photos – Page 2 – Orange Birding

Sunday Shots, 05/11/25

After a couple of days of focusing on shorebirds, I figured I better get out and try for some songbirds this morning before they all pass me by. I spent some time early at Elks Brox Memorial Park, and it was fairly productive. I added several species to my OC 2025 list: Blue-headed Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. Afterwards, I went to Port Orange Road and enjoyed trying for photos of a couple of Cerulean Warblers that were present.

~Cerulean Warbler at Port Orange Road, 05/11/25.~

~Magnolia Warbler hiding in the shadows at Elks Brox Memorial Park, 05/11/25.~

~Prairie Warbler at Elks Brox, 05/11/25.~

~Eastern Phoebe at Port Orange Road, 05/11/25.~

OC Shorebirds, 05/10/25

Yesterday evening, and then again first thing this morning, I was out in the Black Dirt Region, looking for shorebirds in the all the puddling from the recent heavy rains. Between the two days, at a couple different locations, I had a total of 8 shorebird species:

Wilson’s Snipe (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (4)
Solitary Sandpiper (9)
Lesser Yellowlegs (14)
Greater Yellowlegs (3)
DUNLIN (3)
Least Sandpiper (84)
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER (3)

~Lesser Yellowlegs in the black dirt, 05/10/25.~

~Close up of a Spotted Sandpiper in the Black Dirt Region, 05/10/25.~

~I kind of like this photo. Solitary Sandpiper, in the rain, on a pile of onions, in the black dirt region, 05/09/25.~

Sunday Shots, 04/27/25

Songbird migration is really kicking into gear, so just being out and about this weekend I added a dozen species to my year list. While none were out of the ordinary, it was just enjoyable to be out with so many birds around. As far as warblers go, I added 6 species: Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Pine Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Parula, and Black-and-white Warbler. While I came up short regarding warbler photos, I did manage to get some shots over the weekend:

~Bald Eagle in flight in the Black Dirt Region, 04/27/25.~

~Bald Eagle in the black dirt, 04/27/25.~

~One of my first Gray Catbirds of the yeaar. Wickham Lake, 04/26/25.~

~Tree Swallow at Wickham Lake, 04/27/25.~

~Horned Lark on the move in the rain on Saturday morning. Black Dirt Region 04/26/25.~

Sunday Shots, 04/13/25

I enjoyed a decent Sunday morning of birding, hitting several of my usual spots – Wickham Lake, Wallkill River NWR’s Liberty Loop and Winding Waters, and of course, the black dirt. It was mostly the usuals, but I enjoyed being out and a I was fortunate enough to get a few decent photo ops. My highlight was having a single Bonaparte’s Gull at Wickham Lake fly in and land not too far out from where I was standing on shore.

~Beautiful bird – Bonaparte’s Gull at Wickham Lake, 04/13/25.~

~Singing Palm Warbler at Wickham Lake, 04/13/25.~

~Greater Yellowlegs in the black dirt, 04/13/25.~

~One more shot of the beautiful Bonie at Wickham Lake, 04/13/25.~

Sunday Shots, 03/16/25

It was a low key weekend of birding for me. I stayed local, checking the area lakes each morning and then hitting the black dirt. I didn’t have anything too exciting, but I did add (4) new species to my Orange County 2025 list. That brought my species total to (93).

Cooper’s Hawk, My Yard 03/13/25
Horned Grebe, Round Lake 03/16/25
Rusty Blackbird, Black Dirt Region 03/16/25
American Pipit, Black Dirt Region 03/16/25

Photos were tough to come by, but I did manage to get a few raptor shots in my travels.

~Black Vulture portait. Black Dirt Region, 03/16/25.~

~Red-tailed Hawk on some farm machinery in the black dirt, 03/16/25.~

Sunday Shots, 03/09/25

Last weekend was a tough one – very few birds and almost no photo ops. This weekend was a different story. The PINK-FOOTED GOOSE on Saturday was by far the highlight, but in addition to that, it was a birdy weekend and I took a lot of photos. Heat shimmer gave me fits for photos as well as scanning, but that can’t be helped. I was at Wickham Lake both mornings at sunrise; the lake is loaded with birds right now and made for some enjoyable birding. There are many Common Mergansers (hard to say, but probably 300-400?). Gulls were plentiful as well; it was probably the most gulls I’ve ever seen on that lake, with approximately 100+ Ring-billed Gulls and 20+ American Herring Gulls.

~American Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls at Wickham Lake, 03/09/25.~

I can’t even tell you how many geese I looked through in the past two days – many thousands for sure. I had 11 Snow Geese (8 were blue morphs!), and I also had one bird that I think is a very good candidate for a Cackling Goose; see photo at the bottom of this post. Two Sandhill Cranes were reported at the Liberty Loop on Saturday afternoon – I ended up seeing them on Sunday morning through dumb luck (they flew in and landed in front of a flock of geese I was sorting through).

~Sandhill Crane coming in for a landing, Liberty Marsh 03/09/25.~

~I’m loving the fluffed up feathers in this shot. Sandhill Crane at Liberty Marsh, 03/09/25.~

~Blue morph Snow Goose in the black dirt, 03/09/25.~

~Ring-billed Gulls raising an early morning racket. Wickham Lake, 03/09/25.~

~Female Common Merganser at Wickham Lake, 03/08/25.~

~And a drake Common Merganser, Wickham Lake 03/08/25.~

~White-crowned Sparrow at the Liberty Loop, 03/09/25.~

~I’m calling the bird on the far left a Cackler. Black Dirt Region, 03/09/25.~

Sunday Shots, 02/16/25

I had the type of work week where just getting out and away from my desk and seeing any birds at all was the exact medicine I needed. I spent some time in the black dirt on Saturday morning, and it was extremely quiet. From there, I headed to the Hudson River. I started on the Beacon side and then went to Newburgh, where I joined Bruce Nott and our mutual friend Ben in hopes of getting Ben and his son an Iceland Gull. It took a little while, but eventually we were able to find a very distant Iceland Gull and both Ben and his son got scope views (they would later in the day get better looks at the bird from the Beacon side). Bruce also found a pair of Long-tailed Ducks; they were my first of the year in Orange County.

~Ring-billed Gulls at the Beacon Waterfront, 02/15/25.~

On my way home, I decided to bird Purgatory Road; I hadn’t birded it in a while and it’s sometimes good for raptors. On this day, however, I saw a songbird land in a field and it caught my attention – I was pretty sure it was an Eastern Meadowlark. I stopped the car and scanned. Sure enough, I found not one, but two Eastern Meadowlarks out in a field. It was my second new OC species of the weekend, my 70th of 2025.

~Eastern Meadowlark on a snowy afternoon in a field off of Purgatory Road, 02/15/25.~

~Eastern Meadowlarks on Purgatory Road, 02/15/25.~

We had some messy weather on Sunday morning; I waited for the snow to turn to rain and the temperatures to rise above freezing before heading out. I went to the Hudson River again; my timing wasn’t great as I was definitely there ahead of prime gulling time. Of note was five Ring-necked Ducks by the Newburgh Boat Launch; I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that species there before. I also had a decent look at an adult Bald Eagle.

~Bald Eagle taking off from the ice floes on the Hudson River at the Newburgh Waterfront, 02/16/25.~

Common Goldeneyes, 02/08/25

I had an enjoyable but mostly unremarkable weekend of birding; I hit the black dirt both mornings and the Newburgh Waterfront on Saturday afternoon. I added three new species to my Orange County year list: Brown Creeper, Hairy Woodpecker, and Red-breasted Merganser. Photos were tough to come by in general, but I did score with a trio of Common Goldeneyes at the Newburgh Waterfront. It was probably comical to watch, but I waited for all three birds to dive at the same time, and then I ran and jumped into some brush on the shoreline.

A Good Weekend, 01/26/25

On Saturday, I spent the day birding at the Jersey Shore with birding buds Maria Loukeris and Linda Scrima. I was serendipitous that Maria suggested a road trip, I was feeling like I was definitely ready for a break from local birding, and the beach was already on my mind. We spent most of the morning at Manasquan Inlet. All three of us were able to achieve scope views of our two target birds: Razorbill and DOVEKIE. I was hoping to get an alcid close enough for photos, but it wasn’t in the cards. As expected, the location was very birdy and also very, very cold. Other highlights included photo ops of Snow Buntings and Long-tailed Ducks, a couple of seals, and a nice-sized flock of Purple Sandpipers (with a trio of Sanderlings mixed in).

~It’s a little different seeing Snow Buntings at the beach! I’m so used to seeing them in the typically drab black dirt habitat. SNBU at Manasquan Inlet, 01/25/25.~

Afterwards, we went to Shark River Inlet, where we had a close encounter with a Cooper’s Hawk, got some better looks and photos of Purple Sandpipers, enjoyed our first Surf Scoters of the day, and watched as hundreds of Black Scoters streamed by. A delicious late lunch at The Greek Spot was a nice way to wrap up a good day of Jersey Shore birding.

~The puppy dog of ducks, a Long-tailed Duck at Manasquan Inlet, 01/25/25.~

~Purple Sandpiper at Shark River Inlet, 01/25/25.~

~I always enjoy it when I get to see some Brant. This one was at Manasquan Inlet, 01/25/25.~

~Cooper’s Hawk at Shark River Inlet, 01/25/25.~

~Locally, I would have spent much time with any Common Loon. On the Jersey Shore, they are numerous and easy to take for granted. COLO at Manasquan Inlet, 01/25/25.~

~Snow Bunting on a rope, Manasquan Inlet, 01/25/25.~

~One more Long-tailed Duck from Manasquan Inlet, 01/25/25.~

On Sunday morning I birded the Black Dirt Region and things were on the quiet side, with just the usuals observed. In the afternoon I went to the Newburgh Waterfront to try for gulls. I was lucky with a cooperative Iceland Gull, however that was the only out-of-the-ordinary gull I was able to locate.

~Gray Ghost in the black dirt, o1/26/25.~

~Iceland Gull with the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge in the background. Newburgh Waterfront, 01/26/25.~

~Iceland Gull at the Newburgh Waterfront, 01/26/25.~

~A sharp looking Horned Lark in the black dirt, 01/26/25.~

Sunday Shots, 01/05/25

It’s been a nice start to the new year of birding. I started with a nice 5-gull afternoon at the Newburgh Waterfront (Ring-billed, Am. Herring, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, and Iceland). Then, yesterday, it was exciting to see the Eurasian Wigeon. And I had some more excitement today, chasing a Clay-colored Sparrow that Bruce Nott found in the Black Dirt Region. Unfortunately I was unable to relocate that bird (I don’t think anyone has), but it was exciting to try for a good bird like that. I did get my first Lapland Longspur and Snow Buntings of the year, so that was nice. Anyways, here’s a handful of shots from the past week or so.