Orange Birding

Easter Birding, 04/20/25

We hosted for Easter, so it was mostly a birding-free weekend for me. I did manage to get out for a couple of hours late this morning into the early afternoon, and it was productive for not being out very long. At Wickham Lake I picked up my first Blue-gray Gnatcatcher of the year. Then in the black dirt, I saw my first Broad-winged Hawk of the year. And, I also found a trio of VESPER SPARROWS. It had been 2 years since I last saw a Vesper Sparrow in Orange County, so I was pretty happy about it. The birds did not stick around very long, and heat shimmer wreaked havoc on my photos, but it was still great to see them.

~Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Wickham Lake, 04/20/25.~

~One of three Vesper Sparrow in the black dirt today, 04/20/25.~

~One more shot of the BGGN at Wickham Lake, 04/20/25.~

Sunday Shots, 04/13/25

I enjoyed a decent Sunday morning of birding, hitting several of my usual spots – Wickham Lake, Wallkill River NWR’s Liberty Loop and Winding Waters, and of course, the black dirt. It was mostly the usuals, but I enjoyed being out and a I was fortunate enough to get a few decent photo ops. My highlight was having a single Bonaparte’s Gull at Wickham Lake fly in and land not too far out from where I was standing on shore.

~Beautiful bird – Bonaparte’s Gull at Wickham Lake, 04/13/25.~

~Singing Palm Warbler at Wickham Lake, 04/13/25.~

~Greater Yellowlegs in the black dirt, 04/13/25.~

~One more shot of the beautiful Bonie at Wickham Lake, 04/13/25.~

More Good Birding, 04/12/25

As anticipated, along with the weather came some good birds. Wickham Lake continues to deliver; I made an early stop there this morning while it was still snowing quite heavily, and had 8 Horned Grebes and a Bonaparte’s Gull on the lake. I also had my first Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Palm Warblers of the year. I checked a few other nearby lakes – I didn’t have any out-of-the ordinary birds at Glenmere, Round, and Greenwood Lakes. Walton Lake, however, had 4 Long-tailed Ducks. In the black dirt afterwards, I got the year’s first good looks at American Pipits, having had only flyovers previously.

~American Pipit marching through a field in the black dirt, 04/12/25.~

~Long-tailed Ducks at Walton Lake, 04/12/25.~

~Double-crested Cormorant in the snow at Round Lake, 04/12/25.~

~Red-winged Blackbird flock in the black dirt, 04/12/25.~

A Good Sunday Morning Birding, 04/06/25

My first stop this morning was Glenmere Lake, where I found 2 Common Loons. Karen Miller went there a little later in the morning and she had a total of 4 Common Loons. Next I went to Wickham Lake, where it was busy. Highlights included 5 Bonaparte’s Gulls and a female Red-breasted Merganser. I also had my first Great Egret and Spotted Sandpiper of 2025. I then tried a few more southern Orange County lakes, but came up empty, so I headed to the Newburgh Waterfront. It was a successful morning on the river; I was able to catch up with the 5 Great Cormorants and the Black-crowned Night Heron which have been reported this week. l also added another 11 Bonaparte’s Gulls to the day’s tally. And, finally, there was also decent sized flock of scaup (40 birds) on the river; they were distant and difficult to identify, but I was able to discern several each of both Lessers and Greaters.

~Bonaparte’s Gull at Wickham Lake, 04/06/25.~

~Not exactly a primo photo op, but always a good bird to see. Black-crowned Night Heron on Quassaic Creek, 04/06/25.~

~Sleeping Mourning Dove in the black dirt, 04/05/25.~

~Wilson’s Snipe on Lynch Avenue in the black dirt region, 04/05/35.

Waterfowl Weekend, 03/30/25

I enjoyed an excellent weekend of birding, with plenty of good waterfowl. The highlight was Wickham Lake this morning; Kyle Knapp and I made two visits to the lake, and we enjoyed some really excellent birds. Highlights included: (2) WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, (7) LONG-TAILED DUCKS, (3) RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and (2) HORNED GREBES. Along with the more expected species, we had a total of (15) species of waterfowl. We also had (3) species of gull, Ring-billed, American Herring, and my first BONAPARTE’S GULLS of year.

~It always seems to be the case with these exciting sea ducks – always distant and in poor light~ (7) Long-tailed Ducks on the move at Wickham Lake, 03/30/25.~

~Horned Grebe at Wickham Lake, 03/30/25.

Saturday was a little less exciting, with only new species of watefowl for me; a Common Loon at Walton Lake (the bird continued into Sunday morning as well). The bird was way too distant both days for photos, but the nicer weather on Saturday morning did allow me to get some decent shots of some other waterfowl.

~Northern Pintail at the Liberty Loop, 03/29/25.~

~Pied-billed Grebe at Wickham Lake on Saturday morning, 03/29/25.~

~This one is from last weekend, when Eastern Phoebes moved back into our area. This one was at Silver Mine Lake, 03/22/25.~

Saturday

Sunday Shots, 03/16/25

It was a low key weekend of birding for me. I stayed local, checking the area lakes each morning and then hitting the black dirt. I didn’t have anything too exciting, but I did add (4) new species to my Orange County 2025 list. That brought my species total to (93).

Cooper’s Hawk, My Yard 03/13/25
Horned Grebe, Round Lake 03/16/25
Rusty Blackbird, Black Dirt Region 03/16/25
American Pipit, Black Dirt Region 03/16/25

Photos were tough to come by, but I did manage to get a few raptor shots in my travels.

~Black Vulture portait. Black Dirt Region, 03/16/25.~

~Red-tailed Hawk on some farm machinery in the black dirt, 03/16/25.~

Sunday Shots, 03/09/25

Last weekend was a tough one – very few birds and almost no photo ops. This weekend was a different story. The PINK-FOOTED GOOSE on Saturday was by far the highlight, but in addition to that, it was a birdy weekend and I took a lot of photos. Heat shimmer gave me fits for photos as well as scanning, but that can’t be helped. I was at Wickham Lake both mornings at sunrise; the lake is loaded with birds right now and made for some enjoyable birding. There are many Common Mergansers (hard to say, but probably 300-400?). Gulls were plentiful as well; it was probably the most gulls I’ve ever seen on that lake, with approximately 100+ Ring-billed Gulls and 20+ American Herring Gulls.

~American Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls at Wickham Lake, 03/09/25.~

I can’t even tell you how many geese I looked through in the past two days – many thousands for sure. I had 11 Snow Geese (8 were blue morphs!), and I also had one bird that I think is a very good candidate for a Cackling Goose; see photo at the bottom of this post. Two Sandhill Cranes were reported at the Liberty Loop on Saturday afternoon – I ended up seeing them on Sunday morning through dumb luck (they flew in and landed in front of a flock of geese I was sorting through).

~Sandhill Crane coming in for a landing, Liberty Marsh 03/09/25.~

~I’m loving the fluffed up feathers in this shot. Sandhill Crane at Liberty Marsh, 03/09/25.~

~Blue morph Snow Goose in the black dirt, 03/09/25.~

~Ring-billed Gulls raising an early morning racket. Wickham Lake, 03/09/25.~

~Female Common Merganser at Wickham Lake, 03/08/25.~

~And a drake Common Merganser, Wickham Lake 03/08/25.~

~White-crowned Sparrow at the Liberty Loop, 03/09/25.~

~I’m calling the bird on the far left a Cackler. Black Dirt Region, 03/09/25.~

Orange County PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, 03/08/24

I went out to the black dirt region this morning, and made up for my failure to relocate the PINK-FOOTED GOOSE last weekend by finding it three times today! It was pretty exciting; I put the word out, and a lot of other birders got to see the bird as well.

When I relocated the bird the third time, I was wondering if it could be a second individual. I had left it in a field off of Turtle Bay Road only 10 or 15 minutes earlier. I contacted several other birders, and they informed me that the bird had, in fact, flown from Turtle Bay, but went north. Well, my location was to the south, just across from Scenic Farms Golf Course!?! Ultimately, though it was fun to entertain the possibility, it seems to me that it almost certainly had to be the same bird. Although the exact timing was unclear, there was probably plenty of time for the bird to relocate to the golf course site before I got there, even with a slight northward detour. Plus, the likelihood of having two PFGOs in the same area is super duper slim.

~PINK-FOOTED GOOSE in the black dirt region, 03/08/25.~

~One more shot of the Pink-footed Goose in the black dirt today, 03/08/25.

Sunday Shots, 02/23/25

There is finally enough light in the evening to do a little bit of birding after work again, which contributed to my having a heck of a week with local raptors. I added three species to my 2025 Orange County list (Sharp-shinned Hawk, Short-eared Owl, and Merlin). On Saturday morning I birded the black dirt and the raptor numbers were impressive, with 9 species and over 40 individuals. My highlight was seeing 3 Rough-legged Hawks; far and away my high count for this winter.

Black Vulture (2)
Turkey Vulture (4)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (1)
Northern Harrier (8)
Bald Eagle (3)
Red-shouldered Hawk (2)
Red-tailed Hawk (18)
Rough-legged Hawk (3)
American Kestrel (2)

~American Kestrel on Missionland Road, 02/22/25.~

~Low light conditions here; Northern Harrier hunting just before sunset on 02/21/25.~

On Sunday I had some things to do around the house, so I didn’t get out until the afternoon, when I spend a couple of hours at the Hudson River. All the gulls were on the Beacon side, so I birded from there. It was a beautiful afternoon, but unfortunately I was only able to come up with the 3 expected species of gull (Ring-billed, Am. Herring, and Great Black-backed).

~A good looking American Herring Gull makes a pass at the Beacon Waterfront, 02/23/24.~

~Ring-billed Gulls scrambling for some bread scraps that someone was throwing to them. Beacon Waterfront, 02/23/24.~

~Canada Geese in the black dirt just after sunset, 02/21/25

Sunday Shots, 02/16/25

I had the type of work week where just getting out and away from my desk and seeing any birds at all was the exact medicine I needed. I spent some time in the black dirt on Saturday morning, and it was extremely quiet. From there, I headed to the Hudson River. I started on the Beacon side and then went to Newburgh, where I joined Bruce Nott and our mutual friend Ben in hopes of getting Ben and his son an Iceland Gull. It took a little while, but eventually we were able to find a very distant Iceland Gull and both Ben and his son got scope views (they would later in the day get better looks at the bird from the Beacon side). Bruce also found a pair of Long-tailed Ducks; they were my first of the year in Orange County.

~Ring-billed Gulls at the Beacon Waterfront, 02/15/25.~

On my way home, I decided to bird Purgatory Road; I hadn’t birded it in a while and it’s sometimes good for raptors. On this day, however, I saw a songbird land in a field and it caught my attention – I was pretty sure it was an Eastern Meadowlark. I stopped the car and scanned. Sure enough, I found not one, but two Eastern Meadowlarks out in a field. It was my second new OC species of the weekend, my 70th of 2025.

~Eastern Meadowlark on a snowy afternoon in a field off of Purgatory Road, 02/15/25.~

~Eastern Meadowlarks on Purgatory Road, 02/15/25.~

We had some messy weather on Sunday morning; I waited for the snow to turn to rain and the temperatures to rise above freezing before heading out. I went to the Hudson River again; my timing wasn’t great as I was definitely there ahead of prime gulling time. Of note was five Ring-necked Ducks by the Newburgh Boat Launch; I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that species there before. I also had a decent look at an adult Bald Eagle.