Shorebirds – Orange Birding

Sullivan County Long-billed Dowitcher, 10/17/21

While I was out birding this morning, I got a call from John Haas – he had a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER at Morningside Park in Sullivan County. At first I was hesitant about running for the bird; I would first have to go home for my kayak and then head to the the park, it would be close to an hour and a half of travel time to get there. But then I thought about it and there were too many good reasons for me to go for it. At this time of the year how likely is it for me to see any more shorebirds in our area? Plus, Long-billed Dowitcher is a great bird that I don’t get to see very often, especially not locally. And, I would get great views of the bird in the kayak. AND, it would be a new species for me in Sullivan County (my 191st).

~Beautiful bird. Long-billed Dowitcher at Morningside Park, 10/17/21.~

So I ran for the bird, and I’m sure glad I did because I had an awesome time. It was great to see John, and as I paddled up to him he informed me that the dowitcher was still present, and had in fact been joined by a Pectoral Sandpiper. It was very windy on the lake, so I wedged my kayak against some branches in the water not too far from he island the birds were on and sat tight. They weren’t very close at first, but I stayed put and they both moved a little closer and I was able to get some great looks and photos before backing my kayak away and heading back in. On my way back I stopped to enjoy a couple of Ring-billed Gulls on a couple other islands; you know I always enjoys seeing and photographing gulls. Huge thanks to John for heads up, he made my day.

~Pectoral Sandpiper shaking it off. Morningside Park, 10/17/21.~

~Long-billed Dowitcher, Sullivan County NY 10/17/21.~

~Subadult Ring-billed Gull, Morningside Park, 10/17/21.~

Shorebirds, Mt. Peter, & Reservoir #3

I went out to the black dirt first thing Saturday morning. I was counting at Mount Peter in the afternoon, so I wanted to get an early start. As always, I was looking for shorebirds – any new species or some better looks and photos of some of the birds we’ve been seeing. Well, I didn’t see any new species, and the best I could do for photos was a decent shot of a Greater Yellowlegs. But it was still a decent morning with 6 species of shorebirds: Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Pectoral Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Greater Yellowlegs.

~Greataer Yellowlegs at the Camel Farm, 09/25/21.~

~Fogbow at Skinners Lane Saturday morning 09/25/21. According to Wikipedia, “a fog bow, sometimes called a white rainbow, is a similar phenomenon to a rainbow; however, as its name suggest, it appears as a bow in fog rather than rain.”~

MOUNT PETER HAWKWATCH

In the afternoon I was the official counter at Mt. Peter Hawkwatch, taking over for BA McGrath who, unfortunately had a terribly slow morning. The afternoon, in general, wasn’t much busier but ultimately, I counted a total of 67 migrating raptors. A surprise kettle of 39 Broad-winged Hawks accounted for most of that number. I had (3) migrating Bald Eagles, and there were several Common Ravens putting on a show on the cell tower and in the air over the platform. You can see my report for HMANA at the bottom of this post.

~~ The Common Ravens helped pass the time when it was slow at Mt. Peter on Saturday, 09/25/21.~

~Broad-winged Hawk directly over the viewing platform, Mt. Peter 09/25/21.~

RESERVOIR #3

This morning I decided it was finally time to give the shorebirds a break. So I headed to Port Jervis and I birded Reservoir #3. It was just what the doctor ordered, birdy, peaceful, perfect weather, and some good photo ops. I tallied 30 species for the morning, with highlights of Brown Creeper (Res 3 is money for that bird!), several Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a pair of Blue-headed Vireos. Actually the real highlight for me came afterwards – after shooting distant shorebirds and raptors, it felt good to look at some decent photos of songbirds.

~ I am generally not to quick to ID silent flycatchers, but I’m thinking this bird is a juvenile Eastern Wood-Pewee due to the buffy wing bars.~

~Eastern Phoebe at Reservoir #3, 09/26/21.~

~One more of the Brown Creeper, Res 3 09/26/21.~

~One of several Yellow-rumped Warblers at Reservoir #3, 09/26/21.~

~And, one more Pine Warbler shot. Res 3 09/26/21.~

~I was struck by how beautiful Beaver Pond looked on Saturday morning, so I took a photo with my phone.~

Sunday Shots – A Pretty Good Week, 09/19/21

I enjoyed some pretty good birding this week and into the weekend. As regular readers of this blog know, I’m obsessed with shorebirds and that’s how I spent most of my birding time. I did not add any new species to my year list, but I just enjoyed the variety we’ve been having and trying for photos. The highlight was seeing the largest flock of American Golden-Plovers I’ve ever seen in the black dirt, a remarkable 76 birds. Two Buff-breasted Sandpipers continued up until Thursday evening, but I haven’t seen or heard any reports since then.

~American Golden-Plover at Skinners Lane, 09/17/21.

~Flock of American Golden-Plovers in flight over the fields of Skinners Lane, 09/14/21.~

On the weekend, I also went up to Mount Peter to see how the hawkwatch was going. Right now should be primetime for Broad-winged Hawk migration and I was hoping to see a kettle or two. I went Saturday for a about an hour or so, and unfortunately it was a bust. Sunday was another story and I enjoyed my most successful flight of Broad-winged Hawks ever. When I left in the early afternoon, over 2,500 BWHAs had been counted. We had over 1,500 in a single hour! I also saw the largest kettle I’ve ever seen, consisting of approximately 700 birds. It was remarkable. Will Test was the official counter, and nearly every other counter from Mt. Pete was there as well, giving him a hand and enjoying one of the best days of the season.

~Broad-winged Hawks kettling, Mount Peter Hawkwatch 09/19/21.~

~Most of the birds were quite high; these BWHAs were a little on the lower side. Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 09/19/21.~

~A young Bald Eagle in a field off of Turtle Bay Road…~

~…it was enjoying a snack of who-the-heck-knows-what. Turtle Bay Road 09/18/21.~

~Another American Golden-Plover, Skinners Lane 09/17/21.~

AMGPs in flight at Skinners Lane, 09/17/21.~

~If you are sick of the American Golden-Plovers, you are in luck. I looked for them early this afternoon and didn’t have any luck. AMGPs at Skinners Lane, 09/17/21.~

~Sandhill Crane stretching it out in the black dirt, 09/18/21.~

A Good Monday Evening, 09/13/21

As far as birding went, this past weekend was a total bust. My niece got married, so I spent much of the weekend down on Long Island to attend. But, tonight’s outing definitely took some of the sting out of it. I went to Skinner’s Lane after work, and after a slow start with just a single shorebird (a Black-bellied Plover), things heated up a little bit. First a flock of American Golden-Plovers flew in – twenty birds. They circled around several times before putting down in a distant field. Then a small group of Killdeer flew over; I noticed one bird appeared to be different, so I stayed on it until it landed… and it was a beautiful BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.

~Black-bellied Plover at Skinner’s Lane, 09/13/21.~

I put the word out, but it was getting dark. Linda Scrima joined me and we enjoyed watching all the birds work their way closer to the road until they were quite close. At that point there was barely any light left, and normally I would have abandoned taking pics, but I really wanted to try for the Buff-breasted. They are all super grainy, but I’ve included my best shot of the BBSA below. It’s always nice to have an unexpectedly nice Monday night after spending the day getting back into the swing of things at work.

~I used some setting that I hardly ever venture into – ISO 10,000 and f/4 aperture. Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Skinner’s Lane 09/13/21.~

~American Golden-Plovers in flight over Skinner’s Lane, 09/13/21.~

~And thinking about landing. American Golden-Plovers at Skinner’s Lane, 09/13/21.~

~What a cutie. Semipalmated Plover in the black dirt last week, 09/09/21.~

~Also from last week, Baird’s Sandpiper in the black dirt, 09/09/21.~

More Good OC Shorebirds, 09/06/21

This morning I met up with birding bud Bruce Nott and we once again hit the black dirt looking for shorebirds. Early on it was not looking good; we were not finding the multitudes of shorebirds we were hoping for, and the puddling was greatly reduced. We did have a single Baird’s Sandpiper at Skinners Lane, so that was nice. Our fortunes changed at Pine Island Turf Nursery. First off, the office was closed for the holiday, but luckily we ran into some of the folks from the nursery in the parking lot as they were leaving, and they gave us permission to go in and look for birds.

~A nice look at a Lesser Yellowlegs at Pine Island Turf Nursery, 09/06/21.~

There was a good number of shorebirds present and we had a pretty darn good list with a cool dozen species when it was all said and done:

Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
SANDERLING
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
Least Sandpiper
WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs

~Wow, a relatively close Pectoral Sandpiper! PITN 09/06/21.~

~Sanderling in flight at Pine Island Turf Nursery, 09/06/21.~

~Baird’s Sandpiper alongside a Lesser Yellowlegs, PITN 09/06/21.~

~Great Egrets in a field at Pine Island Turf Nursery, 09/06/21.~

~I got lucky with this shot – I was focusing on the Lesser Yellowlegs, but happened to also catch what I believe is a Baird’s Sandpiper in flight ahead of the yellowlegs.~

Sunday Shots, Catch Up Edition, 09/05/21

Last weekend was a total bust for me. We had a sick cat which took up all my time (and money!) on Saturday, as I took my sick little girl to two different veterinarians. I spent Sunday staring at the cat, trying to will her back to health. A week later, the cat is doing better and my mind is no longer all consumed by the state of her health.

Meanwhile, this week the tail end of Hurricane Ida came through our area, leaving the black dirt flooded in many areas, creating great conditions for shorebirds. While storm did not bring in as many birds as I might have thought, afterwards and through the week and into the weekend, we accumulated quite a nice shorebird list in the black dirt:

BLACK-BILLIED PLOVER
AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER
Killdeer
BAIRD’S SANDPIPER
Least Sandpiper
WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Wilson’s Snipe
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs

~A number of Lesser Yellowlegs gather in one of the large puddles found in the black dirt, 09/04/21.~

I also made a relatively quick but very productive stop at Mount Peter Hawkwatch on Saturday afternoon (yes, hawkwatch is starting already!). I joined official counter Ken Witkowski for just about an hour, and we were lucky enough to have nearly 50 migrating raptors – forty something Broadwinged Hawks, 2 Bald Eagles, and an Osprey.

~Backyard Ruby-throated Hummingbird earlier this week.~

~A young Peregrine Falcon in flight over Skinner’s Lane, 09/04/21.~

~Mixed flock of shorebirds. I can identify at least 3 species in this shot: Pectoral Sandpipers, Least Sandpiper, and White-rumped Sandpipers. Black Dirt Region 09/05/21.

~Savannah Sparrow in the black dirt, 09/02/21.~

~Red-tailed Hawk in the black dirt, 09/02/21.~

~There are loads of Brown-headed Cowbirds at Skinner right now. They are characters and have no fear, landing nearby, even on my car. ~

Black Dirt Shorebird Shots, 08/22/21

Shorebirds in the black dirt are generally quite distant; just miles out, which means photos are typically just documentary. But this week, I had some birds which, while not close enough for anything remarkable, were close enough to get some decent shots. I’ve been checking the black dirt frequently, I have the feeling we are going to get something good out there this fall. Or maybe I’m just hoping we will. Either way, it was nice to get some shorebirds which were not Killdeer, and some decent photos to boot.

~Lesser Yellowlegs in the black dirt, 08/22/21.~

One other quick note – I went out the Hudson River this afternoon, hoping the hurricane/tropical storm might bring in something interesting. I don’t think my timing was great, and there wasn’t much going on. Tomorrow might be better, but unfortunately I’ll be working.

~Always a favorite of mine – Pectoral Sandpiper in the black dirt, 08/19/21.~

~I was struggling to confirm the identification of this Least Sandpiper (and one other with it). First, the birds were not near any other birds, so I wasn’t sure of their size. Also, the bird’s posture looked taller and longer than what I would expect for a Least. But, I think it was behaving differently because of the height of the grass. Also, because of the high grass I never got a look at the color of their legs. Anyways, I’m pretty sure this is a LESA, black dirt 08/22/21.

Orange County Caspian Terns, 08/15/21

Shorebird migration hitting its stride has really gotten my birding blood pumping. On Saturday and early Sunday morning I birded the black dirt and Liberty Marsh and had a total of 10 species of shorebirds (Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, and Solitary Sandpiper). If I add my mystery shorebirds from last Sunday, which turned out to be UPLAND SANDPIPERS, that’s 11 species of shorebirds in a week.

~Caspian Tern in flight above Cornwall Bay, 08/15/21.~

But, as much as I love shorebirds, the real excitement began later in the morning when Bruce Nott notified me that he had several CASPIAN TERNS at Cornwall Bay. I headed straight over and joined Bruce. Two of the terns had departed, heading south, but that still left six Caspian Terns present. We enjoyed watching as the 3 adult birds actively fished and periodically brought back their prey to feed the waiting and calling 3 juvenile birds. We also had some shorebirds fly in and stay on the sandbar briefly – by my count there were 4 Greater Yellowlegs, 3 Lesser Yellowlegs, 5 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a single Least Sandpiper. Eventually the terns all settled in on the sand bar presumably content for the moment. We departed definitively content. Huge thanks for Bruce for the heads up and the awesome company.

~Caspian Tern at Cornwall Bay, 08/15/21.~

~Caspian Tern over the treetops, Cornwall Bay, 08/15/21.~

~CATE at Cornwall Bay 08/15/21.~

~Great Blue Heron at Beaver Pond on Friday evening, 08/13/21.~

~For all the shorebirds I’ve seen recently, decent photos are tough to come by as the birds are always so distant. I’ve looked at hundreds of Killdeer this week, here’s one at Skinners Lane, 08/12/21.~

~Sandhill Cranes in a ditch in the black dirt, 08/14/21.~

~House Wren in the black dirt, 08/14/21.~

~Red-tailed Hawk in the black dirt, 08/15/21.~

A Good Morning, 08/08/21

I toyed with the idea of heading back north to try for the Wood Stork again, but ultimately I decided to stay local. The bird was reported at the German Church Road location again yesterday evening, but I haven’t heard anything today.

My first stop was the Camel Farm for shorebirds; I found nearly a dozen Least Sandpipers and a couple of Semipalmated Sandpipers. Moving on, I went to the Liberty Loop. Again my main goal was shorebirds, but I also was hoping for the SNOWY EGRET and LITTLE BLUE HERON, both of which were present. I had a decent list of shorebirds: Semipalmated Plover (2), Killdeer (25+), Least Sandpiper (1), Semipalmated Sandpiper (1), Solitary Sandpiper (2), Greater Yellowlegs (1), and Lesser Yellowlegs (2). It’s great to be seeing shorebirds again.

~Little Blue Heron at Wallkill River Nation Wildlife Refuge’s Liberty Marsh, 08/08/21.~

I made a couple more stops after that – I checked Beaver Pond but found poor conditions and no shorebirds. I also went to Skinners Lane, where I had a good number of Killdeer, as well as 3 mystery shorebirds which were rude enough to just do a flyover and not stop. Another exciting thing for me was a decent number of Horned Larks (20 or so), with many young birds in the mix.

~One Snowy Egret with 3 Great Egrets, a couple of Great Blue Herons, and some Mallards. Liberty Marsh, 08/08/21.~

~A messy looking Northern Mockingbird at the Camel Farm, 08/08/21.~

~Mystery shorebirds at Skinners Lane, 08/08/21.

Sullivan County WILSON’S PHALAROPE, 05/31/21

I guess it was just a shorebird kind of weekend. This morning I went back to Skinners Lane; nearly all the shorebirds I had yesterday continued. Linda Scrima reported that the three Black-bellied Plovers, which I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post, also continued. I headed back to the west side of the Liberty Loop, convinced there had to be something good there. Maria Loukeris had the same idea and joined me out there, unfortunately we were both disappointed. But! When I got back to my car and was starting to head home, John Haas had put out a notification on the Mearn’s Bird Club app that he had a WILSON’S PHALAROPE at Morningside Park!

~What a gorgeous little shorebird – WILSON’S PHALAROPE at Morningside Park, 05/31/21.~

I hustled out to the park, and the bird hung in there. I joined John and several other birders as we enjoyed some of my best views ever of this species. What a treat it was and a great way to end a killer shorebird weekend. Huge thanks to John for locating the bird and for putting the word out. You can see his blog post about it here. If he hasn’t posted about it yet, I’m sure he will this afternoon or evening.

~Wilson’s Phalarope giving me a nice profile. Morningside Park, 05/31/21.~

~One more shot of the Wilson’s Phalarope at Morningside Park, 05/31/21.~