QUICK POST: Here are a few shots from this morning when I walked Liberty Lane and part of Winding Waters Trail at the Walllkill River National Wildlife Refuge. It was an unremarkable morning bird-wise. There were enough birds around to keep me entertained (mostly sparrows, of which I had 5 species: Song, White-throated, White-crowned, Swamp, and Field), but I mostly just enjoyed a walk in the cool crisp weather.
QUICK POST: I birded Wickham Woodlands Town Park once again this morning, and it was quite birdy. I walked for over two hours and had 37 species for the morning. I had all six of the expected woodpeckers for our area; I was especially happy to see and get a shot of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Sparrows were not numerous, but I did get 2 White-crowned, 4 White-throated, and 1 Lincoln’s Sparrow. Other highlights included more Yellow-rumped Warblers than I could possibly count, a single Palm Warbler, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, and both kinglets. The Golden-crowned Kinglet was the first I’ve had this year, making it my 190th Orange County bird for the year, which is four more than I had all of last year.
Well okay, maybe it wasn’t THAT big, but I did do pretty well photographing passerines today. I walked the Liberty Loop at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge early this morning, and the birds just seemed to make themselves a little more available than they have lately, particularly two birds that I never seem to get a good shot of: Yellow-throated Vireo and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Additionally, the early morning light was nice for photos and I seemed to catch most birds in full or nearly full light on a nice dark background, which is a look I personally like. It was a nice walk with over 50 species seen or heard; I will include a species list at the bottom of this post. As usual, I was curious to see if any new shorebirds had moved in – I was happy to see at least one of the Semipalmated Plovers that Kyle Dudgeon had let me know about earlier this week was still around – that was my first of the season. Other than that, no new shorebirds to report, in fact numbers and variety of shorebirds both seemed to down; I did not located any Greater Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, nor Pectoral Sandpipers. Most the shorebirds were located in the back pond of the loop and in the WAY back of that pond, to boot. I did have one Lesser Yellowlegs just to the left of the viewing platform, where water levels have dropped a bit, so that was nice.
Here’s my list for the morning:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Wood Duck
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood Peewee
Unidentified Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Am. Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Am. Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Am. Goldfinch
Recently, I was looking over my 2015 list of Orange County birds and noticed it was lacking a couple of birds that figured I would have seen in the county before now – Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark. With that in mind, Monday after work I headed over to Knapp’s View in the town of Chester, a spot where I have never birded but heard both birds could be seen. I did very well with Bobolinks, with plenty being seen and they were close enough for some decent photos. I walked the mowed trails, but did not have any luck with Eastern Meadowlarks, so I decided to head Upper Wisner Road in Warwick where I’ve seen them in the past. Not long after my arrival, as I scanned I found a single meadowlark perched in the distance. Too far for photos, but still nice to get the bird. Before leaving, I had a nice photo opportunity with a Northern Mockingbird, a bird that I have not photographed in quite some time.
After getting so close to seeing the Yellow-breasted Chat this morning near the Canal Road bike path in Vernon Township, New Jersey, I had try again this afternoon while the rain had stopped for a little while. I guess third time’s a charm and I finally got lucky, getting to see the bird this time. It was a brief glimpse at first, but eventually I got several good looks and some photos too. The best part is that at some point I realized that there were definitely two chats present, just as Marianne and I were suspecting on Friday afternoon. First, I had both calling simultaneously from two sides of an open area to the left the trail. Then, I was looking at one bird while the second was calling from behind me! It was very exciting! Kyle Dudgeon eventually joined me and picked up an easy lifer YBCH; we got on one of the birds just moments after he arrived! Good birding!
On Thursday evening, I received word from Marianne Ofenloch that she had a Yellow-breasted Chat along the Appalachian Trail, off the Canal Road bike path in Vernon Township, New Jersey. I tried for the bird on Friday after work and ran into Marianne while I was there. The bird was heard for sure, and we were actually contemplating the possibility of there being two chats; there seemed to be one calling from either side of the trail, but the calls were never close enough together to be 100% sure there were two birds rather than the one moving around. Since I never got a look at that bird, I went back this morning to try for it again, in spite of the steady rain that was falling. Once again the bird was heard but not seen. At a couple of points, I could hear the bird, no more than 25 feet in front of me, but it stayed hidden from view! This is what I should have expected from a chat; I should have known it would not be as easy as when I went to Hopeland Sanctuary in Staatsburg for my lifer YBCH. On Friday morning, while I was working (poor me, ha ha!), Linda Scrima and Maria Loukeris went for the chat and had great success, as witnessed by the super photograph of the bird at the top of this post, provided by Linda.
It’s worth mentioning that this is a really good birding spot. In my two visits this weekend I had a total of 41 different species. The trail has a very wild and lush feel to it, but with enough open spaces to allow for good bird viewing and photographing. I am putting it on my list of places to frequent. Highlights included a pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoos that I was just a little slow on the draw for photos, a Scarlet Tanager family which included a young Brown-headed Cowbird, and Blue-winged Warblers. I should also mention that on Thursday Marianne also had a Golden-winged Warbler there.
QUICK POST: Yesterday evening I finally caught up with the Blue Grosbeak that was reported out at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge (it was my third try in two days). Tonight I went back and managed to get some post-able photos of the bird (I was brain dead last night and blew a pretty good opportunity by not having my camera on the right settings). I’ve included a couple additional shots that I took along the way while out at the refuge.
Well, it was another busy week; I thought for sure I would have gotten this post together well before now. I spent last weekend in the Lake Placid/Saranac Lake area of the Adirondacks. My main goal was to photograph Common Loons, but I also spent a good amount of time birding some of the hotspots of the area. Early Saturday morning I went to Whiteface Mountain’s Veterans’ Memorial Highway, hoping for my lifer Bicknell’s Thrush. After a little bit of a setback (the toll to access VMH doesn’t open until 8:45 am), I had a really enjoyable morning. I had never been up there before, the views were amazing and after parking the car, there is a short, but exciting hike to the peak. It was great to see (and hear!) the many Dark-eyed Juncos that were present. White-throated Sparrows were heard often and Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen and heard. I heard the Bicknell’s Thrush in four different locations, but disappointingly, I did not see any. I guess this is a bird that will have to wait for another time for me. I would not leave the mountain totally disappointed however. As I worked my way back down, pulling over often to bird, I finally got my lifer YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. I don’t think this should be difficult bird to get in this area, but when I was last here (2 years ago), I missed out completely.
Later in the morning, I headed over to Bloomingdale Bog to walk the trail there. I had three main target birds – Gray Jay, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Boreal Chickadee. Gray Jays are usually very easy to get here; there is actually a feeder station on the trail where they can usually be found, but on this day there were none to be seen. I eventually saw one young Gray Jay further down the trail (a fleeting look, no photos), but struck out on my other two targets. Alder Flycatchers (FREE BEER!) were easily seen and heard on the trail, and my best bird outside of the Gray Jay was a Nashville Warbler that I saw 100 yards from he trail head as I was heading back to my car. I then headed over to Bigelow Road, but by then it was the heat of the afternoon and it was not very birdy at all.
On Sunday morning, I headed back to Bloomingdale Bog, this time starting from the south end of the trail. It was here that I finally got a Black-backed Woodpecker (unfortunately, it was a very distant look). Other highlights included Least Flycatchers right at the trailhead, and hearing a male Ruffed Grouse do its drumming display several times, which was very exciting. A Boreal Chickadee had been reported at this location just a few days earlier, so I was really hoping for one, but it was not to be.
I met up with Kyle Dudgeon today after work and we hit a couple of spots. Our first stop was the Appalachian Trail – Pochuck Creek Boardwalk, which was pretty much a bust. Swamp Sparrows were heard but only seen at a distance. Marsh Wrens were heard but not seen. We had distant looks at Wood Ducks and a Great Blue Heron that flew over a couple of times.
So, from there we headed over to the Appalachian Trail on Route 94 in Vernon Township. The first half a mile of this trail is a good spot for Grasshopper Sparrows, Prairie Warblers, and Field Sparrows. We did well with all three, getting very good looks in nice light. I don’t think this is a great spot to see a large variety of species (we had just over 10 tonight), but you can certainly get good looks at a few.
All twitches should be this easy! Actually it would probably get boring if they were all this easy, but this morning I was more than happy to have an easy time finding the YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT which had been initially located by Steve Bauer and reported by many. I got up very early and headed north towards Hopeland Sanctuary in Staatsburg, NY. It was raining pretty good as I left, and I was beginning to think it was a mistake to try and fit this into my busy day. When I arrived, it was cloudy and gray, but rain-free. I did not have any details about the bird or the sanctuary, I was figuring that there might be some other birders present to point me in the right direction, but unfortunately this was not the case, so I parked and headed up the trail. About 100 yards in, the trail split, the Hopeland Trail continued straight and the Huntington Trail went off to the right. I’m not sure why I took the Huntington Trail, but I did, and a couple hundred yards later I heard and saw the bird, perched out in the open! I watched and photographed as the bird moved around in the brush on the right hand side of the trail, more often out of sight than in sight, but calling nearly non-stop. I took photos whenever the bird did come out in the open, the light was low so the shots are a noisy, but I am so thrilled to get any chat photos at all! This was as different as can be from my Yellow-breasted Chat FAIL from last spring! This was a life bird for me (#341), and an exciting one at that!
