Highland Lakes State Park, 9/4/16

 

 

 

 

~I got a great look and spent some time photographing this Brown Thrasher, Highland Lakes SP 9/4/16.~
~I got a great look and spent some time photographing this Brown Thrasher, Highland Lakes SP 9/4/16.~

Yesterday morning I made a brief stop at Highland Lakes State Park in Middletown before heading up to Mount Peter Hawkwatch to participate in cleanup day. I was initially saving the report and photos to do an end of the weekend post, thinking I could add any birds I had today to it. The problem is that the birds did not cooperate today; it was pretty dead out there for me, from Mt. Pete Hawkwatch to the black dirt. So, back to my Sunday morning at HLSP. It was a brief but birdy stop; I had 26 species in less than an hour of birding. Most noteworthy was my FOY PURPLE FINCHES, which put my total for my Orange County year list at 199. I also had a great photo op with a Brown Thrasher, which is a bird I don’t seem to see very often these days.

~These birds made my morning - one of two PURPLE FINCHES at Highland Lakes SP in Middletown, NY, 9/4/16.~
~These birds made my morning – one of two PURPLE FINCHES at Highland Lakes SP in Middletown, NY, 9/4/16.~
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~I tried like heck to turn this into a Philadelphia Vireo, but it wouldn’t happen. Warbling Vireo at Highland Lakes SP, 9/4/16.~Â