Life After Sandy

The Connetquot River State Park was closed these past couple of weeks due to damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. For this reason I have been walking on private property (permission given) in Oakdale, south of Montauk Highway. Here is some of what I saw.

This bird perched on a small log is a Double-Crested Cormorant. There were two of them in the same area and both would fly away if I got too close to them. Whenever I see cormorants they are swimming, not perched like this one. For this reason, I had the urge to take a photo. An acquaintance of mine once referred to cormorants as “junk birds.” Well, they might not win a bird beauty contest, but I find their prehistoric appearance somewhat impressive and interesting.

This is a Hooded Merganser flying along a stream. The black and white crest on the back of its head makes it easy to identify it.

During a walk with a neighbor, we spotted this deer. My neighbor said to me, “It’s watching something.” We turned to see what it was.

It was looking at this fox. When the fox realized we saw him, he hightailed it back into the woods.  I only got a photo of his very bushy tail.