One my main goals for the morning was to shoot this Pectoral Sandpiper. Morningside Park, 9/29/13.
Every once in a while I just need to go do some birding in a location that is likely to provide plenty of photo opportunities. Morningside Park is perfect for this, as long as you are birding by kayak. I arrived at the park right after sunrise to take advantage of the beautiful early morning light; for me, you cannot beat early morning light for beautiful photos. There was a misty fog on the surface of the lake that I also find appealing but difficult to translate into photos. I was pleased with the results, there were plenty of birds to shoot and the fall colors were reflecting off the water wonderfully.
A pair of Ring-billed Gulls in the early morning mist. Morningside Park, 9/29/13.Great Blue Heron at Morningside Park, 9/29/13.This Common Yellowthroat could not have been more cooperative, Morningside Park, 9/29/13. I am loving the background on this shot.Least Sandpiper at Morningside Park, 9/29/13.Here’s one more of the Pectoral Sandpiper, Morningside Park, 9/29/13.I don’t love the light on this Green Heron, but I love all the colors reflecting in the water. Morningside Park, 9/29/13.
This Belted Kingfisher was very cooperative, perching and fishing in the pond right in front of the viewing platform. Wallkill River NWR, 9/18/13.
Both yesterday and today I left work and spent an hour or so at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch. Yesterday I caught the tail end of a great day – over 1400 migrating raptors passed over. While I was there we had a large kettle of fly over, comprised of over 160 Broad-winged Hawks and one immature Bald Eagle. It was really so cool to see. Today, although over 500 raptors were counted migrating over the watch, I did not fair too well. By the time I got there, things had pretty much dried up. I got a decent look at an immature Bald Eagle that did not migrate, but headed north instead. I also took a shot of one of the local Turkey Vultures, which seem to be the only birds flying low this year:
A bedraggled Turkey Vulture passes over the platform at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, 9/19/13.
On both days, after the watch, I headed over to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. I mostly birded from the viewing platform both days, though I did walk west on the trail yesterday for a stretch. There were a good number of shorebirds present, including Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpipers, and a Solitary Sandpiper. Other favorites included Great Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, many Green Herons, a Northern Shoveler and a couple of Northern Harriers. But, the highlight for me was getting some good photo ops with this Belted Kingfisher:
It was great fun trying to shoot this bird, Belted Kingfisher out at Wallkill River NWR 9/18/13.A hovering Belted Kingfisher at Wallkill River NWR, 9/18/13.
Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen one in a little while, but I was not sure what bird this was for a while, until I got some help from a fellow birder who joined me on the platform. Solitary Sandpiper at Wallkill River NWR, 9/19/13.
This Osprey flew right over the platform with a fish in its grasp. Mt. Peter Hawk Watch 9/14/13.
Today was my first day counting out at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch. It was a good day for me, we had enough hawks to keep it interesting, but not too many to make it difficult for me as the counter. The birds were flying high, but we had 200 migrating hawks today. Here is my report from hawkcount.org:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 14, 2013
——————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Ajit I. Antony, Beverly Robertson, Bill O’Keefe,
Judith C. Cinquina, Rob Stone, Scot Marchal
Visitors:
Penny Whitlick, Enid Hayflick, Mike Ipp., Jan Hesbon, Diane Brown
Weather:
Cool and cloudy for most of the day with a steady NW wind that was strong
at times. Temperatures ranged from 11 to 16 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
Raptors were flying high today even in the first hour of the watch. (3)
Adult Bald Eagles migrated and we had one adult Bald Eagle that headed
north. Also migrating were (1) Red-shouldered Hawk (unknown) and (3)
American Kestrels (2 unknown, 1 female).
Non-raptor Observations:
Bird Species identified: Tree Swallow (17), Canada Goose (34), Cedar
Waxwing (36), Common Raven (4), Chimney Swift (11), House Wren,
Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow (2), Blackburnian Warbler, Blackpoll
Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, American Redstart, Red-eyed Vireo,
and Magnolia Warbler. Non-raptor highlight was two Common Ravens flying
very close to one another and one of them doing a barrel roll.
After the hawk watch, I headed back to the Pine Island Turf Nursery to try for a better shot of the American Golden-Plovers:
American Golden-Plover out at the Pine Island Turf Nursery, 9/14/13.
Osprey in flight over Winding Hills Park, 8/11/13.
Last Sunday, Tricia and I went for a paddle in the kayaks to Winding Hills Park in Montgomery NY. We like to go there for a relaxing paddle; it is very beautiful and the sunsets can be amazing. For birding, it is usually not that great – there is usually at least one Great Blue Heron Present and we have had Spotted Sandpipers there from time to time. Eastern Wood Peewees can be heard and sometimes seen, and Tufted Titmice and a number of other song birds can usually be counted on. On this day, as soon as I got out of the car the first thing I noticed was an Osprey fishing on the lake. I had never seen one there before and I am thinking that this bird was making a stopover during its migration. I took a bunch of photos while the light was good and then afterwards, Tricia and I just relaxed, floating around the lake in our kayaks and enjoying the sunset.
*Click on photos to enlarge*
OSPREY, WINDING HILLS PARK – 8/11/13
This was the Osprey’s favorite perch, it kept returning to it……then it would take off again in search of a meal.This Osprey did not catch a single fish while we were there, but none of the people fishing from the shore caught anything either, so maybe it wasn’t the bird’s fault.
In this shot the Osprey is flying away from me, but I still like it – the water exploding off the bird and the talon all balled up.I’ve cropped all these images pretty heavily. While the bird was not very far away, as I looked at the photos I really wanted to convey what an up-close and intimate experience it was watching this bird .
I love this shot – the reflections are nice and I like having three different species in the shot. Front to back, Baird’s Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper. Morningside Park, 8/17/13.
I took my kayak out to have a paddle out at Morningside Park this morning. John Haas reported a Baird’s Sandpiper there yesterday in his blog, and I was hoping it would still be around. It was a really great morning of birding for a few reasons. First of all, I got to see some really great shorebirds:
Semipalmated Plover 2
Killdeer 8
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 16
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER 1 *Life bird for me*
The second reason it was such a terrific morning of birding is how close you can get to the birds there. By moving slowly and smoothly in the kayak, you can get REALLY close to these birds. In fact, it kind of messed with me at first – I never get this close so my sense of size and scale was out of sync. I got fantastic looks at all the above species, and this also was a big help with getting some photos.
The third reason is that after I was there for about 40 minutes, John showed up in his kayak. It is always enjoyable to bird with John and I learned a great deal by both talking with him and by watching him as he systematically went through all the islands to make sure he did not miss a bird. His thoroughness and his dedication are inspiring to me.
All these shots are from Morningside Park on 8/17/13.
Lesser Yellowlegs out at Skinner Lane 8/9/13. I was lost in the shorebird weeds for a while – I thought these birds looked too puffed out to be Lesser Yellowlegs but I had no clue what else they could be. I exchanged a couple of emails with John Haas which helped to get me back on course. I find that sometimes you can lose the thread and you need some help (or just some time) to get re-calibrated.
With the rain storms that rolled through the area Thursday night and into Friday, I was hopeful that there would be some shorebird movement. I made the rounds in the Black Dirt Region both Friday evening and Saturday morning. As I have previously documented on this blog, I struggle to identify shorebirds. I want to take this opportunity to thank both Rob Stone and John Haas who have both been extremely generous in helping me learn.
Skinner Lane
This was the best spot for shorebirds that I visited. I stopped by Friday evening after getting a tip from Rob Stone that Ken McDermott had a Baird’s Sandpiper there. I also stopped by a couple of times Saturday. I never saw (or could identify!) the Baird’s Sandpiper but there was a nice collection of shorebirds there:
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Killdeer
Two Pectoral Sandpipers and a Greater Yellowlegs out at Skinner Lane 8/10/13.
Turtle Bay
I took a brief spin around Turtle Bay road on Saturday morning. Conditions looked perfect for shorebirds but yielded only Killdeer (about 25 or so).
Pine Island Turf Nursery
I went over to the turf farm on Friday evening after another alert from Rob Stone – He had a White-rumped Sandpiper, and Ken McDermott had another Baird’s Sandpiper there. It was just around sunset when I got there and I could see that there were many birds present, but it was too dark to get a good look, so I left. When I went back on Saturday morning, all the birds had moved on with the exception of half a dozen or so Killdeer and one Solitary Sandpiper.
Scenic Farms Golf Course
Late Saturday morning I had 13 Least Sandpipers here. I was entertaining the thought that there might have been a Baird’s Sandpiper among them. I let Rob Stone know what I was up to and he was kind enough to stop by and check it out for me. He let me down easy, ha ha. Actually it was another valuable learning experience for me – which is what this is all about after all.
Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge
I feel like I haven’t gotten a good shot of an Indigo Bunting in a while. Wallkill NWR 8/10/13.
This is the spot that I thought I might really find something good, or at least some higher numbers of birds, but it was basically a bust. I walked the loop both Friday night and Saturday morning and had only Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers, and Killdeer. I didn’t have very many, less than a handful of each. On Friday night I had two additional smaller shorebirds that I saw fly in but then lost them and never relocated them again to identify them.
The birding in general at the reserve was pretty good – I had over 30 species on both visits. I also had some good photo opportunities, particularly with this pair of Belted Kingfishers, which is a bird I have never had any luck photographing before Friday night.
These two seemed to be having a good time. A pair of Belted Kingfishers at Wallkill River NWR 8/9/13.The chase is on! Belted Kingfisher at Wallkill River NWR 8/10/13.At attention. Belted Kingfisher at Wallkill River NWR 8/9/13.It’s not the greatest shot of a Ruby-throated Humming bird, but I have not gotten many this summer. Wallkill River NWR 8/10/13.
Friday night I got caught in a massive rain storm – I took this shot right after it passed.
I have this beautiful bird as a juvenile Forster’s Tern. Oakdale NY 8/3/13.
Tricia and I went to Long Island to visit her sister and her family. I, of course, took the opportunity to take some photos. Huge thanks to Carol and Bill for both their hospitality and for the tour of the local birding spots.
Roadside Osprey in Oakdale NY 8/3/13
Another Osprey from my tour with Bill of the local Osprey nests. Oakdale NY 8/3/13.
Common Tern in flight at the Beach Club in Oakdale NY,, 8/3/13.
Osprey in flight, taken from my kayak. I took many photos of this bird, all with my ISO set to 1600 (from the evening before). The result was some very noisy photos. Oakdale NY 8/4/13.
I made it out to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge a couple of times this week and took many photos. A good collection of shorebirds continue at the refuge, as do a group of six Great Egrets (down from 10 last weekend). Herons are numerous, with Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons all being seen and heard. All the birds photographed were seen while walking the Liberty Loop Trail or on Liberty Lane. Here are some of the shots I got this week:
Click on photos to enlarge.
One of four Greater Yellowlegs at the refuge on 7/24/13.I got to see this Lesser Yellowlegs near a Greater Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper. It was really interesting to note the differences between the three. Wallkill River NWR 7/24/13.
A Solitary Sandpiper and a Lesser Yellowlegs at the refuge on Wednesday 7/24/13. I don’t love this photo but I like seeing the two birds together.
The morning light was really appealing, and I am really happy with the colors in this photo. Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR 7/27/13.Great Egret at the refuge this morning, 7/27/13.Who’s gonna mess with this crew? Not me. Five of six Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR 7/27/13.I’ve been seeing a hearing plenty of Green Herons at the refuge, but not getting close enough for any good photos. Wallkill River NWR 7/27/13.Great Blue Herons are numerous out at Wallkill River NWR. This one flew right in front of me. This Shot is SOOC, taken 7/25/13.Birds flying away usually don’t make for great photos, but I sort of like this one. GBHE out at Wallkill River NWR 7/25/13.I was with Karen Miller and Sharon Dewey Scavotto when we found this bird. We were all stumped, and after getting home and looking briefly in some books I’m guessing a young Brown-headed Cowbird, but I’m still not really sure. Please comment if you can I.D. this bird! Thanks.
An adult just happened to fly behind this juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons out at Wallkill River NWR, 7/20/13.
I went out on a mission this evening to photograph the Black-crowned Night Herons out at Wallkill River NWR. I walked the Liberty Loop and tried to time it so that I was on the east side of the loop (where the BCNHs roost) right before sunset. I walked in a counter-clockwise direction so that the fading sun would be at my back as I approached the trees where the birds roost. I was not disappointed – I saw four BCNHs, three adults and one juvenile. These photos have an interesting dreamy quality to me and I’m not entirely sure why. I think there are two factors, the first being that nearly all the photos where shot through the trees which create a blurry foreground (background?). Also, the light was very interesting and hard for me to get a handle on. My settings for all these photos where not at all what I would typically encounter in low light situations; I had to under-expose all of these photos!?! Fortunately these birds were not really aware of my presence so I had plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s some more shots:
Although they are not a beautiful bird, I find the young BCNHs fascinating to look at.Adult Black-crowned Night Heron at Wallkill River NWR 7/20/13.I see so many photos of BCNHs showing the white head plume – this is the first time I’ve gotten any showing it.I don’t love this photo, but I though it was cool to catch 3 BCNHs in one shot.
Beyond the Black-crowned Night Herons, the birding was pretty good. Highlights included ten (!) Great Egrets, my first Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR this year.
One of ten Great Egrets out at Wallkill River NWR, 7/20/13.
Shorebirds made another good showing, I heard first and then saw three Greater Yellowlegs. Also present were Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, and this Solitary Sandpiper.
I have this as a Solitary Sandpiper, Wallkill River NWR 7/20/13.
Here’s my list for the day:
A pair of Red-tail Hawks perched on the north side of Oil City Road, 7/20/13.
Canada Goose 25
Wood Duck 6
Mallard 4
Great Blue Heron 12
Great Egret 10
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Killdeer 6
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Least Sandpiper 2
Mourning Dove 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 4
Tree Swallow 6
Barn Swallow 2
Wood Thrush 2
American Robin 15
Gray Catbird 8
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
Indigo Bunting 5
Bobolink 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Orchard Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 3
