I like the little tilt of the head of the bird in this photo. Short-eared Owl at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/14/14.
I had a full day of birding today, but the best was saved for last. Huge thanks to PJ Singh who texted me to let me know that there was a single Short-eared Owl up early at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR. I was over in Newburgh picking up a couple of birds I needed for the county (Great Black-backed Gull and Great Cormorant), and I was not going to go to the grasslands. It had been gray and cloudy all day which would not make for good photos, and the owls had not been up early yet this year as far as I knew. I decided to head over to check it out and boy am I glad I did. Sun came out and the so did the SEOWs, right before 3:30. I was lucky enough to get into the south blind and that’s where the birds seemed to spend most of their time tonight. PJ joined me in the blind shortly after the owls got up and wow did they put on a show! I approximate at least 10 Short-eared Owls were there, but it is tough to get a good count while photographing. What an exciting afternoon!
Short-eared Owl in flight at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/14/14. This is my favorite shot of the day, I love how both the bird and the grasses are well lit on a dark background. SEOW at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/14/14.SEOW at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/14/14. This stick was a favorite perch of the Short-eared Owls, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 12/14/14.This shot was taken as the sun started to get lower, SEOW at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/14/14. Ralph put this perch in the perfect position, directly in front of the blind, and the owls love it. Perched Short-eared Owl at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/14/14.
A backlit light morph Rough-legged Hawk at the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge, 12/7/14.
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One thing I knew I wanted to do this weekend was to try to get out to the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR. When Ken McDermott let me know on Friday evening that he had a Northern Shrike there that day, I knew for sure that’s where I was headed. Saturday was, unfortunately, a wash. Steady rains all day made for poor birding, though it was not for lack of trying. I went to the grasslands early in the day where I met up with John Haas and Ralph Tabor and we had no luck with the shrike. Sunday was a different story; it was a beautiful, sunny, cold, and crisp day which was very refreshing. No luck again with the Northern Shrike, but I did REALLY well with raptors. I spent a few hours in the morning in the new blind that Ralph placed pretty far into the eastern most portion of the refuge. The blind is well placed with several nearby trees for the birds to perch on, and it is in an area where the Rough-legged Hawks seem to spend a lot of time. By the time I headed back to my car in the early afternoon, I had put together what I consider a pretty good list of raptors:
Black Vulture (3)
Turkey Vulture (4)
Bald Eagle (2 adults)
Northern Harrier (4)
Red-tailed Hawk (5)
Rough-legged Hawk (5 – at least!)
American Kestrel (1)
Peregrine Falcon (1)
And, being in a blind, I had some very good opportunities for photos:
This male American Kestrel could be seen working the grasslands all morning long, and then luckily stopped to perch in the tree right in front of the blind. Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.American Kestrel in flight, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.xDark morph Rough-legged Hawk in flight over the blind at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.This is the same bird pictured above, as it came in to perch. RLHA at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.VERY distant shot of a Pergrine Falcon that seemed to just pass through. Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.
In the parking lot of the refuge I ran into PJ Singh who decided to join me in looking for some waterfowl. At our first stop, Lippincott Road in Wallkill, we saw a half dozen Common Mergansers, but that’s it. We did much better at our second stop, Chadwick Lake. The highlight for me was five Common Goldeneyes, and we also had: Ruddy Duck (9), Ring-necked Duck (35), Hooded Merganser (6), Common Loon (1), and a single Mute Swan.
Ruddy Duck at Chadwick Lake, 12/7/14. This is one of the few that were not tucked in.xThree of five Common Goldeneye at Chadwick Lake, 12/7/14.
Since it was such a gorgeous afternoon, I returned to the grasslands in the afternoon to try for photos of the Short-eared Owls. The light was a good as it could be, but unfortunately the owls did not cooperate and did not get up until after dark. It was tough to see, but when they did come up I counted at least three. I sat in the north blind until it was too dark for photos and did alright with Northern Harriers:
The harriers seem to be eating well at the grasslands. Many of the birds I photographed had full crops like this bird. Northern Harrier at Shawangunk Grasslands, 12/7/14.NOHA at the grasslands, 12/7/14.Here’s another bird with a pretty full crop. Northern Harrier hunting at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.And finally, the deer are plentiful at the refuge.
Rough-legged Hawk through the branches at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 12/7/14.
QUICK POST: I birded from sunrise to sunset on this Sunday; the weather was perfect, I saw many good birds, and took a ton of photographs. I do not have time to complete a full post tonight, so here is the first bird I photographed this morning, taken from my car as I pulled into the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge. Full post tomorrow!
One final Turkey Vulture photo, Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 11/15/14.
Today was my final day of the season at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, and it ended up being a really good one. It was a sunny, cool, and crisp day with very few clouds in the sky (which makes it difficult to locate birds). I had one major goal for the day: to surpass 9,000 birds for the season at the watch. We started the day needing 60 migrating raptors to reach this goal. We were successful, thanks to the help of fellow counters Ken Witkowski, Ajit Antony, Denise Ferrel, and Judy Cinquina and once again the young eyes of Kyle Dudgeon. By the end of the day, we had counted 71 birds moving through, which put our total for the season at 9,012 migrating raptors. I was, of course, also hoping for a Golden Eagle or a Northern Goshawk, but both eluded me for this season. It was a tough day for photos, but here is a distant shot of one the adult Bald Eagles that we saw today.
A distant look at an Adult Bald Eagle in a cloudless sky. This bird headed north and was not counted, Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 11/15/14.
Total: 71 889 9012
———————————————————————-
Start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter Matt Zeitler
Observers: Ajit I. Antony, Denise Farrell, Judith C. Cinquina, Ken Witkowski
Visitors:
Kyle Dudgeon, Bobby Kerr, and Liza Antony.
Weather:
Sunny and cold with very few clouds. Winds out of the NW at 10-15 km/hour. Temperatures ranged from -2 to 2 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
Two migrating Bald Eagles, one adult and one immature. An additional adult was observed heading NNE.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other Species: Common Loon (7), American Goldfinch (25), Black-capped Chickadees (4), American Robin (37), Ring-billed Gull (12), Canada Goose (22), Pine Siskin (60), American Crow (22), Eastern Bluebird (6), Common Raven (3), and Cedar Waxwing (15).
A migrating Red-tailed Hawk at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 11/08/14.
I had a nice day at Mt. Pete today. The weather was nice – sunny, crisp, and cool without being too cold, and I had enough birds flying to keep it interesting. Thanks to Kyle Dudgeon and Bobby Kerr (whose young eyes helped to locate many birds), and also to Rob Stone and Ajit and Liza Antony for their help. Here’s my report for the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2014
——————————————————————-
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Ajit I. Antony, Rob Stone
Visitors:
Liza Antony, Kyle Dudgeon and Bobby Kerr.
Weather:
Sunny and cool with some clouds. Temperatures ranged from 1 to 8 degrees
Celsius, with moderate winds from the southwest.
Raptor Observations:
One immature and one unknown Northern Harrier.
Three adult, two immature, and three unknown Red-shouldered Hawks.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other Species: Ring-billed Gull (15), Canada Goose (17), Dark-eyed Junco
(2), White-breasted Nuthatch (2), American Robin (22), American Goldfinch
(2), Common Raven (2), American Crow (12), Blue Jay (8), Tufted Titmouse
(4), Eastern Bluebird (1), Rock Pigeon (1).
The always obligatory Turkey Vulture shot. Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 11/08/14. Not the greatest shot, but a migrating Sharp-shinned Hawk passes on the west side of the viewing platform. Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 11/08/14.
On Friday evening I hit the Black Dirt Region and tried again with the American Pipits:
I’m kind of liking these birds – American Pipit in the Black Dirt Region, Orange County NY, 11/0714.
A local Peregrine cruises by, State Line Hawk Watch, 11/4/14.
I was on the road for work today and I was passing near State Line Hawk Watch right around lunch, so I stopped in. The raptors were certainly flying; I was there for less than a half hour and I saw: Turkey Vulture (8), Black Vulture (2), Peregrine Falcon (2), Red-tailed Hawk (4), Sharp-shinned Hawk (2), and a single Merlin. Not too shabby for some unexpected birding!
A Red-tailed Hawk at eye level. State Line Hawk Watch, 11/4/14.This is a very typical view at the watch – looking down at the birds. Peregrine Falcon at State Line Hawk Watch, 11/4/14.I believe that this is the local female Peregrine Falcon, at the “perch”. State Line Hawk Watch, 11/4/14.
Right before sunset, I was in the Black Dirt Region and I finally got a half way decent shot of an American Pipit (which are plentiful in the area right now).
A slightly better shot of the Cattle Egret in flight, Warwick, NY 11/1/14.
This morning before heading over to Mount Peter for the Hawk Watch, I stopped in Warwick to look for the Cattle Egret but could not locate it. I figured that the bird had certainly moved on. I continued to Mt. Pete, and just as I started to unpack my gear I got a call from Karen Miller, who had relocated the bird. I whizzed down and joined Karen, but the bird flew before I had my camera ready, so once again I only got flight shots of the bird. Karen, on the other hand, got some fabulous shots of the bird perched. Huge thanks to Karen for the heads up, and for the photos that she emailed to me for this post:
Cattle Egret in Warwick NY, 11/1/14. Photo by Karen C Miller.I think this bird has a lot of character. Cattle Egret in Warwick NY, 11/01/14. Photo by Karen C Miller.
I headed back up the mountain and counted hawks. It was cold, gray, and I did just alright with migrating raptors, with 63 for the day. Thanks to PJ Singh and Maria Loukeris for their visits, which really helped on a day like today. Here is my report for the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2014
——————————————————————-
Species Day’s Count / Month Total / Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 5 5 134
Turkey Vulture 24 24 361
Osprey 0 0 110
Bald Eagle 0 0 68
Northern Harrier 1 1 37
Sharp-shinned Hk 3 3 1079
Cooper’s Hawk 0 0 99
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hk 6 6 78
Broad-winged Hk 0 0 5685
Red-tailed Hawk 19 19 229
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 3
American Kestrel 0 0 134
Merlin 0 0 22
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 11
Total: 63 63 8110
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 15:45:00
Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers:
Visitors:
PJ Singh, Maria Loukeris
Weather:
Cloudy and cool with the temperature hovering right around 5 degrees
Celsius all day. Winds were over 10 km/hr for the duration of the watch.
Rain caused the watch to start one hour late and end fifteen minutes early.
Raptor Observations:
Four unknown Red-shouldered Hawks, one adult Red-shouldered Hawk, one
immature Red-shouldered Hawk, and one unknown Northern Harrier. The heavy
cloud cover and low light made it challenging to locate and identify
migrating raptors.
One of the resident Peregrine Falcons at State Line Hawk Watch, 10/26/14.
I made it out to two Hawk Watches this weekend. On Saturday, I was of course up on Mount Peter, where I was the official counter. After a slow start with very blue skies (which makes it hard to locate the birds), I ended up having my second consecutive good Saturday. For the day we totaled 125 migrating raptors, with the most numerous being, once again, Sharp-shinned Hawks (43). Huge thanks to Judy Cinquina, Bill O’Keefe, Scot Marchal, and Rob Pirie (who located both Bald Eagles for the day). I have no idea how many birds would have been missed without their help up there.
At Mount Peter on Saturday, the photo opportunities were not numerous, but the Turkey Vultures always show up. Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 10/25/14.
Here is my report from the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2014
——————————————————————-
Observers: Bill O’Keefe, Judith C. Cinquina, Scot Marchal
Visitors:
Joe + Linda Prunier, Marc Lebidois, Rob Pirie, Kyle Dudgeon, Herb Houghton,
and Terry Anne.
Weather:
Sunny and cool with temperatures ranging from 7 to 17 degrees Celsius. Wind
was from the west at approximately 10 km/hr. A cloudless sky early and late
in the watch made it difficult to locate migrating birds.
Raptor Observations:
One adult Bald Eagle and one immature Bald Eagle were observed migrating
during the watch.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other Species: Dark-eyed Junco (12), American Crow (26), Common Loon (3),
Blue Jay (9), Canada Goose (188), American Robin (47), Common Raven (2),
Tufted Titmouse (3), Black-capped Chickadee (5), Pine Siskin (75), Purple
Finch (4), Ring-billed Gull (3), Rock Pigeon (1)
A perched Peregrine Falcon at State Line Hawk Watch, 10/26/14.
I spent Saturday night and Sunday morning on Long Island visiting family. On the spur of the moment, on my way back I decided to stop at State Line Hawk Watch. I have wanted to get out there for a while, after seeing many photos online and hearing about how you look down at many of the migrating raptors and that there are resident Peregrine Falcons that offer decent photo opportunities. Having spent 8 hours identifying and counting hawks the day before, my interests were more about getting some photos and getting a different look at the raptors, from the top, such as this Black Vulture:
A Black Vulture flies over the Hudson River, well below the lookout. State Line Hawk Watch, 10/26/14.
As of this posting, the report for State Line had not gone through. While I was there, they had a relatively steady stream of Sharp-shinned Hawks, and I heard mention of a Golden Eagle earlier in the day. I will post their numbers from the day when I can get them. All in all, a good weekend to watch, count, and photograph raptors – very enjoyable!
Update: Here is the count for Sunday at State Line Hawk Watch –
BV TV OS BE NH SS CH NG RS BW RT RL GE AK ML PG UA UB UF UE UR Total
One of 7 Cooper’s Hawks, migrating past Mount Peter Hawk Watch, 10/18/14.
At long last, I finally had a good day at the hawk watch. I got my first migrating raptor before I even had a chance to unpack my gear as I arrived at the platform. Things stayed pretty steady for the rest of the day and in the end, I counted 109 migrating raptors. Thanks to Rob Stone and Rob Pirie (who I met for the first time today) for their help counting. Here’s my report from the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 18, 2014
——————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Rob Stone
Visitors:
Rob Pirie, Rob Stone, Anthony Stone, Kyle Dudgeon, and James & Darlene
Mussi.
Weather:
Cloudy and cool with W winds at approximately 20 km/hr. Temperatures ranged
from 12 to 18 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
Migrating raptors included: (1) Adult Bald Eagle, (1) Male Northern
Harrier, (5) Unknown American Kestrels, and (1) Female American Kestrel.
Non-migrating raptors included (4) Red-tailed Hawks, many Turkey and Black
Vultures, and a Peregrine Falcon which was seen several times to the north
of the platform but was not seen moving through.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other Species: Blue Jay (112), Tufted Titmouse (4), Black-capped Chickadee
(6), Palm Warbler (1), Canada Goose (84), American Goldfinch (24), Rock
Pigeon (4), American Robin (2), American Crow (23), Red-bellied Woodpecker
(2), Pileated Woodpecker (1), Downy Woodpecker (1), Northern Flicker (1),
Common Raven (2), and Monarch Butterfly (18)
One of 3 migrating Osprey at Mount Peter Hawk Watch, 10/18/14.Highlight of the day for me: FIVE migrating Merlins. These birds just cruise past the watch, so awesome! Mount Peter Hawk Watch, 10/18/14.
It’s not much of a photo, but here are five of the 336 migrating Broad-winged Hawks at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 9/13/14.
I did my first shift of the year as counter at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch last Saturday. I didn’t do a blog post because it was uneventful – I counted only 5 migrating hawks in 6 hours of observation. Today was quite a different story. Despite the cloudy and drizzly weather, I surpassed last week’s total in the first 10 minutes of the watch. The highlight was the third hour of the watch, when I had 301 Broad-winged Hawks pass through. To make it even better, the birds were flying relatively low and could be seen easily with the naked eye. I had two large kettles – one with 126 BWHAs and the other with 105. I was so involved with trying to get a good count that I neglected to take any photos. I had one more sizable kettle of 49 birds where I remembered to get the above photo. My total for the day was 337 migrating raptors. All were Broad-winged Hawks with the exception of a single Osprey. Here’s my report, as submitted to HMANA at hawkcount.org:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 13, 2014
——————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 13:30:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Carol Linguanti
Visitors:
Visitors included: Karen Miller, Carol Linguanti, Carol Pastushok, and
Grace Woleslagle.
Weather:
Cool and cloudy with a light drizzle beginning in the third hour of the
watch and developing into rain on and off during the last hour and a half
of the watch. Winds were from the East at 10 km/hr and temperatures ranged
from 12 to 15 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
During the third hour of the watch, 301 Broad-winged Hawks were observed.
Kettles formed to the northeast of the platform and most birds flew
directly over the viewing platform – low for Broad-winged Hawks, all could
be seen easily with the naked eye.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other bird species observed: Northern Cardinal (2), Black-capped Chickadee
(5), Tufted Titmouse (2), Downy Woodpecker (2), American Crow (4), Canada
Goose (3), American Goldfinch (3), Pileated Woodpecker (1), Blue Jay (4),
Chimney Swift (5), Gray Catbird (1), Red-bellied Woodpecker (2),
Black-and-white Warbler (1)
