Orange County Peregrine Falcons, 3/13/16

 

 

 

 

~A male Peregrine Falcon shoots by at a rapid pace, Orange County NY, 3/13/16.~
~A male Peregrine Falcon shoots by at a rapid pace, Orange County NY, 3/13/16.~

I met up with Kyle Dudgeon this morning to try to photograph Peregrine Falcons. The lighting was tough, so with the exception of a few photos such as the one at the top of this post, we ended up having more success shooting video with the iPhone through my spotting scope. We ended up with what I think is some remarkable footage; I’ve included three short clips in this post. The first one shows the birds mating, which was incredible to see live and Kyle and I were flipping out:

The male left the area for a short while, successfully hunted, and then came back with prey. In this video he eats a portion of the prey and then takes off to share the remainder with the female:

and finally, here is a very short clip of the female finishing up preening and taking flight, flying out of view and then cutting right in front of the scope again.

Wow! Seven Orange County Greater White-fronted Geese!!!

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~Two of seven Greater White-fronted Geese at Pierce Circle in the Black Dirt Region, 3/6/16.~

One of my first stops this morning was certainly the best of the day. I stopped to check out a group of approximately 500 Canada Geese located on Pierce Circle. I was not optimistic that I would find anything good among the Canadas, first of all because there were not very many birds, and second because the birds were close enough to sort through with binoculars (no scope needed!). I perked up when I located one, then two, then four GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE! Then another – make it five! I put the word out, continued looking and found a sixth GWFG. Maria Loukeris must have been in the area because she joined me pretty quickly. Shortly after her arrival, I located the SEVENTH GWFG! Scanning left to right, a group of four, then a pair, and then a single Greater White-fronted Goose sitting in the field on its own. Also present was a single Cackling Goose, close enough for some decent, if backlit photos. It was very exciting, and I particularly enjoyed when the group of four flew into the next field calling the whole time. After a few minutes, they rejoined the flock. It was hard to tear myself away from such great birds, but eventually I did.

I spent the rest of my morning and early afternoon in southern Orange County, but I did not have any additional notable sightings. I will mention that there is a huge group of Common Mergansers at Wickham Lake – I estimate 900 birds. The forecast for the afternoon and evening was clear skies, so I decided to try my luck at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR…

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~This photo shows six of the seven Greater White-fronted Geese, can you find them? Pierce Circle, 3/6/16.~
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~Cackling Goose at Pierce Circle, 3/6/16.~

…and I got lucky! The Short-eared Owls got up early (around 5:00), the light was fantastic, and the birds flew close enough for some decent photos. I’ve said it many times before, but you cannot beat photographing SEOWs from the photo blinds out at the Grasslands. I got there early and waited a good while with very few birds. There were several Northern Harriers foraging the throughout the reserve and once in a while they would get close enough for photos, but there were large chunks of time with no birds at all. It was all totally worth it, of course, when the owls got up and put on their show. I counted a total of 5 Short-eared Owls, 7 Northern Harriers, and 2 Red-tailed Hawks. And I also saw my first Eastern Meadowlarks of the year. What a great day of birding!

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~Short-eared Owl in flight at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 3/6/16.~
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~A nice look at a Northern Harrier, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 3/6/16.~
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~A SEOW shoots through the grasses at the reserve. Shawangunk Grasslands, 3/6/16.~
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~I love getting a good look at the top side of these birds. Short-eared Owl at Shawangunk Grasslands, 3/6/16.~
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~SEOW in flight, Shawangunk Grasslands, NWR 3/6/16.~
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~NOHA giving a look in my direction, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 3/6/16.~ 

Good Birding in Orange County, 2/21/16

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~I enjoyed seeing this Red-tailed Hawk; I pulled over to listen for songbirds and then saw it sitting low in the woods. Port Jervis, NY 2/21/16.~

After a disappointing Saturday of birding, I did much better on Sunday. I started the day in Port Jervis, hitting several spots. I added four birds to my Orange County year list, including two birds that I feel are pretty good birds for the county: GREATER SCAUP and COMMON GOLDENEYE. The other two birds were  a Peregrine Falcon and a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. The highlight of the morning, however, was first hearing and then seeing a skein of approximately 75 SNOW GEESE fly overhead as I walked down a trail. This got me thinking about the possibility of finding some Snow Geese in the black dirt, which would be my next stop.

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~One of my first birds of the day – Greater Scaup at Laurel Grove Cemetery in Port Jervis, NY 2/21/16.~
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~An adult Bald Eagle flies over the Delaware River, Port Jervis NY, 2/21/16.~
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~Nice bird to see, a single Common Goldeneye, Laurel Grove Cemetery 2/21/16.~
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~SNOW GEESE! Nice flyover of a skein of SNGOs in Port Jervis, NY 2/21/16.~
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~Peregrine Falcon perched high over the Delaware River, Port Jervis NY, 2/21/16.~

I made my way out to the Black Dirt Region, where I met up with Bruce Nott and Linda Scrima. We sifted through a nice sized group of Canada Geese and found some gems: 6 Snow Geese, 1 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, and I was finally able catch up with a CACKLING GOOSE (there have been many reports in the region). Afterwards, Bruce and I continued to the Pine Island Turf Nursery, in search of pipits. We didn’t have any luck with the pipits, but we had a good sized flock of Horned Larks and a good collection of songbirds that provided some photo ops. It was a really good day of birding for me, something that I certainly needed.

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~Cackling Goose in the black dirt 2/21/16. I like this for a Cackling because of the smaller size, small bill, shorter neck, and blocky head. 
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~Terrible photo here, but I included it because I think it shows the size of this bird better than the photo above. Cackling Goose, 2/21/16.~
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~A Red-bellied Woodpecker shows off its namesake (and it’s tongue!). Pine Island Turf Nursery, 2/21/16.~
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~That’s a blue Eastern Bluebird! Pine Island Turf Nursery, 2/21/16.~

6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16

~American Robin feeding at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
~American Robin feeding at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~

I spent a couple of cold hours this morning walking the Heritage Trail at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary. It was quite birdy and I tallied 20 species for the walk; I’ll include my species list below. The best and most surprising bird for me was a female Northern Harrier which was cruising the open area below the Orange County Jail. I also enjoyed seeing 2 Great Blue Herons, one that flushed as I walked along the trail and the second was all tucked in on the bank of the stream alongside the trail. It was a brisk -3 degrees Fahrenheit when I started my walk, and it warmed up to a balmy 1 degree Fahrenheit by the time I got back to the car.

A male Eastern Bluebird shows a little wing, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
A male Eastern Bluebird shows a little wing, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16. This is a species that I seem to see often when it’s very cold like this.~
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~It was really cool to see this Great Blue Heron all hunkered down on the bank of the stream which runs parallel to the Heritage Trail, 2/14/16.~

 

Great Blue Heron 2
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 6
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 8
American Crow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 12
American Tree Sparrow 25
Dark-eyed Junco 65
White-throated Sparrow 6
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1

 

A pair of White-throated Sparrows forage on the trail in front of me at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
A pair of White-throated Sparrows forage on the trail in front of me at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
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~A puffed up American Tree Sparrow, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
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~Downy Woodpeckers were plentiful during my walk and also very accommodating. 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
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~One more shot of the American Robin feeding, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~

Orange County Saturday, 2/6/16

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~A White-breasted Nuthatches strikes the usual pose, Port Jervis NY 2/6/16.~

I woke up early this morning and made it out to Port Jervis just after it started getting light out. I’ve spent nearly all my recent birding time in the black dirt, so I was looking for a change. I started at a spot just outside of Port Jervis that allows for a quiet walk with enough birds to keep it interesting. My first bird of the day was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, my first of the year in Orange County. One of the last birds I had was a Common Raven which was another to add to my Orange County list for 2016. I saw or heard 14 species on what ended up being a very cold walk; when I got back to my car and I was thinking it had finally warmed up, I looked at the temperature and it was only 19 degrees! I had an interesting experience with a group of maybe 8 White-breasted Nuthatches (it was hard to keep count!). I’ve never seen that many together at once, and they were calling and flying all around me, landing on nearby trees and on the road as well… it was pretty cool.

From there I made a couple of brief stops as I made my way into Port Jervis to bird Laurel Grove Cemetery. I parked at the far end and then made a loop to eventually end up back at my car. It was a birdy walk and I added another 3 birds to my Orange County 2016 list: Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, and Brown Creeper (a drastic improvement over last year, when it took me 11 months and 27 days to find a creeper!). I walked for just about an hour and had 19 species.

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~I didn’t realize it until I stopped to think about it, but I had 4 Bald Eagles today, all of them adults. Orange County Bald Eagle, 2/6/16.~

I headed home for lunch with Tricia, winding my way through the black dirt without any remarkable sitings. After lunch I headed up north to see if I could do any good with waterfowl. I made three stops: Tomahawk Lake, Brown’s Pond, and Lake Washington. I only had any luck at Lake Washington, where I had 42 distant Common Mergansers and 8 Mallards. My more notable sitings were not waterfowl, I had an American Kestrel on the way to Tomahawk Lake in Hamptonburgh, and then when I arrived, I added my sixth bird of the day to my Orange County list, a Northern Flicker.

I left the county at the end of the day and headed out to Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge to try for the Short-eared Owls. I had a Red-tailed Hawk as I entered the refuge, which was absolutely packed – it was the first time I’ve had to parallel park at the grasslands! I talked to Ralph and he said that three different groups had outings at the refuge that evening. I had 7 Northern Harriers including one Gray Ghost, and then, up pretty late in the fading light, I had 4 Short-eared Owls – which was a nice way to end a super day of birding.

**I’ve updated the Species Photos 2016 page. I now have 25 species on the page, I think I need to start focusing on this page a little more.**

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~I’m really not so crazy for White-breasted Nuthatches, so I can’t really remember seeing one on the ground like this. WBNU in Port Jervis, NY 2/6/16.~
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~White-breasted Nuthatch, Port Jervis, NY 2/6/16.~
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~I saw this bird fly in and thought “please be a hairy!”, and it was. Hairy Woodpecker at Laurel Grove Cemetery, 2/6/16.~
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~On my way to Tomahawk Lake, I pulled over to get a better look at a bird on a distant hay bale. It was an American Kestrel. And it flew towards me and perched in the tree in front of my car! Lucky day! AMKE in Hamptonburgh, NY 2/6/16.~

 

Orange County Greater White-fronted Goose!

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~Wow! Greater White-fronted Goose in the Black Dirt Region, 1/29/16.~

I love getting word of a good bird while I’m at work. Well, I love it and I hate it. It’s great because it’s exciting and something to look forward to after work, but it can be terrible too because the day inevitably passes very slowly and there is always the chance that the bird will move on. This morning I received a text from John Haas – he had a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE among a couple thousand Canada Geese at Turtle Bay in the black dirt, which was very exciting to me! As expected, the day did drag on, and of course, as I was leaving I received word from Linda Scrima that after spending most of the day at Turtle Bay, all the geese had lifted up. She had scoured all the regular black dirt geese locations and was unable to locate any large groups of geese. I could think of one other location where the birds could be located, but it was private property. Linda met me at the location, and with the homeowner’s permission we were able to relocate the bird and get some good photos too!

My exciting evening of birding didn’t end there. I had been in contact with Bruce Nott and he was at the Newburgh Waterfront looking for gulls. I contacted him after leaving the GWFG and he was on a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, presumably the same bird John Haas had located earlier in the week (that guy’s having a pretty good week!). I made my way over to Newburgh and when I arrived, Bruce and Ajit and Liza Antony all had the bird in their scopes. I hopped out of the car and took a good look at the bird in both scopes before going back to the car for my own scope. They told me how they had lost the bird but relocated it while I was in transit! What a great afternoon and evening of birding!

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~They all lined up nicely for this photo, Greater White-fronted Goose up front, of course! Black Dirt Region, 1/29/16.~
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~I don’t even know if this even qualifies as a documentary photo – Lesser Black-backed Gull at the Newburgh Waterfront, 1/29/16. Click here to see a decent shot I got of a LBBG last March at this same location.~

Sunday Shots, 1/24/16

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~This young Cooper’s Hawk found a man-made perch that I actually like for photos. This was wood and rusty metal rack in the back of an abandoned pick up truck. Black Dirt, 1/24/16.~

QUICK POST: I was out of town visiting family, so the only birding I did over the weekend was this afternoon when I ran around the Black Dirt Region for a couple of hours. It wasn’t the most productive of outings; I had only 18 species for the afternoon, and all were expected birds. The highlight for me was two ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS; it’s nice to see that RLHAs seem to have finally moved into the area in some numbers. They were too distant for photos but still nice to see. At any rate, here are few shots from the afternoon.

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~It was a day for man made perches, I guess. White-crowned sparrow on a crate in the black dirt, 1/24/16.~
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~Same crate, different bird. Song Sparrow in the Black Dirt Region, 1/24/16.~

Black Dirt Birding, 1/16/16

 

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~An American Kestrel that actually did not flush as I drove by! A birding miracle in the Black Dirt Region, 1/16/16.~

I birded the Black Dirt Region by car this morning and covered a lot of ground. I wanted to first check to see if the Snowy Owl continued – I was unable to relocate the bird and did not hear of anyone relocating the bird all day. My second goal of the day was to sort through some of the many Canada Geese in the area, looking for rarities. I really wanted to locate a Cackling Goose, especially since John Haas had reported 2 from the day before. I located two decent candidates; one flew before I got any photos or could be sure of the ID. When I located the second candidate, Linda Scrima joined me and although we got some decent looks and photos of the bird, we left unsure of the ID. I kept going back and forth with this bird, sometimes it looked really good for a Cackling and other times not so good. Being this unsure, I will leave this bird unidentified, but I’ve included a photo of the bird in this post in case anyone would like to weigh in. The only other notable geese from the day were 5 Snow Geese. My final goal was to try to add some birds to my Orange County list and I increased it by 9 birds. I had 30 birds on my species list, which I’ve included at the bottom of this post. Highlights of the day for me included 2 Rough-legged Hawks and 2 American Kestrels.

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~A male Northern Harrier, the Gray Ghost in flight in the black dirt. This was taken earlier in the week, 1/13/16.~
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~Three of the 5 Snow Geese I had in the black dirt today, 1/16/16.~
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~Same Gray Ghost as above, perched on the ground. Black Dirt Region, 1/13/16.~
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~American Kestrel taking flight, Black Dirt Region, 1/16/16.~
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~This was Cackling Goose Candidate #2… Any thoughts? ~

Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Ring-necked Pheasant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Short-eared Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch

ORANGE COUNTY SNOWY OWL!!!

~Wow!, Snowy Owl in the Black Dirt Region, 1/14/16.~
~Wow!, Snowy Owl in the Black Dirt Region, 1/14/16.~

I met Kyle out in the Black Dirt this evening after work to try for some raptors – Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls were the goal. I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted a large white bird fly over a field in the distance, being chased by crows – SNOWY OWL!!! We immediately jumped out of the car and got the bird in the scope to find it had perched on a distant small post in a field. We watched the bird as it was harassed by both Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls; it flew one time and found a new perch, but shortly after returned to its original perch. The bird was very distant, so pics were tough; the above is from the camera, and the shot below is with the iPhone through the scope. It was a super exciting night! Lifer Snowy for Kyle and my first one in a couple of years!

***If you go for this bird, please be respectful of the locals in the black dirt. Many roads are private and not public and shouldn’t be used without permission. Farmers are still working so please keep all roads clear and let them work. As a general rule, for me, if there is any sort of work going on I leave the area.***

~iPhone shot through the spotting scope - Snowy Owl in the Black Dirt, 1/14/16.~
~iPhone shot through the spotting scope – Snowy Owl in the Black Dirt, 1/14/16.~

Weekend Wrap Up, 1/10/16

~The highlight of the day for me - Merlin with prey at Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~
~The highlight of the day for me – Merlin with prey at Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~

Before I get to the wrap up, I wanted to mention that I created a new page for 2016 where I will post photos by species. Each time I take a photo that consider an improvement on the previous for any species, I will replace it on the list. As a starting point, I’ve typed out the list from the Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club Checklist of Birds for Orange County. As I was typing it out, I realized how daunting it can be to think about getting all these photos – there are over 265 birds on the list! It will be interesting to me to see how many of these I will get and also how many I might add to the list. Click here to check it out or on the page at the top right called Species Photos 2016.

The weekend started on a good note with a Friday evening trip to the Black Dirt where I was able to relocate the dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk, originally located by Steve Sachs the day before and relocated in the morning by Linda Scrima. Due to the distance and the trees, I was unable to get any photos, but Linda got some and gave me a couple to post here, see them below (thanks Linda!). It was a sort of strange experience seeing that bird – it was vocalizing constantly and moving from perch to perch to perch, never staying in one place for very long.

~Beautiful bird - dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk in the Black Dirt, 1/8/16. Photo by Linda Scrima.
~Beautiful bird – dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk in the Black Dirt, 1/8/16. Photo by Linda Scrima.~
I really like this shot, showing the top side of the bird including the red tail. Dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk, Black Dirt 1/8/16.~
I really like this shot, showing the top side of the bird including the red tail. Dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk, Black Dirt 1/8/16. Photo by Linda Scrima.~

On Saturday, Kyle Dudgeon, Linda Scrima, and I headed to Piermont Pier to try for the WESTERN GREBE. The bird was located by some other birders shortly after our arrival; it was a little far out and backlit but we got decent scope views and Kyle and Linda got their lifer WEGRs. I was hoping for more waterfowl, but really we did not have a large list: Canada Goose, Mallard, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, and Double-crested Cormorant. We had some Buffleheads and Ruddies that were close enough for photos but the light was not very good. The highlight for me was a Merlin, perched in a tree and eating prey (which looked to be a Dark-eyed Junco). On our way home we made a stop at State Line Hawkwatch, but it was a bust as we had only two distant Red-tailed Hawks in the half hour we were there.

~This is not a pretty bird, but it is pretty cool. Black Vulture in Blooming Grove, NY 1/10/16.~
~This is not a pretty bird, but it IS pretty cool. Black Vulture in Blooming Grove, NY 1/10/16.~

On Sunday morning I met Maria Loukeris out in the Black Dirt, we tried unsuccessfully to relocate the dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk. We did, however, see my first ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK of 2016, hunting (successfully) over a distant field. This is only the second RLHA that I have seen this season. In a relatively short amount of time we had a good number of raptors: Maria had an American Kestrel before my arrival, and in addition to the RLHA we had 8 Red-tailed Hawks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. From there I checked Glenmere and Tomahawk Lakes but neither had much waterfowl present; in fact Tomahawk was mostly frozen over, but I managed to see a high-flying Bald Eagle which was nice.

~Fish Crow at Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~
~Fish Crow at Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~
~The Merlin made quick work of that poor junco. Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~
~The Merlin made quick work of that poor junco. Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~
~Don't mess with these two, they look like they are in a mood. Ring-billed Gulls at Piermont Pier 1/9/16.~
~Don’t mess with these two, they look like they are in a mood. Ring-billed Gulls at Piermont Pier 1/9/16.~
Canvasbacks all tucked in, Piermont Pier 1/9/16.~
Canvasbacks all tucked in, Piermont Pier 1/9/16.~