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:
After work today, I walked both the Heritage Trail alongside 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary and also the trail off of Route 17M, which leads to the pond that is located to the south of the Heritage Trail. I did well with sparrows, seeing Song Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, and my best birds of the day, four White-crowned Sparrows. At the pond, shorebird numbers where down. I did not locate any yellowlegs and the dowitcher may have moved on. Still present were a half dozen Killdeer and a single Pectoral Sandpiper. Duck numbers seemed down a little bit too, but it was nice to see seven Northern Shovelers present. Here’s my list for the day:
6 1/2 Station Rd. Sanctuary, Orange, US-NY
Oct 24, 2013 4:15 PM – 5:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
24 species
Canada Goose 25
Mute Swan 2
Mallard 9
Northern Shoveler 7
Green-winged Teal 30
Great Blue Heron 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Killdeer 6
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Rock Pigeon 20
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 10
American Robin 2
European Starling 150
Savannah Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 12
Swamp Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 3
White-crowned Sparrow 4
Red-winged Blackbird 8
The amazing Rob Stone strikes again, locating a NELSON’S SPARROW earlier this week, on the trail near 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, just off Route17M. This is another first for Orange County. You can visit John Haas’ blog for photos and more details. In an effort to see and photograph the bird, I have spent the last three evenings searching. I had no luck at all on Wednesday. On Thursday I ran into fellow Mearns Bird Club members John and Mary (sorry, but I don’t know their last names). John successfully re-located the bird and got a good look at it. By the time I got to where he was, I could see the bird moving in the grasses but I did not get to see the bird. Ajit and Liza Antony showed up shorty after and we relocated what we presumed was the bird. Liza and I got a very brief look at the bird – enough for me to know that we were likely looking at the correct bird, but not enough for me to positively identify it. Tonight I tried my luck again but it was very windy, making it very difficult to see such a small bird moving in the grasses. I plan on giving it one more try tomorrow morning.
The birding was still very good without getting the Nelson’s Sparrow. In the pond at the end of the trail, shorebirds are still making a good showing, with one of the two Long-billed Dowitchers still present, as well as Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpipers. For waterfowl I had: Canada Geese, Mallards, Green-winged Teals, Blue-winged Teals, Mute Swans, and Northern Shovelers.
Tonight at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, the two Long-billed Dowitchers continue in the small pond to the south of the Heritage Trail. Additional shorebirds included 11 Lesser Yellowlegs and 4 Pectoral Sandpipers. I also enjoyed a decent showing of waterfowl with Canada Geese, Mallards, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, a single American Black Duck and a single Northern Pintail.
I also tried something new for me tonight: I wore camouflage. I’ve heard many photographers talk about how effective camouflage is for photographing wildlife, and tonight I experienced it for the first time. While shooting Yellow-rumped Warblers, I noticed that the birds seemed far less likely to flush. Also, while shooting the two Dowitchers, 10 Lesser Yellowlegs flew in and landed between myself and the Dowitchers – pretty darn close really. It’s only one outing, but it does appear to make a difference.
As of 5:30 this evening (10/5), the two Dowitchers at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary continue. The consensus is that these birds are in fact Long-billed Dowitchers. I sent John Haas over 20 photos last night and he re-located the birds this morning to get a look himself. John feels that these are Long-billed Dowitchers – see his comment in my original post about these birds and go to his blog to see his post. Both are interesting and informative – well worth clicking over to. I also posted on the NY Birders Facebook page and all comments have been supporting LBDO.
Between these two birds and the Black Scoters located by Bruce Nott, it has been great weekend of birding!
I had a pair of Dowitchers out at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary this evening, between 5:00 and 6:00. I do not know whether they were Long-billed or Short-billed. I did hear them call, and my immediate thought was Long-billed, but I am not familiar enough with the calls to make a positive ID. Please comment if you get these birds or if you have any thoughts on the ID. Thanks!
10/5/13 – Here a several more shots of the birds from various angles. 
Derby Hill Bird Observatory 3-30-13
Tricia and I spent the holiday weekend with her family in Baldwinsville New York, which is just outside of Syracuse. Shortly after we arrived on Saturday we took a family excursion to Derby Hill Bird Observatory, which is a good hawk watch for spring raptor migration. Turkey Vultures and Red-tail Hawks were the most numerous migrants, but we saw a good variety of migrating raptors. Highlights included a young Bald Eagle that flew over soon after our arrival, and a low flying Merlin that we saw while we were exploring the shore of Lake Ontario.
Turkey Vulture – many
Bald Eagle – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – many
Red-shouldered Hawk – 1
Cooper’s Hawk – 1
Northern Harrier – 1
Merlin – 1
Canada Goose – many
Snow Goose – many
Later that evening we had a large skein of Canada Geese, a large skein of Snow Geese, and a smaller group of swans fly over the house at the same time. I went running for my camera and managed a shot of the swans:
6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary
On Monday after work I stopped by 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary where it was pretty dead. I did not stay long as I was under-dressed for the cold; for some reason I thought it was much warmer out. Song Sparrow numbers were up, as were Green-winged Teal numbers, and the Ring-necked Ducks are still hanging around.
Wallkill River NWR
I met Karen Miller out at Wallkill River NWR after work on Tuesday. We walked the Liberty Loop, it was cold but very enjoyable. We put together a respectable species list and took a lot of photos. 
Canada Goose X
Mute Swan 2 (photo right)
Wood Duck 17
American Black Duck 2
Mallard X
Blue-winged Teal 4
Northern Pintail 8
Green-winged Teal 150
Great Blue Heron 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Killdeer 2
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1 (photo right)
American Crow X
Common Raven 1
Tree Swallow 3
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
American Robin 6
Song Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal 1
I stopped by my “home course” here in Goshen after work today like I often do. It was a gray cool afternoon with a moderate amount of bird activity. Turkey Vultures must be moving through pretty good right now, I’ve been seeing many on my daily commute and I had 11 at the sanctuary today. I also checked Hawkcount.org and saw that they had 555 Turkey Vultures go through the Derby Hill Hawk watch yesterday (I might make it out to Derby Hill this coming weekend, so I wanted to see what birds were passing through). Duck numbers and variety were down a little bit from last week. In all, I stopped by for just about an hour and I had 23 species:
Canada Goose 40
Mute Swan 2
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 2
Green-winged Teal 35
Ring-necked Duck 11
Common Merganser 10
Great Blue Heron 4
Turkey Vulture 11
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 2
Herring Gull 5
Mourning Dove 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Eastern Bluebird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Amer. Tree Sparrow 7
Song Sparrow 5
Red-winged Blackbird
I went out to the grasslands yesterday after work in response to a post to the Mearns Bird Club by Ken McDermott. A couple of days earlier, he had eight Short-eared Owls at 3:00 in the afternoon. I was thinking that I had seen my last SEOW of the season before I read the post, though I am not sure when they actually head north. I figured I would give it a try and see if I would get lucky. I did not have any luck with the owls, but it was still a good visit with an interesting combination of what I consider winter birds and spring birds. The Common Redpolls and Horned Larks are still lingering, but I also had Red-winged Blackbirds and my first of season Eastern Meadowlark:
Turkey Vulture 4
Northern Harrier 5
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Killdeer 3
Ring-billed Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 8
American Kestrel 1
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 10
Horned Lark 1
Eastern Bluebird 3
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 1
Common Redpoll 25
Today I did my usual brief visit to 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, where things were a little less birdy than my last visit, but I still had a good list:
Canada Goose 30
Mute Swan 2
American Black Duck 2
Green-winged Teal 15
Ring-necked Duck 8
Common Merganser 1
Turkey Vulture 2
Northern Harrier 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Ring-billed Gull 23
Rock Pigeon 2
American Kestrel 1
American Crow 6
Song Sparrow 3
I haven’t been feeling well and actually went to the doctor’s today. On my way back I made a short but, oh so sweet, stop at 6 1/2 Station Road. During my brief visit, I identified 17 species in addition to the adult Bald Eagle pictured above. A nice variety of waterfowl make up exactly half of my list:
Canada Goose 27
Mute Swan 2
American Wigeon 3
American Black Duck 3
Mallard 2
Ring-necked Duck 11
Bufflehead 1
Hooded Merganser 1
Common Merganser 5
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 4
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Ring-billed Gull 3
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 6
European Starling 8
Song Sparrow 2
