My daughter, Emma, and I chased the juvenile Ivory Gull being seen in Cape May today. If it had been just me I probably would have spent more time with the bird, but still I had great looks at it. Photography was a little more problematic because the first time we stopped to see it the bird was farther away. But the second time(after an unsuccessful try to see the Swainson’s Hawk and some time on a cold beach) we realized we could walk out on the docks to get closer. But the problem there is that forced me to digiscope on a floating dock with limited space for me to set up. So these are the best photos I could muster.

Emma on the other hand got some nice shots with my slr that I don’t really use. It’s a leftover from my wedding photography days and is a slow camera with a slow lens. But she managed some nice shots that are possibly crisper than mine, just further away.

Call me a sadist, but below is one of my favorite photos of the day. Wouldn’t you know I accidentally picked out a juvenile Little Blue Heron at Two Mile Landing next to a couple Snowy Egrets. I actually didn’t know it was different from the snowies when I stopped. However, I wanted to find toll for the bridge, so I figured I’d show egrets to my daughter while I stopped the car to sift for change. Putting binoculars on the group of birds I realized one was a little blue so pulled out the digiscoping setup. The scope was loose so I took the time to tighten it. Once I got it up and focused, the damn bird flew. But it amused me and my daughter that for how long the bird stood there, it chose to lift the second I hit the shutter.