Songbirds – Page 2 – Orange Birding

Black Rock Forest, 06/08/24

Early June of 2018, I found my first (and only!) Ruffed Grouse in Orange County at Black Rock Forest, not far from Jupiter’s Boulder. Ever since then, I have gone back to that location at this time of the year in hopes of seeing another. Unfortunately, today’s hike did not produce any grouse, but I did have a excellent morning. It was cool and comfortable walk with plenty of birds. Highlights included my FOY (first of year) Acadian Flycatcher and Black-throated Blue Warblers. I watched a Red-tailed Hawk and a Broad-winged Hawk get into a tangle over Sutherland Pond. Ovenbird was the bird of the day – they seemed to be everywhere. My best observation, however, was not bird related. I got a fantastic look at beautiful Black Bear through some thick vegetation (which prevented photos). It was some really enjoyable summer-type birding and by the time I got back to my car, I had tallied 37 bird species.

~There were absolutely loads of Ovenbirds at Black Rock Forest this morning, 06/08/24.~

~One more Louisiana Waterthrush shot, Black Rock Forest 06/08/24.~

Sunday Shots, 05/19/24

As opposed to last weekend (when I added over 30 species to my Orange County year list), this weekend I added just a handful of new species. But! Also as unlike last week, this week I was able to get some photos of songbirds. I birded at several locations this weekend – Laurel Grove Cemetery, Elks Brox Park, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, & Sterling Forest. It was an enjoyable weekend for me; all the locations were active with many birds, the weather was good, and I was able to get some decent photos of some of the beautiful songbirds which have recently returned to our area.

~Blue-winged Warbler at Sterling Forest State Park, 05/19/24.~

~A Prairie Warbler belting it out. Sterling Forest, 05/19/24.~

~Black-capped Chickadee at Elks Brox Memorial Park, 05/18/24.~

~A female Scarlet Tanager at Elks Brox, 05/18/24.~

A Good Morning, 03/24/24

After a bleak and rainy Saturday that broke my “bad weather = good birding” rule in convincing fashion, I enjoyed a lovely, crisp, cold, and sunny Sunday morning of productive birding. I ran into Kyle Knapp at Lower Wisner Road, where we easily found my first Rusty Blackbirds of 2024; they were feeding with a small flock of American Robins out in a field. The Brown Thrasher that Kyle found skulking in some nearby hedges was an excellent bonus bird. Brown Thrasher is not a bird I see very often, so it was good to get one so early in the year.

~Brown Thrasher, Lower Wisner Road in Warwick, 03/24/24.~

~One of four Eastern Bluebirds on Lower Wisner Road, 03/24/24. I don’t know if it was the light, or what, but these birds were just spectacularly blue; just gorgeous.

Afterwards, I headed out to the black dirt to see what I could find. I was finally able to track down some Wilson’s Snipe – they were in an odd location to me – out in a field on Skinners Lane, loosely associating with nearly a dozen Killdeer. Later, at The Camel Farm, I was able to find my first American Pipits of the year; a trio of birds working around some of distant puddles out in the field.

~Three of four Wilson’s Snipe in the black dirt this morning, 03/24/24. The birds were a little bit distant, but still really good to see them.~

~Here’s a bird that I don’t see all that often, and I haven’t photographed in ages. American Tree Sparrow in the black dirt, 03/24/24.~

~One moe Eastern Bluebird shot, Lower Winsner Road 03/24/24.~

Birding Around the County, 03/16/24

I was up super early this morning, so I was able to enjoy one of my favorite things – the Black Dirt Region at sunrise. I was hoping I might catch a glimpse of a Coyote at that hour, but it wasn’t to be. I was, however, rewarded by finding and photographing three Lapland Longspurs just after sunrise. It’s been several weeks since I’ve found any LALOs, so it was good to catch up with those birds. Unfortunately, not long after seeing the longspurs, I found a recently deceased Short-eared Owl. The field where I found the bird had been recently cleared; sadly it appeared to me that the bird had been killed by a run-in with some farm machinery.

~Red-tailed Hawk perched on a limp wind sock at sunrise in the black dirt, 03/16/24.~

~One of three Lapland Longspurs in the black dirt on 03/16/24.~

Later in the morning, I checked some of the lakes in southern Orange County. I didn’t find much, but I was happy to find a Common Loon at Wickham Lake in beautiful plumage:

~Common Loon at Wickham Lake, 03/16/24.~

My final destination on this Saturday was the Hudson River near Newburgh. The big excitement for me was finding a single Lesser Black-backed Gull on the sandbar in Cornwall Bay. Also of note was a trio of Red-breasted Mergansers. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Great Cormorants which have been in the area recently.

~Lesser Black-backed Gull waaaaay out there. It’s the bird on the far right. I kind of like having the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge in the background for this shot. Cornwall Bay, 03/16/24.~

Sunday Shots, 09/17/23

Hawkwatch was the main attraction for me this weekend, but I did enjoy some of my first migrating song birds of the season as well. I had a Magnolia Warble in my backyard on Thursday afternoon. I had a brief visit from a pair of Cape May Warblers at Mt. Peter yesterday. And this morning the black dirt was loaded with Savannah Sparrows. I also had short but enjoyable flurry of songbirds in the black dirt. Highlights included several Palm Warblers, a Black-throated Green Warbler, a couple of Ruby Crowned Kinglets, and a Least Flycatcher. Shorebirds were scarce, but I did locate one American Golden Plover in the corn stubble on Onion Avenue, a spot where I’ve not had many shorebirds over the years.

~Magnolia Warbler in my backyard, 09/14/23.~

~Savannah Sparrow in the Black Dirt, 09/17/23.~

~Roadside Savannah Sparrow in the Black Dirt Region, 09/17/23.~

The Berkshires, 2023

Tricia and I spent the weekend up in The Berkshires to celebrate our anniversary. While birding was not the focus of the weekend, I did get out early both days. I chose my locations with a single target species, the elusive Ruffed Grouse. I’ll kill the suspense now and say I did not have any success with my target. But, I birded a couple of interesting spots.

On Saturday I went to Savoy Mountain State Forest, where I hiked just under 4 miles. I had mostly the usuals, but with some interesting highlights: I got excellent looks (but no photos) of a Canada Warbler, there was also a very accommodating Alder Flycatcher (a species I don’t recall ever photographing previously), and I also had a Red Crossbill fly overhead, calling as it went.

~Alder Flycatcher at Savoy Mountain State Forest, 08/05/23.~

This morning I followed up on an eBird report of a Ruffed Grouse at Bridges Pond in Williamtown, MA. The birding was uneventful, but the spot was interesting only because most of the trail ran right alongside railroad tracks, so I took the opportunity to be a little creative with my photos.

~Mourning Dove on the railroad tracks at Bridges Pond, Williamstown MA, 08/06/23.~

~Chipmunk on a stack of railroad ties at Bridges Pond, 08/06/23.~

~Common Yellowthroat fledgling, Savoy Mountain State Forest, 08/05/23.~

Black Rock Forest, 06/10/23

It was five years ago today that I finally got my first Ruffed Grouse in Orange County. The location was at Jupiter’s Boulder in Black Rock Forest, so I headed there first thing this morning, hoping to finally get lucky again. Unfortunately, I had no luck with the grouse, but it was a beautiful and birdy hike. I enjoyed a couple of my favorite summer birds – Acadian Flycatcher and Yellow-throated Vireo. Another highlight was a low flyover of a Broad-winged Hawk while I ate my snack and drank some water right beside Jupiter’s Boulder. I completed my hike with 28 species observed, which I was pretty happy with.

~Broad-winged Hawk at Black Rock Forest, 06/10/23.~

~One more of the ACFL at Black Rock Forest, 06/10/23.~

Sunday Shots, 05/14/23

I was up early both morning this weekend, focused on catching up on some of the songbirds that have moved into our area. I didn’t find nearly as many warblers as I’d hoped, but with some decent yard birding, I added a total of 15 species to my Orange County 2023 list this week. On Saturday morning I birded Cedar Hill Cemetery (just north of Newburgh), and then went to Kendridge Farm. On Sunday I went to Port Jervis and birded Laurel Grove Cemetery and Elks Brox Memorial park.

~Baltimore Oriole at Kendridge Farm, 05/13/23. I’ve seen and heard more BAORs this year than I can ever remember before.

Here’s a list of the birds I added to my OC list this week:

Baltimore Oriole, 05/08/23, my yard
Great Crested Flycatcher, 05/09/23, my yard
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 05/12/23, my yard
Red-eyed Vireo, 05/13/23, Cedar Hill Cemetery
Eastern Wood-Pewee, 05/13/23, Cedar Hill Cemetery
Magnolia Warbler, 05/13/23, Kendridge Farm
Blue-winged Warbler, 05/13/23, Kendridge Farm
Green Heron, 05/13/23, Kendridge Farm
Common Nighthawk, 05/13/23, my yard
Pine Warbler, 05/14/23, Laurel Grove Cemetery
Scarlett Tanager, 05/14/23, Elks Brox Park
Prairie Warbler, 05/14/23, Elks Brox Park
Blackpoll Warbler, 05/14/23, Elks Brox Park
Northern Parula, 05/14/23, Elks Brox Park
Common Gallinule, 05/14/23, Liberty Loop

~Northern Mockingbird at Cedar Hill Cemetery, 05/13/23.~

Tricia and I are heading to Ireland for vacation at the end of this coming week, so unless something really interesting happens this week, this will be my last post for a couple of weeks. I look forward to sharing my experiences in Ireland when I get back; this time I am planning to get back to the Cliffs of Moher, so that will be exciting.

~A Red-tailed Hawk peers down from one of the buildings at Kendridge Farm, 05/13/23.~

~I had to include at least one warbler photo, even if it’s not a great shot. Blue-winged Warbler at Kendridge Farm, 05/13/23.~

~Female Red-winged Blackbird in the black dirt, 05/13/23.~

Sunday Shots, 03/12/23

After photographing Northern Harriers at the grasslands on Saturday morning, the rest of the weekend was pretty much the usuals. I did see my first Tree Swallows of the year – at two locations – Wisner Avenue on Sunday and the grasslands on Saturday. There are plenty of ducks around, but I didn’t find anything new for the year. I visited the Hudson River and several lakes over the 2 days: Wickham, Greenwood, Walton, Round, Orange, and Brown’s Pond. I also spent time on both Saturday and Sunday looking through flocks of Horned Larks hoping for Lapland Longspurs. I feel like I’m normally pretty lucky when it comes to finding LALOs, but this weekend it was not in the cards. It’s too bad too, because it’s nearly mid March, and I imagine they might be in some impressive plumage.

~For a bird that we see and hear so often, I don’t often get good opportunities to photograph Northern Cardinals. This one was near the feeder station at the Grasslands, 03/11/23.~

~Always a good subject in my opinion, Northern Mockingbird at Brown’s Pond 03/11/23.~

~Eastern Bluebird at Wickham Lake this morning, 03/12/23.~

~Common Merganser at Wickham Lake, 03/12/23.~

~One more Northern Harrier shot from yesterday morning at the grasslands, 03/11/23.~

Sunday Shots, 10/16/22

Yesterday was much more productive, but I did get out this morning as well. I didn’t have much of a plan, so I pretty much just wandered the black dirt in hopes of shorebirds or large collections of geese. I pretty much got neither, lol. The only shorebirds of the day were a half dozen Pectoral Sandpipers and 2 Killdeer at the Camel Farm. And, in spite of seeing flock after flock fly over, I never tracked down any large groups of geese. I always like to check in on Sundays regardless, so here’s a few shots from the past couple of days. I hope you are not sick of pipits yet – they are all over the black dirt and I can’t seem to resist photographing them.