I woke up this morning on a mission: To relocate the PINK-FOOTED GOOSE that Bruce Nott had found the day before. I met Linda Scrima out at the Camel Farm just after sunrise, and we were joined shortly afterwards by Walter Eberz. It was very cold and windy, but the three of us sorted through approximately 1200 Canada Geese without any luck. We decided to divide and conquer and I headed over to Turtle Bay, where I found a group of approximately 800 Canada Geese out in a field. I quickly found a Cackling Goose, and then not long after that I got on a bird that looked good… Yes, it was the PINK-FOOTED GOOSE! I put the word out and both Linda and Walter joined me and we enjoyed the bird for nearly an hour before all the birds picked up, circled overhead, and then headed north. What a bird, not only is the PFGO a genuine rarity, it is also just a beautiful goose – wonderfully proportioned and I just love the wrinkles in the bird’s neck. The bird was a lifer for Walter and it was my 214th bird in Orange County this year. Also of note, we located at least 2 Cackling Geese and a single Snow Goose. Super exciting birding!
~The PFGO feeding in the field off of Turtle Bay, 12/3/16. It was interesting looking at my photos of the bird because, although not seen in this photo, the bird twists its head around while feeding in the grass, nearly 180 degrees. ~I’m including this shot of one of the Cackling Geese because I actually managed to get a catchlight on the eye. The photo below better illustrates the birds small bill. Turtle Bay, 12/3/16.~ ~Cackling Goose, looking tiny next the Canada Geese. Turtle Bay 12/3/16.~ ~A stop at Wisner Road afterwards produced 3 White-crowned Sparrows, 12/3/16.~
~I contemplated whether or not this photo was even worth posting. Red-throated Loon at Orange Lake, 11/28/16.~
QUICK POST: Huge thanks to Bruce Nott, who contacted me earlier today to let me know he had a RED-THROATED LOON at Orange Lake. Not only that, he came back out in the evening and was present with his scope on the bird when I arrived! You can’t ask for any more than that! It was a beautiful bird, we had distant (of course), but good looks in our scopes. I tried for photos but they came out terribly; the bird was just too darn far. I was pretty excited as it was my 213th bird in Orange County this year and also a county life bird (#236). Excellent birding!
~One of two young Bald Eagles perched along Wildlife Drive at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, 11/25/16~
My Thanksgiving tradition of visiting Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge continued this year, in spite of the gray skies and intermittent rain. My brother-in-law, Bill and I were happy to learn that Wildlife Drive was open in spite of the recent snow fall. We had a productive day where the ducks were numerous but VERY distant. It was hard to even contemplate any sort of accurate count and I’m sure my eBird report numbers are a bit too much on the conservative side. We had 17 species of waterfowl:
~A mix of waterfowl in flight and on the ice at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, 11/25/16.~
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
The highlight of the day was, undoubtedly, locating first one and eventually three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS at the refuge. It was my first time getting them there, and Bill was very excited, as it was a life bird for him. All in all we had a really good day but struggled like crazy for decent photos. In case I haven’t said it enough on this blog: Go to Montezuma NWR! It’s a really great spot.
~ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK in flight at Montezuma NWR, 11/25/16.~~In the parking lot of the visitor’s center at Montezuma NWR, Eastern Bluebird 11/25/16.
On Sunday, I hooked up with Kyle Dudgeon early in the morning and we birded southern Orange County pretty much by car, trying for photos for the most part. It was good to see Kyle and catch up (he has been away at college), and we had some decent birds for the day. Notably, we had 8 raptor species for the morning: Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, and Peregrine Falcon. The highlight for me was seeing a good sized flock of Snow Buntings, perhaps over 100 birds. Good Birding!
~Snow Buntings in flight, Orange County, NY 11/17/16.~~Awesome to see this Merlin perched on a pole. New Hampton, NY 11/27/16.~~White-crowned Sparrow at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, 11/27/16.~~This Northern Harrier found what I thought was a strange perch. Pine Island NY, 11/27/16.~~It’s always a little sad to see these Ring-necked Pheasants. I could hear hunters not too far off so I flushed this bird in the opposite direction. Orange County NY, 11/27/16.~~I love, love, love these dudes. Snow Bunting flock in flight, Orange County NY 11/27/16.~
~A distant documentary photo of 5 LONG-TAILED DUCKS at Wickham Lake this afternoon, 11/22/16.~
QUICK POST: There’s nothing like a quintet of LONG-TAILED DUCKS to give me a lift after a rough night of insomnia and subsequent brutal work day. These 5 beautiful birds were at Wickham Lake this evening after work and they lifted my spirits considerably. Also present were 6 Hooded Mergansers, 41 Buffleheads, and 1 Greater Scaup. Huge thanks for Rob Stone for the heads up.
~Wow! Two SURF SCOTERS with four Canada Geese at Wickham Lake, 10/10/16.~
After work I went to Wickham Lake to see if any good waterfowl had moved in. I’d read a report from Scotty Baldinger that he and John Haas had 8 Black Scoters and one White-winged Scoter at Neversink Reservoir earlier in the day, so I was hoping for scoters as well. I located two scoters, very distant out on the lake. I did not have a guide book with me because I’d used Tricia’s car for birding over the weekend and forgotten it there. I did a quick google search and thought I came up with a good match with White-winged. I did my best to take some usable photos and I put the word out. Rob Stone went for the birds later in the evening and he was thinking the birds were more likely SURF SCOTERS. I checked my guides, and I sent my pics to Rob and John who both agreed that the birds were SUSCs. Here are some of the indicators – first, no white was seen on the wings (this is not conclusive because depending on how the bird is sitting in the water, a WWSC might not show any white on the wings). But, more importantly, the pattern of white on the face of the bird runs up and down; this is indicative of the straight edge of the bill of a Surf Scoter (for WWSC it projects forward due to the shape of its bill). And, also, the head has a dark capped look and has a more blocky appearance than WWSC. This is my 235th life bird in Orange County and number 206 on my OC year list. Thanks to Rob and John for helping out on this one!
Update: I forgot to include this last night when I posted – I wanted to mention quickly that this post is a bit of a milestone here at Orange Birding; it’s the 500th post! Here’s to 500 more!
QUICK POST: This afternoon, Linda Scrima, Kyle Dudgeon, and I ran to Wickham Lake for a BLACK SCOTER that was located earlier in the day by Rob Stone. When we arrived, the bird was very distant, but identifiable with scope views. Kyle had to run, but Linda and I walked the trail on the east side of the lake to get a better look and some photos. The bird was closer from that side of the lake, but spent most of its time tucked in. It finally untucked a couple of times and I was able to get some documentary shots of the bird. I was particularly excited because it was the 205th species I’ve had in Orange County this year. Thanks once again to Rob Stone, who just keeps finding great birds.
Another highlight was seeing a pair of Bald Eagles sharing a branch as a perch. It was a little bit distant, but I’ve included a photo of the cute couple.
~Black Scoter with Ruddy Ducks at Wickham Lake, 10/9/16.~~It was pretty cool to see this couple of Bald Eagles perched together. Wickham Lake, 10/9/16.~~Earlier in the day, Kyle and I went to State Line Hawkwatch. In spite of the rain that was falling, many Bald Eagles and Osprey were flying. Grainy shot of a Bald Eagle over the Hudson River, 10/9/16.~
~This is the best I could do! Barrow’s Goldeneye at Glasco Mini Park in Ulster County, NY 3/12/16.~
After some uneventful early morning local birding, I drove up to Glasco, New York in Ulster Count to meet up with Linda Scrima and Maria Loukeris. We were going for the BARROW’S GOLDENEYE which had been reported at Glasco Mini Park in recent days. We located the bird fairly quickly far out in the Hudson River; it was keeping company with several Common Goldeneyes and a single scaup, which I’m pretty sure was a Greater Scaup. The birds were really quite distant, and additionally it was tough to get good looks because the water was quite choppy and the birds were diving regularly. But, we were patient and eventually we all got good looks in the scope and even managed to take some documentary photos, which was no small feat. One of us would look in the scope and call out when and where the Barrow’s surfaced while the others clicked away, hoping for the best. In spite of the distance and maybe because of the challenge of trying to get good looks, I really enjoyed going for this bird. The Barrow’s Goldeneye was life bird number 345 for me and my 259th New York State bird.
Linda and Maria continued north to do some Adirondack birding and I headed over to the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge to meet up with Kyle Dudgeon to try our luck with Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls. Unfortunately, it was a slow afternoon and the then the owls got up on the late side so we did not do very well with photos at all. Still, it was nice just to be out, especially for Kyle who has been away at school since January.
~Northern Harrier with a FULL crop, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 3/12/16.~~A super grainy shot of a Short-eared Owl in flight. Quite a difference from last weekend! Shawangunk Grasslands, 3/12/16.~~The only thing good about backlit Buffleheads is glowing pink feet! Glenmere Lake, 3/12/16.~~I really enjoyed watching these Buffleheads – six males were vying for the attentions of a single female. They put on a show! Glenmere Lake, 3/12/16.~
~I love this shot, it’s a little bit of a different look at a Ruddy Duck, Shark River in Monmouth County, NJ 4/27/16.~
I spent a full Saturday of birding on the Jersey Shore with Maria Loukeris and Linda Scrima. The day started a little extra-early – I met up with Linda at the Liberty Loop platform to try and relocated the GYRFALCON that she had found the night before. We spent just under a half hour scanning the area, but no luck. As far as I know there were no reported sightings of the Gyrfalcon all day.
Our first stop was Manasquan Inlet in Ocean County, with the recently sited RAZORBILL as our target bird (though we would all be happy just to see some different water birds and to be by the ocean). We walked the south side of the inlet and had incredible looks at Common Loons and Long-tailed Ducks, both of which were present in large numbers. At the end of the jetty we met a local birder, Alex, who told us the Razorbill had been seen earlier that morning in the channel, as had a RED-NECKED GREBE. The grebe did a fly-by shortly after he told us that, and I was lucky enough to have gotten a documentary shot of the bird. We didn’t locate the Razorbill, but we had great photo ops with many of the close in birds, and we got some distant looks at both Surf and White-winged Scoters. Another target bird for us was Purple Sandpiper; when a group of shorebirds flew in to the far side of the north jetty and Alex said they looked like Purple Sandpipers, we knew we had to drive around and check it out. It was a great decision because not only did we relocate and get photos of the Purple Sandpipers (life bird for Linda!), we ran into more birders who told us they had just seen the Razorbill in the channel. We took only about twenty paces in that direction when Maria located the bird, which was on the far side of the channel. It was a life bird for both Linda and Maria; we got very good looks at the bird but unfortunately it was heavily backlit so photos were not great.
~One of my favorites, close-up of a Common Loon. I’ve never seen so many loons in my life, it was hard to keep count but I’d say we had well over 25 COLOs just at Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~COLO at Manasquan Inlet, Ocean County NJ 2/27/16.~~The Common Loons were going to town with these crabs. Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~Target bird located! RAZORBILL at Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~Red-necked Grebe fly-by, Manasquan Inlet 2/27/16.~
From there, we headed to Shark River Inlet in Monmouth County, where I had my first warbler of 2016 – a group of 10 or so Yellow-rumped Warblers. We walked out on the jetty and experienced what was the highlight of the day for me. A Red-throated Loon was fishing north of the jetty and resurfacing very close to us. What a beautiful and elegant bird, even in winter plumage. There was a Common Loon nearby as well, and I was struck at the size difference between the birds. We had our first Black Scoters of the day, just a fly-by off in the distance and also a flock of shorebirds flew by, which I am thinking were likely Sanderlings having looked at the photos.
Our final stop was at the Shark River estuary, and it was unexpectedly good. The spot was loaded with waterfowl and the viewing is really great with the sun at your back in the afternoon. We had close up looks at Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, a Red-breasted Merganser, and a single Great Blue Heron on the shore right at sunset. It was a fabulous day of birding and just what I needed; I’ve been stressed out at work lately and it had been carrying over to life after work and even interfering with the joy I normally get from birding. A day at the beach with so many great birds and great company was the perfect medicine.
For the day, at three locations, we had a total of 37 species. I’ve included a list at the bottom of this post.
~Another favorite (I know I say that a lot!), Long-tailed Duck in flight at Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~Like a little puppy dog – Long-tailed Duck at Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~LTDU cuteness. Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~Brant in flight down the channel at Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~This might be my first half way decent shot of a Surf Scoter. Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~Purple Sandpiper on the north side of the north jetty at Manasquan Inlet, 2/27/16.~~It was the highlight of the day for me to get such great looks at this Red-throated Loon, Shark River Inlet 2/27/16.~~RTLO at Shark River Inlet, 2/27/16.~~Beautiful bird. Red-throated Loon at Shark River Inlet, 2/27/16.~~I was hoping we would get all three scoters for the day, and we did when we had these Black Scoters in flight over the water, Shark River Inlet, 2/27/16.~Sanderlings? in flight at Shark River Inlet, 2/27/16. Any thoughts on this ID would be appreciated. Click on the photo once and then a second time to see the photo enlarged.~
~My first warbler of the year, Yellow-rumped Warbler at Shark River Inlet, 2/27/16.~~This bird kept coming closer to us! Red-breasted Merganser at Shark River Estuary, 2/27/16.~~We had a group of twenty or so Ruddy Ducks right in front of us. They must be being fed by people because they just kept coming in close. Shark River Estuary, 2/27/16.~~RUDU at Shark River Estuary, 2/27/16.~~Our final bird of the day, a Great Blue Heron at sunset. Shark River Estuary, 2/27/16.~
Species List For the Day:
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Purple Sandpiper
Sanderling
Razorbill
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Fish Crow
European Starling
American Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow
~I love Brant, and I was finally able to get some decent photos. Brant foraging on the shore at Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary, 2/18/16.~
I made a site visit to examine the stained glass windows in a church in New Haven, Connecticut this morning. Once I had completed my work, I headed over to Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary, located in West Haven, right on the Long Island Sound. I had checked on eBird and found several hotspots not too far from the church, with Sandy Point having some good recent reports. I took a nice long walk along the beach; it was a gorgeous day but with a very strong wind that made it a little bit on the cold side and also made keeping my spotting scope and even my binoculars steady. I had only a modest 16 species, but there were a couple of favorites in there – I had a single Common Loon and many Brant. The most numerous bird, by far, were scaup – I had about 75 birds in close enough to identify as Greater Scaup and then an additional 300 or so that were quite distant (I was thinking they were likely Greater, but it was too far for me to be sure). It was a really nice way to spend a Thursday afternoon and a welcome break from the routine.
~I had both Fish Crows and American Crows at the sanctuary. I never heard this bird call, so I’m not sure which this is. Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary, West Haven CT 2/18/16.~~Greater? Scaup take off in numbers, only to relocate very nearby. Sandy Point Bird Sancturary, 2/18/16.~~Brant at Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary, 2/18/16.~~Brant in flight in front of the rocks, Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary, 2/18/16.~ ~iPhone shot of the beach at Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary, 2/18/16.~
~A Lesser Scaup in Playland Lake at the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 2/7/16.~
I had planned to get to Rye, NY for some birding at the end of 2015 or early January of this year, but somehow I never made it out there. So, today I finally took the trip to the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, a spot that always seems to deliver a good amount of birds in the winter compared to what we are getting in Orange County. I had a pretty good day, with a total of 34 species (this is ten fewer than I had during a trip late last February but only two fewer than Karen Miller and I had in January of 2015). The highlight for me was getting relatively good views of Long-tailed Ducks – they were still distant, but typically at the sanctuary the LTDUs are miles out into the Long Island Sound. Another highlight was a distant look at a pair of Horned Grebes, a species I’ve never had at the sanctuary before. I was mostly surprised by the number of species that I expected to get but did not: Brant, Double-crested and Great Cormorant, Great Blue Heron (I remember large numbers on the islands at Playland Lake in the past), American and Fish Crow. I’ve also typically done well with photos at the sanctuary, and that was not the case today. Still, it was good day – gorgeous, seasonably warm, with enough birds to keep it interesting. I’ve included my species list at the bottom of this post.
~One of my favorites, Long-tailed Duck out beyond the rocks, Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 2/7/16.~~Keeping my Species Photos 2016 page in mind, I spent some time with this Northern Cardinal, Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 2/7/16.~~I stopped at the town park to have my lunch and I was joined by numerous gulls looking for a handout. Ring-billed Gull mooching in Rye, NY 2/7/16.~~Herring Gull close up. This bird was so close to me that I didn’t think my camera would focus on it. The bird eventually joined me on the bench. Rye Town Park, 2/7/16.~
Canada Goose
American Black Duck
Mallard
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Horned Grebe
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
