Orange County Black Dirt

Red-tailed Hawk with prey, on Round Hill Road in the Black Dirt Region, 1/4/14.
Red-tailed Hawk with prey, on Round Hill Road in the Black Dirt Region, 1/4/14.

When I woke up this morning, the thermometer read zero degrees Fahrenheit. With this information in hand, I decided it would be best to bird by car today. So I did a driving tour of the Black Dirt Region, hitting many of the usual spots: Pumpkin Swamp Road, Skinner Lane, Mt. Eve Road, Big Island Road, Missionland Road, Scenic Farms Golf Course, and Wallkill River NWR. Raptors were plentiful, I had eight (!!!) Rough-legged Hawks, one American Kestrel, four Northern Harriers, and I lost count of how many Red-tailed Hawks I saw (at least 15?).

This was my best shot of a Rough-legged Hawk today, this one was at Round Hill Road, 1/4/14.
One of eight Rough-legged Hawks on the day! This one was at Round Hill Road. Seven of the eight  RLHAs were light morphs.

I had two small flocks of Horned Larks at Skinner Lane and at Missionland Road I had a larger flock of about 50 HOLAs that included a single SNOW BUNTING. White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos were a constant roadside bird throughout the morning, Song Sparrows were also seen in lesser numbers, and I had a pair of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS at Skinner Lane. I ran into the Antonys (fellow Mearnsers) on Mt. Eve Road where they also had WCSPs.

White-crowned Sparrow on farm equipment out at Skinner Lane, 1/4/14.
White-crowned Sparrow on farm equipment out at Skinner Lane, 1/4/14.

4 thoughts on “Orange County Black Dirt”

  1. I am so jealous!!!! All these you saw while I was working OT. AND a nice sunny day too! What time did you go out? Was there allot of traffic? The two days I went to those areas there was allot of traffic to spook what I was seeing.

    Wilma

    1. Sorry you missed it Wilma, I was out in the morning until the early afternoon. Traffic was not too bad – I stayed on the back roads as much as possible. I really wanted a shot of that Red-tail taking off with its prey, but it got spooked when another car passed between the bird and myself.

  2. Hey there,
    We met today on Celery Ave and I just wanted to tell you how jealous I am of your owl sightings! Hawks are practically a daily sighting for me, so I’m loving your photos. If I’m lucky, I sometimes catch an eagle or two, and of course, MANY MANY geese.

    I look forward to seeing more of your work!

    1. I’m glad you checked out the blog! You live in a great area for so many birds – I saw an immature Bald Eagle flying pretty low, just after I left you! Take Care – Matt

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