I had an enjoyable weekend of birding, but Saturday was particularly productive. We had a storm pass through early in the morning which left some nice puddling in the black dirt. I had loads of Killdeer, several Least Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpipers, a single Greater Yellowlegs, and my personal highlight of the morning: (4) Pectoral Sandpipers.
In the early afternoon I went to Piermont Pier to follow up on some recent eBird reports. My target birds from the reports included Laughing Gull, Semipalmated Plovers, and Red-breasted Merganser. Well, I dipped on all three, lol. BUT, the birding was still really good. I enjoyed seeing (4) Caspian Terns as well as great looks at nearly a dozen Semipalmated Sandpipers. It was hot as blazes on the pier, but the birding was still very enjoyable.
~One of nearly a dozen Semipalmated Sanpipers at Piermont Pier, 07/29/23.~~Pectoral Sandpiper alongside a Killdeer in the black dirt, 07/29/23.~ ~Red-tailed Hawk on a bale of hay in the black dirt, 07/29/23.~~The elusive turtle action photo, inclusive of hovering mosquitos. I helped assure that this Box Turtle safely crossed the road – appropriately on Turtle Bay Road in the black dirt.~~A singing Savannah Sparrow in the black dirt, 07/29/23.~~I found a pair of presumed sibling fawns on Turtle Bay Road on Saturday morning. So cute!~~And the sibling.~~Mourning Dove in the black dirt, 07/29/23.~~European Starling in the black dirt, 07/30/23.~~This is likely the last of our House Wren photos – the chicks fledged on Saturday morning and they have been scarce since then. HOWR in our yard, 07/27/23.~~Great Blue Heron in Montgomery, 07/30/23.~
~A Ring-billed Gull in some nice light, River Front Park, Stony Point NY, 10/26/17.~
So, I’ve been at my new job for just over two months and up until today, I hadn’t done any birding in the area, choosing to hustle home and bird in Orange County instead. Well, the days have finally gotten short enough that it’s really tough for me to do any birding in OC, so today, for the first time, I decided to bird near my work in Garnerville, NY.
My original plan was to go to Stony Point Park, which is only 10 minutes from my work and, on the map, it looked perfect to bird the Hudson River since the park is located on a peninsula that juts out into the river. My plan was foiled when I arrived at the park to find out that it closes daily at 5:00 pm! I was ripping mad about it, but I took a look at the map on my phone and picked a second nearby location, dropping a pin on a spot that looked like I might get a look at the river. When I arrived at the location, to my surprise, it was a park! It was the Town of Stony Point’s River Front Park to be more precise, and what a find! It’s actually closer to my work and the location is just super. I’ve included a map below, you can see Stony Point Park just to the north, and that River Front Park actually sticks out further into the river than Stony Point SP.
It was a perfect night for birding on the Hudson, and just how I would want it to be: cold and windy, with super dark clouds and patches of beautiful bright gold sunlight peeking through periodically. It was a simultaneously creepy and beautiful night. I set up and began to scope the river; I was happy to see many gulls. I had Ring-billed (many), Herring (3), and Great Black-backed (2) gulls tonight and I’m hoping that I have more gulls to look forward to this winter. Waterfowl were less accommodating tonight; I had only Double-crested Cormorants (12). As I left the park, I could see that there is plenty of other good birding possibilities in this little area, so that was exciting to me; I have something to look forward to.
~I see this tower on my way home every night, and it is always absolutely LOADED with Black Vultures – I would guess over 100 on some days. I need to find a better place to pull over to get a decent shot without the wires. Garnerville, NY 10/26/17.~
