolated subspecies of the savannah sparrow. This small sparrow breeds strictly on Sable Island, Nova Scotia and winters along the mid-Atlantic coast. Their nape, back, and rump are dark brown with varying degrees of streaking. Their crown is typically beige with a pale yellow eye-stripe. Ipswich sparrows have a whitish colored throat, breast, and belly. Light streaking occurs along their sides and chest, but not much along the belly. The Ipswich sparrow is overall paler and larger than the continental savannah sparrow.

via http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/species/fieldguide/view/Passerculus%20sandwichensis%20princeps/

Storm cloud over the ocean..

Interesting cloud formation over the dunes..

Further down the beach we come across another

Ipswich Sparrow..

DIET

The Ipswich sparrow feeds along shoreline habitat alone or in small flocks in non-breeding months. They typically walk when hunting instead of hopping as their continental counterparts would. They hunt for insects, insect larvae, and other small arthropods all while walking on the ground. During the winter months, seed is a particularly important food source.

Via

http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/species/fieldguide/view/Passerculus%20sandwichensis%20princeps/

The clouds are moving and changing as we walk the 2 miles back to the campground…