~Louisiana Waterthrush perched at Pochuck Mountain State Forest, 4/23/16.~
I met Linda Scrima out at Pochuck Mountain State Forest early on this cloudy morning. In the beginning of the trail, it was not very birdy, but we continued further up the mountain until we got to a small pond and that’s where things got interesting. Our first good bird was my FOY BLUE-HEADED VIREO. Shortly afterwards, we located another personal FOY, a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER. As we worked our way around the pond, I heard a call that sort of sounded familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Linda, however knew it immediately – it was a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH. We followed the call, located the bird, and got fabulous looks and pretty decent photos, especially considering the poor lighting. We ended up having a good morning at Pochuck; we hiked probably about 4 miles and had 28 species.
Afterwards, we walked the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge’s Liberty Loop. Highlights included our second Louisiana Waterthrush of the day, which was located by Linda on the west side of the loop, just off the trail. We also did pretty well with shorebirds with several Killdeer, 2 Greater Yellowlegs (FOY), 1 Lesser Yellowlegs (FOY), and a pair of Wilson’s Snipe. All in all, a good day with some good year birds for both of us.
~This was exciting to me… Black-and-white Warbler at Pochuck Mountain SF, 4/23/16.~~My personal FOY Blue-headed Vireo, Pochuck Mountain SF, 4/23/16.~~Another shot of the Louisiana Waterthrush, Pochuck Mountain SF, 4/23/16.~~This was Linda’s first good look at an Eastern Towhee this year, Pochuck Mountain SF, 4/23/16.~
~I love this pose! A super cute Pied-billed Grebe at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, 4/15/16.~
I birded in Orange County all weekend, starting at the Winding Waters Trail at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge on Friday afternoon. I met Linda Scrima out there, we were following up on a tip from Rob Stone; he’d had Vesper Sparrows there earlier in the day. VESP is a nemesis bird for Linda. Or should I say WAS a nemesis bird for her. We relocated at least two, with a possible third Vesper Sparrow present and got great looks at the birds. Congratulations to Linda on the lifer, and what a super looking bird.
~Vesper Sparrow at Winding Waters Trail, Wallkill River NWR, 4/15/16.~
Saturday morning I walked out at Goosepond Mountain State Park. I had never walked the entire trail before, so that’s what I did. I started at Laroe Road and walked to route 17M and then back. It was a nice walk which was very birdy. I had 35 species on the day, which included 6 personal first of the year birds: Field Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, HERMIT THRUSH, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Broad-winged Hawk, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Sunday morning I decided to try something a little bit different and go on a hike that would not necessarily be loaded with birds. I walked the loop at Storm King State Park. It was probably not a difficult or strenuous hike by most people’s standards, but I quickly learned how out of shape I am these days! I started at the trailhead on route 9W north, and I huffed and puffed my way up to the summit of Storm King. The views were pretty great and there were some raptors flying as well (Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vultures, Sharp-shinned Hawk). I had more birds than I would have expected, tallying 17 species, the most interesting to me being a Hermit Thrush I saw about 100 yards into the trail. Thankfully, the back end of the loop was a little bit easier going. Afterwards, I made a quick stop by Kenridge Farm where I saw many of the usuals and also picked up my FOY Barn Swallow.
~At the top of Storm King, I ran into a small group of birds: Mourning Doves, a Northern Flicker, a couple of Chipping Sparrows, and a couple of Black-capped Chickadees.~~My FOY Hermit Thrush at Goosepond Mountain SP, 4/16/16.~~A Chipping Sparrow singing in the spotlight at Storm King State Park, 4/17/16.~~A nice look at an American Coot, Wallkill River NWR, 4/15/16.~The view of the Hudson River from the highest point of Butter Hill at Storm King State Park, 4/17/16.~
~Wow! Caspian Tern at Washington Lake this afternoon, 4/14/16.~
I figured it might be some good birding news when I saw that John Haas was calling me this afternoon on the way home. I was right, Ken McDermott had located a CASPIAN TERN at Washington Lake! A quick change of plans and I was on my way. When I arrived the bird was along the shore with 28 Ring-billed Gulls (which were pestering the tern from time to time). I got good looks at the bird in Ken and Bruce Nott’s scopes, and then took some photos. At one point, all the birds took flight for a short spin as a Bald Eagle flew over, but then they settled down again. It wasn’t until a fisherman walked right by the birds that they flushed and did not return to the shore. We kept our eye on the bird for a good while as it flew around the lake; the gulls kept it on the run, and then right before 6 0’clock, the bird headed northeast and did not return that we saw. I think the bird was at the lake for just under 3 hours, but many birders ran for it and were able to get a good look. Other notable birds present included: Bonaparte’s Gull, Red-breasted Merganser, and a Broad-winged Hawk that Scott Baldinger had but that I never picked up because I was trying to stay on the tern.
~Caspian Tern in flight, Washington Lake 4/14/16.~~A young Ring-billed Gull nips at the wing of the Caspian Tern, Washington Lake 4/14/16.~~Later on, in the black dirt, a Northern Harrier caught my eye.~
~Two RED-NECKED GREBES and a Tree Swallow doing a flyby at Wickham Lake, 4/12/16.~
QUICK POST: I was pretty excited today at work, when I received word from Rob Stone that he had located two RED-NECKED GREBES at Wickham Lake. A little later on, Karen Miller reported that there was a Horned Grebe and a Common Loon also present. I went for the birds after work, meeting up with Maria Loukeris and Linda Scrima. They had already located the 3 grebes but the loon was nowhere to be seen. We got excellent scope views of the Red-necked Grebes and took distant photos. The Horned Grebe was a bit further out and I didn’t even try for photos. The RNGRs were just beautiful to see and they made my day for sure.
~On our way out, we ran into this Gray Ghost and I managed one halfway decent shot. Northern Harrier at Wickham Woodlands Town Park, 4/12/16.~
Since I’ve been out of the loop for a little while, I figured it would be a good idea to do a post of notable Orange County sightings that I know of from the past week:
SUNDAY 4/3/16 – It was a waterfowl fallout of sorts in OC. Rob Stone reported 20+ Long-tailed Ducks at Wickham Lake, along with 1 Greater Scaup, 1 Common Loon, and 1 Horned Grebe. Meanwhile, Kathy Ashman reported to Mearns Bird Club that she had 7 Horned Grebes at Glenmere Lake, with some in breeding plumage.
MONDAY 4/4/16 – Rob Stone had a Vesper Sparrow at Lower Wisner Road.
THURSDAY 4/7/16 – I had 1 Greater Scaup, 1 Common Loon (my FOY), and 2 Horned Grebes at Greenwood Lake. Kathy Ashman reported a Green Heron at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary.
FRIDAY 4/8/16 – I had 1 Common Loon at Sterling Lake and at Greenwood Lake I had 1 Horned Grebe, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, and 2 Common Loons.
SATURDAY 4/9/16 – I had my FOY Louisiana Waterthrush and Swamp Sparrow on the Sterling Lake Loop Trail. At White Oak Swamp, I finally got my FOY Rusty Blackbird and I also had my FOY Palm Warbler.
SUNDAY 4/10/16 – Maria Loukeris had a Common Loon at Glenmere Lake. I went for the bird later in the day and 4 Greater Scaup and 1 Lesser Scaup (FOY) had moved in as well. Earlier in the day, I had my FOY Osprey at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary (but missed out on the Green Heron).
~Common Loon at Glenmere Lake, 4/10/16. Thanks to Maria Loukeris for the heads up on this bird.~~Ruby-crowned Kinglet at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 4/10/16.~ ~Crappy photo of a good bird. Louisiana Waterthrush on the Sterling Lake Loop Trail, 4/9/16.~~Palm Warbler on the Sterling Lake Loop Trail, 4/9/16.~
~I was very excited to locate a pair of BUSHTITS at Summerlake Park in Tigard, OR 4/4/16. This one is the female, the pale eye gives it away.~
All birders know that one of the best things about traveling to a new area for the first time is the possibility of seeing some new birds. It is very exciting knowing that at any turn you may see a bird for your first time ever. This is true even when birding is not your primary objective, as was the case for me last weekend when Tricia and I flew to Portland, Oregon to attend her cousin Rob’s wedding. It was a great weekend and it was awesome to get to know Rob’s wife Monica a little bit better and to meet her family. The wedding itself was beautiful and the food was just incredible. But most importantly, I picked up 14 life birds and 2 new sub-species over the long weekend.
I got out two times specifically to do some birding – I went to Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge one morning with Tricia and her brother Kevin and then I got up early one morning and went to Summerlake Park, which is an eBird hotspot and only a few minutes from the hotel. Tualitin River NWR was a super birding spot that has a nice trail to walk. I added 4 life birds and one new sub-species during our walk: Anna’s Hummingbird, Western Scrub-jay, Orange-crowned Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow and the sub-species Pacific Cackling Goose. Unfortunately we were there midday which made for harsh lighting and not many of my photos turned out well. The next morning, I got out early to Summerlake Park and added BUSHTIT and Bewick’s Wren to my life list, and conditions for photos were much better.
The day after the wedding, Tricia, Kevin, and I drove out to the coast to go to the beach and take a hike. It was my first time ever at the Pacific Ocean, and the Cannon Beach with the gorgeous Haystack Rock was a dramatic introduction to it. The day ended up being very bird-centric (can you imagine?!?), and for not planning it, it was incredible how many great birds we had that day. It started off at Cannon Beach, where we quickly noticed that there were puffins flying around Haystack Rock – they were TUFTED PUFFINS! I spent some time on the beach while Tricia and Kevin toured the town and I added Pelagic Cormorant, Black Oystercatcher, Western Gull, and Glaucous-winged Gull. Afterwards, we headed to Oswald West State Park and took a long, amazing hike out to Cape Falcon. We had many Pacific Wrens on our walk, but for me the bird of the hike was certainly the pair of WRENTITS I found skulking around in the underbrush just off the trail.
I really did not want to leave Oregon. It was so gorgeous out there; I was struck at how lush it was and at how many huge evergreen trees there are. It was a really great extended weekend for many reasons and good birding was certainly one.
~A TUFTED PUFFIN flies alongside Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~Pretty heavy crop here. Tufted Puffin in flight at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~This was definitely one of my favorite birds of the trip – a Wrentit skulks around in the underbrush during our hike to Cape Falcon at Oswald West State Park, 4/5/16. It was pretty dark on the trail, especially where these birds were found; this photo was shot at ISO 8000!~~My first life bird of the trip – a Spotted Towhee in the parking lot of our hotel in Tigard, OR 4/2/16.~~I think Orange-crowned Warblers are pretty common where we were. This one was at Cape Falcon on the coast of Oregon, 4/5/16.~~This is the male Bushtit, Summerlake Park in Tigard, OR 4/4/16. Notice the dark eyes.~~Oregon Dark-eyed Junco at Crescent Grove Cemetery and Mausoleum, which was located across the street from our hotel, 4/3/16.~~Bewick’s Wren at Summerlake Park , 4/4/16.~~Golden-crowned Sparrows at Tualitin River NWR, 4/3/16. We were at the refuge at midday, which made for some harsh lighting and tough photos.~~I have this as a Glaucous-winged Gull at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~I like this shot. Black Oystercatcher flies over the waves at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~I’m pretty sure this is a Pacific Cackling Goose. And I’m also pretty sure I saw this sub-species for the first time on this trip; I think the Cackling Geese (rarities!) we get in our area are typically Richardson’s. This was shot at Summerlake Park, 4/4/16.~~Western Gull at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast, 4/5/16.~
New Life Birds:
Pelagic Cormorant
Black Oystercatcher
Tufted Puffin
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Anna’s Hummingbird
Western Scrub-jay
Bushtit
Bewick’s Wren
Pacific Wren
Wrentit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Golden-crowned Sparrow
~UPLAND SANDPIPER in the Black Dirt Region, 2/39/16.~
I was cruising through the Black Dirt Region this afternoon, really just sort of doing some half-hearted birding but mostly hoping for Lapland Longspurs, when I heard an Eastern Meadowlark call. I stopped the car and located one and then another meadowlark… only the second bird was not a meadowlark but an UPLAND SANDPIPER! I put the word out and I was eventually joined by Karen Miller, Maria Loukeris, Linda Scrima, and Bruce Nott, who all got good scope views of the bird. Meanwhile, the more I watched the bird, the less sure I was becoming of my initial ID, mostly because the bird was bobbing its tail often, a behavior that I didn’t know Upland Sandpipers exhibited. I spoke with Rob Stone and he found a video online showing bobbing behavior. When Karen got home, she referenced her National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, which read: “It often bobs the rear portion of its body…”. I’ve included a video of the bird at the bottom of this post. According to eBird bar charts, we are not likely to see UPSAs in Orange County until May, so this is really an early bird.
~One more shot of the UPSA, Black Dirt Region 3/29/16.~
~Beautiful duck! We had loads of Northern Pintails at Savannah Mucklands at Montezuma NWR, 3/26/16.~
I headed out Saturday morning with my brother-in-law Bill, and for the first time ever, I was disappointed by Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. But only a little bit. The problem is that Easter was so early this year that it was the first time I’ve been to the refuge in March. And Wildlife Drive doesn’t open until April 1st. Here it was, probably the nicest day of the year in Seneca County, and arguably the best part of the refuge was closed. Which didn’t make a bit of sense to me, and you can ask Bill, I was not in good humor about it. So, we birded from the visitor’s center viewing platform and then the rest of the refuge and we ended up having a pretty darn good day. The number one highlight of the day was undoubtedly getting Bill’s lifer SANDHILL CRANES. Not only did we finally get lucky with them, we found them only about 30 yards off the road! We got incredible looks at these big, beautiful birds. We also had three rarities on the day, all early birds for Seneca County: LESSER YELLOWLEGS (2), GREATER YELLOWLEGS (6), and GLOSSY IBIS (2). Huge thanks to Mark Fitzsimmons (who I had met while going for the Barrow’s Goldeneye in Ulster County earlier in the month). Bill and I ran into him at the visitor’s center; he was birding the refuge with his daughter and they gave us the heads-up on both the GRYE and the GLIB. We ended up with 44 species on the day and I wonder how many more we might have added if we had gotten to bird Wildlife Drive.
~I love these birds, and I was really happy for Bill to finally see them. Sandhill Cranes at Montezuma NWR, 2/126/16.~
On Easter Sunday I had no plans to do any birding. Tricia and I took a walk with Bill’s oldest daughter Mackenzie through the neighborhood with their two dogs. It was early afternoon, around 2:00, when as we followed the path through a wooded area I heard a BARRED OWL calling. I didn’t believe it at first. We backtracked a little bit and luckily, I was able to locate the bird pretty quickly. We called Bill and Tricia’s sister Caroline and they met us out there. They brought my camera for me so I was able to get some shots, and Bill, Carol, and Mackenzie got their lifer Barred Owl! It was actually a pretty good walk, because prior to that, I had already seen 2 adult Cooper’s Hawks, a young Bald Eagle, and a slew of songbirds.
I wanted to mention that I finally updated the Species Photos 2016 page last week; I’ve increased the number of species photos from 34 to 62. And after posting this, I will increase it by two more when I add the Sandhill Cranes and the Northern Pintail photos. And lastly, I reached a modest milestone this weekend, getting my 100th subscriber to the blog; that made me happy for sure.
~An adult Red-headed Woodpecker at Fancher Davidge Park, 3/24/16.~
I received a text from Karen Miller while I was at work today; she and Bruce Nott had relocated two RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS (one adult and one juvenile) at Fancher Davidge Park in Middletown, New York. The birds were originally located by Gef Chumard, who birds the park on a regular basis. I talked to Karen on my way home and she provided details, which helped me find the park and the spot pretty easily. I parked and headed down the Nature Observation Trail, which leads to a rather large and beautiful swamp. I was there for about twenty minutes, I hadn’t had any luck, when Gef showed up. He showed me a tree where he had seen one of the birds on a couple of occasions, and while we were talking I located the juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker on a distant dead tree. Gef had someplace to be, so he left me to it. I eventually located the adult as well, and managed to get some ID photos of both birds. It was great fun to bird in a new spot, and the place was loaded with birds (I had 29 species for the afternoon).
Huge thanks to Karen for the heads up, and congratulations to Gef on a great find!
~A juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker at Fancher Davidge Park, 3/24/16. According to the Crossley ID Guide, the juvenile “molts through the winter so that by spring it is similar to adult, but often slightly duller…” ~
~Another highlight of the afternoon – a Brown Creeper which avoided having its photo taken as much as it could. Fancher Davidge Park, 2/24/16~
QUICK POST: Late Saturday afternoon and into the evening, I enjoyed photographing these gorgeous falcons alongside Kyle Dudgeon, Linda Scrima, and Maria Loukeris. Clear skies provided nice light, which allowed for much better photo opportunities than last weekend. It is challenging and super exciting to photograph these birds; it’s really incredible to see how fast they fly and of course very interesting to watch their behavior. The birds continue to mate, and they share their meals (we’ve seen both the male and female come back after successfully hunting, eat half of the prey and then pass the remainder off to their partner).
