This weekend I was finally able to connect with some shorebirds in the black dirt. On Saturday, Jodi Brodsky reported an American Golden-Plover on Missionland Road. I was at the back of the Liberty Loop with birding bud Maria Loukeris when she reported it, but luckily the bird stuck around long enough for me to get it (thanks Jodi!). Then, this morning, after getting a relatively late start, I was able to locate 2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS on Skinner’s Lane. Initially I had them waaay out in a field; they flew shortly after I’d located them, and I thought they were long gone, but I was able to relocate them, and this time they were a little closer to road and I was able to get some shots, though most were ruined by the dreaded heat shimmer.
~Always a favorite – BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER at Skinner’s Lane this morning, 09/13/20.~
I’ve, of course, done some other running around, so I’ve included several shots from last Sunday and this weekend. Good birding!
~Wild Turkey Turtle Bay Road, 09/12/20.~ ~Blue-winged Teal at the Liberty Loop back pond, 09/06/20.~ ~Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the Liberty Loop, 09/06/20.~ ~It’s always nice to catch up with a couple of Sandhill Cranes in the back dirt, 09/12/20.~ ~I like this shot because along with the Green Heron, there are both the Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. Liberty Loop back pond, 09/06/20.~ ~Terrible documentary shot of the American Golden-Plover at Missionland Road, 09/12/20.~
I did a lot of hiking this holiday weekend; I walked a total of around 15 miles in the three mornings. I love hiking this time of year, it’s fun to cover a lot of ground as you never know what you will come across. Highlights included Acadian Flycatcher at two locations in Sterling Forest State Park: the Appalachian Trail near Little Dam Lake, and on the Sterling Loop trail. Also on Sterling Valley Loop trail, I saw my second ever Five-lined Skink this morning. It was a little too quick for me to get a photo, but click here to see the one I had at Silver Mine Lake last year.
~I have this as a young female Baltimore Oriole. I took this shot out my back door, into the crabapple tree we have there. I love the late evening light. I don’t know if this is just a good year in my yard, or if I’m just more in tune with the birds in the area because I’m home much more often (since I’m working from home). BAOR in my yard, 07/04/20.
The AT near Little Dam Lake was a nice surprise, it’s a beautiful hike with nice views of the lake, and it’s quite birdy. I had a close encounter with a Red-shouldered Hawk there – I was looking out over the lake and the bird flew past my right shoulder, very close, I don’t think it knows about social distancing. And just beyond the lake, there is a rise in elevation, and I had a singing Hermit Thrush there, which was nice.
~Also in the crabapple tree in my yard, House Wren on 07/02/20. I hear and see these birds constantly, but they never seem to pose for pics. Until now.~
The only thing I don’t like about hiking – it’s not very productive for photos. Most of the trails I was on are through relatively dense woods, so the light is terrible (see Acadian Flycatcher, below). Plus, the birds aren’t numerous, nor are they close to the trail very often. Still, a bad day on the trail beats any day in the office.
~Common Yellowthroat at Sterling Forest SP, 07/04/20.~ ~Always a favorite of mine – Acadian Flycatcher on the Sterling Loop Trail, 07/05/20. I think I missed the boat when I did my cool birds post; this bird should have been included. Any bird that screams “PIZZA” in the dark woods is okay by me. This photo was taken at ISO 5000, so some creative noise reduction was necessary.~ ~I love this shot, it’s dreamy, mysterious, and maybe even a little sinister. Baltimore Oriole in my yard on the Fourth of July, 2020.~ ~I believe this is a Canada Lily, Tricia looked it up and came up with that ID for me. Ironwood Drive power cut, which I took up to join the Sterling Loop Trail, 07/05/20.~
It was just after 4 o’clock this afternoon, when the bird finding machine known and Bruce Nott reported a BLACK TERN at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge’s Liberty Loop. My problem is that Tricia and I were north of Newburgh at that time and would have to stop home first. I hustled over and arrived just after 5:30, and don’t you know it, the bird hung in there for me! It was an absolute beauty and it was also quite accommodating, feeding right in front of the viewing platform for much of the time I was there. Many other birders came for the bird as well; it was good to see some folks I haven’t seen much lately (at an acceptable social distance!). When I left the bird was still putting on the show. Huge thanks to Bruce, another goodie!
~Black Tern at the Liberty Loop, Wallkill River NWR, 05/18/20.~ ~Up in the clouds. Black Tern at the loop, 05/18/20.~
I’m trying to decide if there really isn’t much going on right now in the birding world, or if I’m just becoming a little jaded (which I certainly hope isn’t the case). While I enjoyed getting out this weekend, I just didn’t find much to get excited about. The rainy, gray weather didn’t help, I suppose. It wasn’t until late Sunday morning that I found some excitement, and it wasn’t bird related: I watched a pair of RIVER OTTERS feeding for approximately 20 minutes. They were distant, but in my scope I enjoyed some fantastic looks; they appeared to be dining on crawfish. Now that’s something to get excited about. Moving forward, I’m hoping that the birding picks up a little bit, or I can get out of this birding funk, whichever comes first.
~It’s funny because we have loads of deer in our backyard constantly, but out on the trail it seems different. White-tailed Deer at Goosepond Mountain State Park, 03/27/20.~ ~The siting of the weekend – RIVER OTTER in New York State.~ ~White-breasted Nuthatch at Goosepond Mountain State Park, 03/27/20.~ ~There is a small pond in my neighborhood. Tricia and I were taking a walk and this dude was hanging out at the pond. Great Blue Heron in Goshen, NY 03/26/20.~
It was nice on this holiday weekend to have a little extra time to get out birding. I managed to squeeze a little bit of birding into each of the last 5 days, which was a nice change from my recent weeks, that’s for sure. I mostly birded locally, but I also made a brief visit to Sandy Hook early Friday morning. While I didn’t have any out-of-the-ordinary birds or see anything new, it was still good birding and just enjoyable to be out and about.
~It’s been a good while since I’d seen the leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in Warwick. On Black Friday I got lucky and caught up with this (mostly) white hawk.~ ~I’m still hopeful that the Northern Shrike I located on Wisner Road is somewhere in that area. While trying for it, I photographed this Red-tailed Hawk on a nice perch, 11/27/19.~ ~Unfortunately my time at Sandy Hook was brief. One of several Yellow-rumped Warblers I had there the day after Thanksgiving, 11/29/19.~ ~Song Sparrow at Sandy Hook, 11/29/19.~ ~My goodness there were a lot of Northern Mockingbirds at Sandy Hook. I’ve seen a lot of them in general lately; I still find them very photogenic. Sandy Hook, 11/29/19.~ ~White-crowned Sparrow in the parking area at Liberty Marsh, 12/01/19.~ ~The highlight of my Sunday – Orange County Great Horned Owl, 12/01/19.~
Finally! An exciting bird in Orange County! It feels like it’s been ages since we’ve had a good bird. Huge thanks to Bruce Nott, who found this beautiful LITTLE BLUE HERON on the Wallkill River just off of Route 208. I ran for the bird and met up with Bruce and John Haas; the bird was moving slowly south along the river and we caught up with it where the river runs along Bradley Park. John left to kayak at Morningside Park and then Karen Miller joined Bruce and I; we enjoyed excellent scope views of the bird and were able to get some halfway decent shots of the bird.
~Little Blue Heron in the Wallkill River at Bradley Park in Walden NY, 08/17/19.~
I spent the early morning at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge – I did not have anything too exciting, but I was able to get a decent photo op with a Green Heron just after sunrise. Again, huge thanks to Bruce for making my birding day.
~ Green Heron at Wallkill River NWR, 08/17/19.~~One more shot of the Little Blue Heron on the Wallkill River in Walden, NY 08/17/19.~ ~Great Egrets have been plentiful at the Wallkill River NWR this summer, but I haven’t posted many pics. Here’s one with prey, 08/15/19. I also had my first Peregrine Falcon of the year at the refuge on the same evening.~
As birders, we are really lucky. We are part of what I sometimes think of as a secret club, one that sees the world a little bit differently than everyone else. We have the ability to turn a 3-1/2 hour car ride from Syracuse from drudgery into our own personal nature film, like I did on Sunday evening. While everyone else is driving along searching in vain to be entertained by the radio, we can just sit back and enjoy the nature show. A Pileated Woodpecker flying across the road to perch on an old wood telephone pole. An American Kestrel hover-hunting over the median. A Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by a gang of American Crows. An adult Bald Eagle soaring at the treetops, and then a young eagle not long after that. Of course much of the drive was just the usuals- but even so, I was getting a kick out of how many Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, and Brown-headed Cowbirds you can actually see while traveling on the highway.
~I had a nice look at this Orchard Oriole in the black dirt this evening, 06/04/19.~
I wrote the above paragraph for the most part on Sunday night when we got home. Coincidentally, on my way to work this morning there was an accident on the Palisades Parkway and traffic was brought to a dead stop. I was late for work, but I didn’t care. I birded from my now stopped car and saw or heard nearly a dozen species of birds while I waited for the traffic to get moving again. I think it’s a nice way to live.
~Frog Sp. at Wallkill River NWR 05/31/19.~ ~Look at the tiny wing on this little dude! Can you believe this gosling will grow up to be a Canada Goose?!?~~Always a favorite – even if it’s a crappy pic. Grasshopper Sparrow in the Black Dirt, 06/04/19.~ ~A White-tailed Deer taking a dip at Wallkill River NWR, 05/31/19.~
~CACKLING GOOSE at Lockenhurst Pond in Westtown, NY 02/16/19.~
Regular readers of this blog may remember that it took me 51 weeks in 2018 to get a CACKLING GOOSE in Orange County. Well, today I potentially had three. Which just shows you how crazy birding can be. First thing this morning I headed to Glenmere Lake, hoping for the ROSS’S GOOSE that Kathy Ashman had seen there earlier in the week. The Ross’s wasn’t present, but I did run into Kathy and we had some good birds, including one bird that looked to us like a sure Cackler and a second bird that looked pretty good, but was slightly larger with a slightly longer bill. See photo below, I’d love to hear any opinions on these birds. The birds stuck together the entire time we were there, a cute tiny couple. Other waterfowl present: Wood Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Canada Geese, Mute Swans, American Black Ducks, Mallards, Gadwalls, and a single LESSER SCAUP.
~I’ll be interested to hear opinions on the bigger of these 2 birds – both birds were significantly smaller than the surrounding Canadas, and although the photo doesn’t show it that well, both had a lighter, frosty look to them. CACKLING GEESE (GOOSE?) at Glenmere Lake, 02/16/19.~
I tooled around the black dirt and then took a walk at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge’s Liberty Marsh; it was actually pretty quiet and I had mostly the usuals including White-crowned Sparrows at two locations. On Onion Avenue there was a large flock of mixed blackbirds – perhaps 1,000 birds or so, nearly all Red-winged Blackbirds with a sprinkling of Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles, and European Starlings thrown in.
~Mixed blackbird flock – mostly Red-winged Blackbirds, but I also see Brown-headed Cowbirds, E. Starlings, and a single Common Grackle.~
My final stop in southern OC was at Lockenhurst Pond. This is the small pond on Route 284 in Westtown, NY; I just looked it up to see what it was actually called. While I was there I sifted through the flock of approximately 400 Canada Geese and eventually located another CACKLING GOOSE. This bird looks good to me, see top photo as well as below.
~CACKLING GOOSE at Lockenhurst Pond in Westtown NY, 02/16/19.~
After a late lunch, I headed up to the Newburgh Waterfront to try for more waterfowl and gulls. I had only the 3 expected species of gull, and for waterfowl the only noteworthy species was 9 Northern Pintails. I can only remember one other time having NOPIs on the Hudson River. Just as it was starting to get dark and I was thinking about heading home, I saw something I’ve not seen before. A group nearly 60 Canada Geese flew in and landed on the river. I don’t know if they were out in the fields all day, or if they just finished a long flight, but as soon at they landed all the birds were drinking from the river. I found it sweet to see 60 Canadas sipping away as the sun set.
~Ring-billed Gull in flight over the Hudson River, Newburgh Waterfront 02/16/19.~
~LAPLAND LONGSPUR in the black dirt, Spring 2018.~
Each species of bird can conjure up different thoughts and emotions for us as birders. Some can be seen as just flat out beautiful, like a Northern Pintail or a first winter Iceland Gull are for me. Some are cute, I’d put the Atlantic Puffin and Snow Bunting in that category. And we all have our favorites, often for inexplicable or a large variety of reasons ( for me: Upland Sandpiper, and either species of Cuckoo spring to mind). There are also certain birds that I consider inherently “cool”. I stole this idea from Corey Finger, who made mention of it in a post on 10,000 Birds back in 2012. It has stuck with me ever since I read it because it struck a chord with me – I do feel like certain birds just have a coolness factor. It popped back into my mind after my recent trip to the Jersey Shore where we had a Razorbill (very cool bird!). Here is my personal top 5 “cool” birds list; I’d love to hear which birds others might put on their list.
LAPLAND LONGSPUR: The coolest of them all, in my opinion. Beautiful and awesome looking in any plumage.
BARNACLE GOOSE: I love this bird, the coolest of the geese for sure. We need one to show up in our area, it’s been a while (2012? I never caught up with that bird…).
RAZORBILL: While the Atlantic Puffin is cute and the other Alcids are all sharp looking birds, the Razorbill stands above as the coolest. I think it’s that large ridged bill with white lines.
NORTHERN SHRIKE: I would venture to guess this might be on a lot of birder’s list. A cute killer, how cool is that?
BUFF BREASTED SANDPIPER: I lose my mind when I see this bird.
Honorable Mention – BARN OWL: A wonderful combination of beautiful, elegant, and so rare for our area.
~BARNACLE GOOSE in Ramsey, NJ back in 2014.~~RAZORBILL last week at Manasquan Inlet.~~NORTHERN SHRIKE at the Grasslands, January 2017. One day I will get a good photo of this bird.~~Love this bird. BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER in the black dirt, September 2018.~ ~Honorable Mention: Barn Owl in Orange Count back in 2014.~
~Cackling Goose in the Black Dirt Region, 12/29/18.~
So, I seem to be ending the year on a high note. I picked up 2 additional Orange County birds for 2018 in the final week of the year: Eastern Screech Owl and Cackling Goose. I’ve been trying for a Cackling Goose for ages; most years I just happen upon one before too long but this year it took 363 days. This has been my most productive December in regards to OC birds – I’ve added 7 species to my county year list this month.
~One more shot of the Cackling Goose in the Black Dirt Region, 12/29/18.~
