Well, pretty much took the weekend off in terms of birding. Every once in a while, I think I just need to go out and not worry about identifying and counting every bird I see. Instead I just went out and just enjoyed looking for birds and trying to get some decent photos.
I got out briefly this morning in the rain and fog and managed to get a few shots of the above light morph Rough-legged Hawk. This bird was located on Jessup Switch Road in Goshen, but I initially went out to Indiana Road where I had five RLHAs yesterday evening (2 dark morphs and 3 light).
Rob Stone texted me this afternoon to let me know he had located four GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE on Onion Avenue in New Hampton, NY. When I got there later in the afternoon, just after 4 pm, I could only locate one GWFG among approximately 1200 Canada Geese. I spoke to John Haas after I had left, and he let me know that while he was there, a total of five Greater White-fronted Geese were present. Huge thanks to both Rob and John, what a “great” way to make my day!
NOTABLE OBSERVATIONS:
Just a couple of quick notes: In the afternoon I had a flock of approximately 60 Snow Buntings on MIssionland Road. Also present were a couple of smaller flocks of Horned Larks, one of which had 5 Snow Buntings in it. In the morning, I made it out to Lippincott Road and had 10 Common Goldeneyes. Thanks to Ken McDermott for posting about them, they were great fun to see. They were a bit distant for photos, but here is one shot:
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?).
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.
I took advantage of the snow day today by snowshoeing down the Heritage Trail that borders 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary. It was a pretty cold journey, but it was nice to get out and see some birds. I did not see anything out of the ordinary, just a good showing of many of the expected birds. Here’s my list:
This post is a few days late, but I did not have time to get it together before now. For my final outing of 2013, I made it out to Rye, New York. I knew that Rye was considered a good birding location, but I had never been there before. I turned to John Haas, who provided me with the lay of the land. He let me know there are three good spots to bird in Rye – Read Wildlife Sanctuary, Rye Town Park, and the Marshlands Conservancy. All three places are really easy to get to, close to one another, and most importantly, very birdy. I had a total of 40 species for the day, and I made out particularly well with water birds, identifying 15 species, including my favorite of the day, two Long-tailed Ducks, which were seen at a great distance from Rye Town Park. Water birds I was hoping for which I missed out on were: Brant, Common Loon, and Great Cormorant.
I think what I enjoyed most about the day was the variety of birding that was available. At both the Read Wildlife Sanctuary and the Marshlands Conservancy, I birded the woods and trails while also looking out for water birds. At Read, you can bird both the Long Island Sound and Playland Lake from the road into the sanctuary. At the Marshlands Conservancy, there is a great trail that borders along Milton Harbor. I did well with passerines at both locations; a Fox Sparrow at Read and a total of 6 Carolina Wrens for the day were highlights.
I found it interesting that I did not have any raptors while I was there. I was hoping for Purple Sandpipers, but the only shorebirds I had for the day was this group of Dunlin, which seemed to appear out of thin air:
I highly recommend taking a trip to Rye for some birding; I had a super day of birding. If you are interested in more details on how to get around in the area, leave a message and I will get the information to you. Finally, I decided to try something a little different with my species list for the day:
Wow, another year is in the books! I had a great year of birding, I saw so many birds and I feel like I learned quite a bit. It’s time to take a quick look at the year that was here at Orange Birding. First of all, here are my species totals for the year. I have included my numbers from 2012 for comparison:
2013 2012
I started 2013 with 215 Life Birds. By the end of the year my total had grown to 284, an increase of 69 species! I feel like that’s a lot of life birds in a year, indicative of where I am with my birding, really still just beginning with so much to see and learn. Twenty-two of those birds were from our trip to Colorado, giving me Western birds that I had never been exposed to before.
Bird of the Year: SNOWY OWL
The Snowy Owl invasion at the end of 2013 was certainly one of the top stories in birding for the year. For me personally, the Snowy Owl was a bird I thought I would hopefully see one day, but I figured it would likely have to be a bird I would have to chase down. I did not think it would be remotely possible that I would be seeing a total of 6 Snowies in 2013, two of which were right here in Orange County only 15 minutes from the house. It was incredible really, and it’s possible that we may not be done with them for the season yet.
Favorite Photo of the Year: COMMON LOON AT FOLLENSBY CLEAR POND
I just cannot resist this photo of a young Common Loon. I love the sweet expression and the water droplets on head and back are a clincher. Runner-up for photo of the year is this shot of two Black-crowned Night Herons, taken at Wallkill River NWR. I really love the dreamy quality of this photo:
Favorite Birding Location of the Year: SHAWANGUNK GRASSLANDS NWR
The Shawangunk Grasslands NWR is a hotspot that I returned to again and again this year. There are many amazing species to be seen there, and the photo opportunities are off-the-charts good. In the colder months I spent many hours in a blind trying for Short-eared Owls, Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, and Rough-legged Hawks. In the Spring, American Kestrels were nesting in the refuge and many folks (including myself) were able to see the SMITH’S LONGSPUR that was present for several days at the end of April. I got great shots of the many Bobolinks present in June and also saw and heard the Grasshopper Sparrows. It is always great to run into Ralph Tabor while I am out there, and I would like to thank him for all he does at the refuge, putting up nesting boxes, moving the blinds into prime locations, putting up posts for the birds to perch on, and reporting bird activity on the Mearns Bird Club site.
Most Exciting Birding Experience: SNOWY OWL AT WARREN SOD FARM
The Snowy Owl at Warren Sod Farm on November 26, 2013 was my life bird Snowy, and the way it went down was truly exciting. The night before, Elizabeth McKnight posted on the Mearns Bird Club site. I tried for the bird early the next morning but failed to locate it, so I went in to work. Just before noon, Bruce Nott called to let me know the bird had been relocated. A moment of panic set in at first, but after that passed I knew what I had to do. I called my boss and he totally got it; his parting words were for me to try and get a good photo of the bird. Additionally, Tricia and her brother were supposed to be on their way to Syracuse for Thanksgiving week, but they were running late and were able to see the bird before they got on the road. It was really an incredible day, I could barely sleep for days after that!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the birding community, their generosity truly astounds me; everyone is consistently very helpful. Special thanks to Rob Stone, John Haas, Judy Cinquina, and Karen Miller for all their help this year. I’d also like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, let’s hope that 2014 brings more amazing birding experiences!
Quick Post: Yesterday morning I did a quick tour of some of the hotspots in the Black Dirt Region and Indiana Road was by far the most productive, with the following present:
Tricia and I were back on Long Island this week to spend Christmas with our families. The day after Christmas, I went birding out east with with Tricia’s Brother-in-law Bill. We basically started out at Cupsogue County Park (a spot I’ve been wanting to get to, having seen many reports of good birds there), and then we headed east on Dune Road. The highlight of the day was locating two (!!!) SNOWY OWLS. Both owls could be seen easily from the car on the beach side of Dune Road and the light was nice which made for some nice photos. Aside from the Snowies, we did pretty well, identifying 28 species and seeing a few more than that; I did not have my scope with me which meant leaving some of the more distant birds unidentified. The birding on Long Island is pretty amazing, the birding hotspots seem endless. Thanks once again to Bill for showing me around; it was a super day of birding.
Here is my species list for the outing:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Northern Harrier
Black-bellied Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Mourning Dove 9
Snowy Owl
American Crow
American Robin
European Starling
Snow Bunting
