photos – Page 22 – Orange Birding

More Good Shorebirds at Glenmere Lake, 10/05/19

I got a slightly later start than I wanted this morning. I struggled sleeping last night; I eventually got back to sleep around 5 am, but that made it tough to wake up early. My plan was to get to Citgo Pond before the sun was over the trees (once it’s over the trees, the birds are severely backlit and tough to ID). Anyways, I had to forego that plan and I headed directly to my next planned stop: Glenmere Lake. It ended up being a good decision as I had some really good birds in perfect light.

~Always a favorite (look at the header image I’ve use for ages), Pectoral Sandpiper up close and personal at Glenmere Lake, 10/05/19.~

I kayaked the lake, just as I did last weekend. As I paddled out, I could see some good shorebird activity in the distance at the south end of the lake. I heard a shorebird call; I couldn’t put my finger on it and I also couldn’t locate the bird – it seemed to be moving over great distance. I eventually caught up with that bird, it was an AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER, undoubtedly the bird of the day. Prior to locating the plover, I’d come across nearly a dozen Pectoral Sandpipers (always a favorite), and 5 Lesser Yellowlegs. Of course there were many Killdeer around as well. Photo ops were mostly good as the light was good and the birds were cooperative. One other bird of note was a single American Pipit flyover, calling as it went. Again, I can’t express how great it is to be able to see these fabulous birds up close and personal – kayaking for shorebirds rules. I’ll be out again in the morning, fingers crossed for some good birds.

~By the time I’d located this bird, heat shimmer was an issue for photos. Plus I kept my distance – I’m not sure how these birds are with the kayak. The bird of the day, an American Golden-Plover at Glenmere Lake, 10/05/19.~

~Pectoral Sandpiper with a Lesser Yellowlegs in the background. Glenmere Lake, 10/05/19.~

~I know not everyone is as shorebird-obsessed as I am, but come on – this is a gorgeous bird. PESA at Glenmere Lake, 10/05/19.~

~Unbeknownst to me, Kathy Ashman was birding the lake the same time I was there. She took some excellent shots of me birding in my kayak – thanks for sharing Kathy!

~There were several Double-crested Cormorants at the lake this morning, 10/05/19.~

~I went to Wallkill River NWR briefly after Glenmere Lake and had 5 species of sparrow – Song, Savannah, Lincoln’s, White-crowned, and a good number of Swamp Sparrows like this one.~

~More heat shimmer, grrrrrr, but what can you do? White-crowned Sparrow at Wallkill River NWR, 10/05/19.~

What a Weekend!

I had an excellent weekend of birding, which frankly is not something I’ve been able to say too much recently. I’ll start with today, Sunday, because it was most exciting. While I was at Citgo Pond searching for shorebirds first thing this morning, Kathy Ashman put out an alert on the Mearns Bird Club app – she was at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary and had located a LARK SPARROW! I did my best to make sure I wasn’t missing anything good at Citgo and headed directly over to 6 1/2, where the bird was not only still present, it was also very accommodating, allowing for some decent photos in spite of the low light conditions.

~Wow! LARK SPARROW at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 09/29/19.~

The LARK SPARROW was a life bird for me – #420. It was, of course also a county (#258) and state (#305) bird for me. Huge thanks and congratulations to Kathy on an awesome find.

~I loved this bird! What a fabulous looking sparrow. It spent most of the time I was there down in the grasses but would intermittently return to the tree line. LARK SPARROW, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 09/29/19.~

From there, I finally did some kayaking at Glenmere lake. I’m shorebird obsessed as most of you know, and I’ve had some shorebirds there recently, but it’s so tough to see from the shore with all the foliage in the way, so I wanted to get out on the water and see what I could find. While I didn’t come up with any new birds, I did have a good collection of shorebirds (Killedeer, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Wilson’s Snipe). I got a much better look at the habitat at the south end of the lake – it’s good for shorebirds and it’s also vast! And then there is the magic of being in a kayak with shorebirds. If you move slowly and smoothly, they just don’t seem to know you exist and pay absolutely zero attention to you (except for the Killdeer!). It’s really amazing and allows for some incredible looks excellent photo ops. I was particularly happy to get the snipe up so close – I don’t think I’ve ever had them like that before.

~Wilson’s Snipe up close and personal. Glenmere Lake, 09/29/19.~

~It’s interesting to me, as I looked through my photos (I took a lot!), the quality of the light changed with the passing of the clouds. I love the overall color palette of this shot and, although the bird is pretty sharp, there is an soft almost pretty quality to the photo that I enjoy. Lesser Yellowlegs at Glenmere Lake, 09/29/19.~

~Lesser Yellowlegs at Glenmere Lake, 09/29/19.~

~Wilson’s Snipe at Glenmere Lake, 09/19/19. Another thing about getting so close to these shorebirds is that they are all very small. In Orange County we are nearly always looking at shorebirds in a spotting scope, but when you have one right next to you, they are tiny.~

SATURDAY 09/28/19 – HAWKWATCH AT MOUNT PETER

~A low flying Broad-winged Hawk flies over the platform at Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 09/28/19.~

I had low expectations for hawkwatch on Saturday. The winds were not good (SE and SW), and plenty of birds had moved through during the week. I didn’t imagine there would be all that many moving for me on Saturday. But, I ended up having a pretty darn good day. With the help of fellow counters Ken Witkowski and Jeanne Cimorelli, I tallied 139 birds for the day. Highlights included 12 Ospreys, a massive and gorgeous Peregrine Falcon, and 3 Bald Eagles. My HMANA report is included below.

~Common Yellowthroat from last weekend at Glenmere Lake, 09/22/19.~

Sunday Shots, 09/15/19

On Saturday, I had my first day as official counter at Mt. Peter for the season. I’m cutting back a little this year and not doing every Saturday, so when the schedule came out in August and I saw I had the 14th of September, I was excited – primetime for Broad-winged Hawks! Little did I know then that conditions and weather would conspire against me to deliver my least productive day of counting at Mt. Pete ever. I had a paltry 2 (!) migrating raptors all day. It rained periodically. Even the local Red-tailed Hawks and vultures took the day off for the most part. On the positive side, I did have a Broad-winged Hawk perched in the parking lot when I arrived, as well as a nice mixed flock of warblers that worked the area all day (Yellow-rumped, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green, Black-and-white, and American Redstart).

~It’s amazing to me how small these birds are when you see them up close like this. Broad-winged Hawk in the Mt. Peter parking area, 09/14/19.~

~Black-throated Green Warbler at Mt. Peter Hawkwatch, 09/14/19.~

On Sunday I went to the Winding Waters trail at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge to try for warblers. I did alright, in spite of a late start, with 9 species of warbler:

Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler

~American Redstart at Wallkill River NWR, 09/15/19.~

~Not a bird I photograph very often – Blue Jay at Wallkill River NWR, 09/15/19.~

~There were plenty of Common Yellowthroats on the trail this morning, Wallkill River NWR 09/15/19.~

~Pretty little bird: Black-and-White Warbler at Wallkill River NWR, 09/15/19.~

I also spend some time at Mt. Peter, where the birds were actually flying on Sunday. It wasn’t an amazing flight, but there were enough birds to keep it interesting. And I was able to get a Broad-winged Hawk in flight. All in all, not a bad weekend for birding in the OC.

~Broad-winged Hawk in flight, Mt. Peter Hawkwatch 09/15/19.~

Labor Day 2019

It was really great to have the day off, and I thought that the conditions and the timing would be pretty darn good for some interesting shorebirds in the black dirt today (Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, American Golden-plovers were among my targets). Alas, in spite of searching while the storms were passing through our area, and afterwards as well, I came up empty. I even struck out with the STILT SANDPIPER at Beaver Pond (I’m thinking that bird has likely moved on as I know of a couple folks that went for it without success).

~A slightly bedraggled Gray Ghost in the black dirt this afternoon, 09/02/19. This is the first male Northern Harrier I’ve seen in a while. ~

Fortunately there were enough raptors around to provide a couple decent photo ops. And I was entertained by a young Green Heron trying to swallow an absolutely massive frog. It swallowed the entire frog, except for its two back feet, only to regurgitate the entire thing and then have success on the 2nd try. It’s back to work for me tomorrow morning – that ought to bring some shorebirds in.

~A young Cooper’s Hawk in the black dirt, 09/02/19.~

~Green Heron with a ‘snack’. Beaver Pond in Chester, 09/02/19.~

Sunday Shots, 09/01/19

Wow, September already. The only real birding excitement today was a revisit to the STILT SANDPIPER from yesterday. Bruce Nott relocated the bird first thing this morning and reported it on the Mearns app. He was still there when I arrived; we were joined shortly by Linda Scrima and then John Haas. The bird cooperated and came in pretty close, but unfortunately I didn’t really improve on my photos from yesterday because the bird was backlit. Anyways, not too much else going today, so here’s some shots from the past few days.

~I always enjoy seeing this bird. Horned Lark in the black dirt, 09/01/19.~

~Least Sandpipers in flight at Wallkill River NWR, 08/29/19.~

~Great Egret at Glenmere (Beaver) Pond on Pine Hill Road, Chester 08/30/19.~

~Red-tailed Hawk overhead at Glenmere Pond, 08/31/19.~

~This bird did not seem to be all that far out, but this shot is taken with my 1.4x extender and then cropped pretty heavily. STILT SANDPIPER at Glenmere Pond, 09/01/19.~

Sunday Shots, 08/25/19

So, there really doesn’t seem to be much going on in our area right now. I spent most of the week and weekend trying for shorebirds in Orange County, but have only come up with the birds that we have already seen this season: Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, and Solitary Sandpipers. As a comparison, by this time last year, I’d already seen in the county: a WHIMBREL, several Baird’s Sandpipers, a White-rumped Sandpiper, a Short-billed Dowitcher, several Black-bellied Plover, an American Golden-plover, and several Upland Sandpipers. Last year was a great August, but still, by now I would have hoped to have seen some additional shorebirds.

~A young Black-crowned Night-Heron in flight at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, 08/25/19.~

When it comes to raptors, however, I’ve done much better. Just this weekend, if I include our trip to Croton Point Park, I’ve seen every expected raptor for this time of year in our area, with the exception of Red-shouldered Hawk:

Black Vulture
Turkey Vultures
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
American Kestrel
Merlin

~Peregrine Falcon in the Black Dirt, 08/25/19.~

~Greater Yellowlegs at Wallkill River NWR, 08/24/19.~

~Dos MODOs en la tierra negra. Translation: two Mourning Doves in the Black Dirt, 08/25/19.~

~Common Yellowthroat at the Citgo Pond, 08/25/19.~

Jersey Shore 2019

Tricia and I spent a long weekend down at the Jersey Shore; it was sort of a mini-vacation where we focused (for once!) on relaxing rather than running around all over the place. We went to the beach every day. I napped. We did some touristy shopping, and we had some delicious dinners out at several restaurants. That said, I did get out for a bit in the mornings. I managed to get some nice photos; the birds are accessible and the backgrounds are often very clean on the beach. But, I also found myself questioning my birding skills. I kept thinking about birding locally versus birding at a new locale and how it puts one’s birding skills to the test.

~Semipalmated Plover, always a favorite (what a cutie!), at Stone Harbor Point 08/04/19.~

The first thing I will say, is that I did not arrive prepared. Sure, I did some quick research on eBird just to find some good locations, but I didn’t do any research to see what the expected species for this time of year are in the region. I am often guilty of under-preparing for a new location; in a perfect world I would spend some quality time prepping beforehand, but it never seems to happen. I think that if you can squeeze in some quality prep time beforehand, it would make your birding at a new location much more enjoyable. One of these days I’m going to do just that.

~Common Tern in flight at Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest 08/06/19.~

The second thing is that birding at the Jersey Shore can be intimidating – there are SO MANY BIRDS! It’s very different from birding in Orange County, especially when it comes to shorebirds which are few and far between. It’s easy to become overwhelmed and “in the weeds” while trying to sort through such a large number of birds; I was lacking context and it made identifying the birds that much more difficult. I was also experiencing some eBird intimidation. I figure the checklists in that area are looked at pretty thoroughly – I didn’t want to get anything wrong. Ultimately, for me, patience was the key in this respect. I took it slow while I was birding and I was willing to let some birds go unidentified. I could take some time to think about it some more and maybe do some research and look at my photos later. If, in the end, they remain unidentified, I’m okay with that.

~Ruddy Turnstone at Stone Harbor Point, 8/3/19.~

Another thing I was thinking about was birding “county coverage”. Here in our area, I feel like we have a pretty good idea of the birds present. Sure, there are plenty of birds that are missed, but I think we have decent coverage and I kept trying to compare it to the Jersey Shore where just about everywhere you look seems to be a birding hotspot. How many good birders would it take to actually keep up with this many birds? It kind of blows my mind. Maybe they have a handle on things, but to me it seems overwhelming.

~Black-crowned Night-heron, side of the road in Stone Harbor 08/04/19.~

And, finally, this trip often made me question my birding skills. Am I thorough enough? Do I know the field marks well enough? I think that maybe I’ve fallen into some bad habits – I’m familiar enough these days with the expected species in Orange County so maybe I’m not looking closely enough at the birds. Does that make sense? Maybe it’s time for a reset and to time to refocus on some of details that go by the wayside while birding the same locations day in and day out. So anyways, while I had all these thoughts running through my mind, I was still able to relax and just enjoy the birding in the south Jersey Shore; sometimes you have to just take a step back and enjoy being out with the birds.

~Common Tern at Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest 08/06/19.~

~Cuteness! Black Skimmer chick at Stone Harbor Point, 08/04/19.~

~Food exchange between adult and young Common Terns, Two Mile Landing Wildwood Crest, 08/06/19.~

~Handsome Devil. Common Tern at Two Mile Landing, Wildwood Crest 08/06/19.~

~Clapper Rail taking a peek. Two Mile Landing Wildwood Crest 08/06/19.~

~Clapper Rail chick, Two Mile Landing Wildwood Crest 08/06/19.~

~As you can tell, I found a nice spot to photograph Common Terns at Two Mile Landing, 08/06/19.~

~Semipalmated Sandpiper dance, side of the road in Cape May 08/06/19.~

~I always seem to get images of Gray Catbirds that I really like. This bird was at Stone Harbor Point, 8/3/19/~

Excellent Morning, 8/10/19

I missed posting last week because Tricia and I went to the Jersey Shore on a mini-vacation. I fit some birding in while I was there, and I’m working on that post. Meanwhile, I got out early this morning and headed to the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. Kathy Ashman was already there when I arrived; we joined forces and had an amazing morning of birding. It was one of those lucky mornings where the light was beautiful and the birds were plentiful and didn’t mind our presence in the least.

~*Green Heron stalking prey, Wallkill River NWR 08/10/19.~*

My main goal was, of course, shorebirds – I’ll get to them in a minute. Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets are still present at the refuge in good numbers, and this morning they were joined by several very accommodating Green Herons, as well as a brief but amazing look at a pair of Sandhill Cranes. Swallows were also present in good numbers. I had mostly Tree Swallows, with a handful of Barn Swallows and a couple of Bank Swallows. Kathy had Northern Rough-winged before I arrived. Also of note, we had my first Northern Harrier in a good while.

~It was awesome to get such a close up look at this Wilson’s Snipe, Wallkill River NWR, 08/10/19.~

As for shorebirds, we had a respectable nine species:

Semipalmated Plover (3)
Killdeer (8+)
Least Sandpiper (35+)
Semipalmated Sandpiper (2)
Wilson’s Snipe (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (3)
Solitary Sandpiper (2)
Greater Yellowlegs (1)
Lesser Yellowlegs (4)

~Solitary Sandpiper at Wallkill River NWR, 08/10/19.~

I did pretty well with photos, as the birds seemed to be coming closer and closer rather than the opposite. Which was nice for a change. It was an enjoyable morning of birding; it was great to see Kathy who I hadn’t seen in ages and the birds were numerous and cooperative. Hard to beat that. Stay tuned, Jersey Shore post to come later this weekend…

~This photo will give you an idea of how large a shorebird the Greater Yellowlegs is. With a Green Heron, Wallkill River NWR, 08/10/19.~

~Sweetness. White-tailed Deer crossing the marsh, Wallkill River NWR, 08/10/19.~

~*It was nice to see these dudes. Sandhill Cranes at Wallkill River NWR, 08/10/19.~*

Sunday Shots, 07/28/19

I think we picked a good weekend to go to the beach. Not for birding, but for going to the beach like normal people – getting a little sun and riding the waves. I say that because not much is going on with local birding lately. I can’t remember the last report to come over on the Mearns Bird Club app. Anyways, I did manage to get locally out for few hours this evening; it was more of the usuals. One highlight was seeing my first juvenile Pied-billed Grebe of the season at Wallkill River NWR. Here’s hoping that things start to pick up sooner rather than later; I’m looking forward to some more exciting posts…

~Indigo Bunting in the Black Dirt Region, 07/28/19.~

~A pair of European Starlings in the Black Dirt, 07/28/19.~

~Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Wallkill River NWR, 07/28/19.~

~There are loads of Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR these days, 07/28/19.~

Sunday Shots, 07/21/19

I got out early both days of this weekend; with the hot weather we’ve been having, it was the only time to do any sort of comfortable birding. It was mostly more of the usuals – it’s that time of year. The most notable siting I had was nearly 100 Great Blue Herons at a single pool at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. There is also a good number of Great Egrets at the refuge these days. Returning shorebirds have been sparse thus far in OC but I finally had some at the refuge on Saturday morning; but just Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers, and a single Lesser Yellowlegs. Let’s hope that it’s the start of a good fall shorebird migration in our area.