This is a weak edition of SS, but I always like to at least check in on the weekends. My birding was a little unfocused; I think migration winding down had a lot to do with it. I tried for shorebirds in the county with almost no success (I did, however, get some at the Liberty Loop in Sussex Co., where I had Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, and a Spotted Sandpiper). I also did a little atlasing. I know that’s not a real word. I think that I need to be patient and I will have success with it, but it’s slow going so far for me in my priority block. That said, I did manage to confirm one more species – Swamp Sparrow. Here’s some pics from the weekend (and one from a couple weeks ago – it was slim pickings this week).
~Great Blue Heron just after Sunrise at the Liberty Loop, 05/30/20.~ ~There was a good stiff wind at the Liberty Loop on Friday night, this Red-winged Blackbird assumed the position. 05/29/20.~ ~Cuteness. Young Brown Thrasher at the Liberty Loop, 05/30/20. It was one of 6 new species I added to my Orange County year list this weekend (others were: Alder Flycatcher, American Bittern, Common Gallinule, Black-billed Cuckoo, and Blackpoll Warbler). ~Singing Indigo Bunting at Goosepond Mountain SP, 05/18/20.~ ~Gotcha! Great Blue Heron at Liberty Loop, 05/30/20.~
The past couple of days I enjoyed getting out in the mornings; both days were birdy enough to keep it interesting. On Saturday I went to Port Jervis. Laurel Grove Cemetery was a bust, but Elks Brox had a good number of birds. It was mostly the usuals or birds I’ve already gotten this year, but I was able to pick up two new birds for the year: Swainson’s Thrush and Gray-cheeked Thrush. I’ve included shots of each below. See my Elks Brox report here.
~This made my day. Today at Goosepond Mountain, this Prairie Warbler landed right in front of me along the trail. It was overcast in the morning, which to me is the perfect light for this bird – any direct light and I just don’t like the way the yellow comes out, especially if the highlights get blown out.~
This morning I went to Goosepond Mountain in an effort to spend some time in my NYSBBA priority block. I was hoping to confirm any breeding species (I didn’t), but I particularly wanted to follow up on the Broad-winged Hawks I saw there a few weeks back (also a fail – unfortunately no sign of them). The highlight of my morning was hearing a WHITE-EYED VIREO just off the trail. The little bugger was stubborn though, and I never laid eyes on it. That’s the second WEVI I’ve heard but not seen this weekend! (The first was at Sterling Forest SP on Saturday). In spite of the above frustrations, it was actually a great walk with plenty of birds (45 species) and very few people.
~Scarlet Tanager female at Elks Brox on 05/24/20.~ ~Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher at Goosepond Mountain this morning, 05/25/20. This spring I have located 4 BGGN nests – it’s interesting to see how the NYS Breeding Bird Atlas has changed my focus.~~Male Bobolink at Knapp’s View, 05/25/20.~~Gray-cheeked Thrush at Elks Brox, 05/24/20.~ ~I have this as a Swainson’s Thrush. Elks Brox in Port Jervis, 05/24/20.~
Low tide in Newburgh was at 7:52 this morning. With that in mind, I headed over to the Hudson River in hopes of getting some shorebirds on the mudflats of Cornwall Bay. As luck would have it, upon my arrival I had 3 unidentified peeps in flight, heading north, never to return. Sigh. From there, I went to the waterfront and ran into birding bud, Bruce Nott on the way. He informed me that the LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was still present. I enjoyed my best looks at the bird, as well as some decent photo ops (in spite of the poor lighting).
~Beautiful bird. Lesser Black-backed Gull in flight, Newburgh Waterfront 5/23/20.~ ~LBBG in Newburgh this morning, 05/23/20.~
Afterwards, Bruce and I met up at Ironwood Drive in Sterling Forest State Park. We enjoyed a pleasant late morning of birding; the cool rainy weather made it quite pleasant and the birds remained quite active. Highlights included our target birds Golden-winged Warbler and Brewster’s Warbler. A bonus was hearing a White-eyed Vireo. The bird called for about 2 minutes, never showed itself, and then nothing! Frustrating, but still very cool. Pics were tough, I included shots of the Brewster’s in my eBird report, but just for documentary purposes. I do, however, have several shots from the past week or so that I’m including here:
~I forgot about this shot – Chimney Swift at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 05/13/20.~ ~This is one of a pair of Worm-eating Warblers that I followed down the trail at Sterling Forest last weekend, 05/17/20.~ ~This is a bird that has been scarce for me this year – Veery at Sterling Forest 05/17/20.~ ~Chipping Sparrow at Sterling Forest SP, 05/17/20.~
I can’t imagine many other birders feel this way, but warblers stress me out. Every spring I worry that I’m not going to be at the right place, on the right day, at the right time, and poof all the migrating warblers will be gone. It’s never happened, I always get my share, but this is what I do. Fortunately, today I was in the right place at the right time. After a relatively uneventful visit to Pochuck Mountain early this morning, I headed to Laurel Grove Cemetery, where I met up with Linda Scrima.
~We had at least half a dozen Bay-breasted Warblers at Laurel Grove this morning. They spent most of their time in the shadows, but I caught this one in good light.~
In spite of our late(ish) arrival, the place was hopping. And the birds lingered into the late morning, an unusual occurence at this location. We had a total of 13 species of warbler, highlighted by several Cape May Warblers, at least six Bay-breasted Warblers, a couple of Blackburnian Warblers, at least a couple of Magnolia Warblers, and a single Canada Warbler. Other good birds included Blue-headed Vireo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Least Flycatchers (2), and I got my first Eastern Kingbird of the year. We had a total of 42 species for the morning, and some decent photos to boot.
~Cape May Warbler at LGC, 05/16/20.~~This was probably my favorite bird of the day: Canada Warbler at LGC, 05/16/20.~ ~Not as flashy as the male, but still pretty in her own way, female Cape May Warbler at LGC 05/16/20.~ ~American Robin amongst the headstones at LGC, 05/16/20.~ ~Cape May Warbler at Laurel Grove Cemetery, 05/16/20.~ ~Magnolia Warbler at Laurel Grove Cemetery, 05/16/20.~ ~The disappointment of the day – in spite of ample opportunity, this is the best shot I got of a Blackburnian Warbler. So many blurry shots! Maybe next time.~
After a pretty disappointing day of birding on Saturday, I was happy to have a pleasant and birdy walk at Pochuck Mountain State Park this morning. It was a sunny and cool morning, and had the place almost completely to myself; when I arrived there were no turkey hunter’s vehicles in the lot at all, my only contact with anyone was a single mountain biker on the trail briefly. I had a total of 31 species, which is just slightly above average for me at this location in early May. Highlights included 8 species of warbler (Ovenbird, Worm-eating, Nashville, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, and Black-throated Green), Yellow-throated Vireo, my first Baltimore Orioles of the year, and probably my best photo op of a Pileated Woodpecker to date.
~Pileated Woodpecker at Pochuck Mountain SP, 05/10/20.~ ~Chestnut-sided Warbler at Pochuck Mountain SP, 05/10/20.~ ~This is a bird I’ve struggled to get shots of – Black-throated Green Warbler at Pochuck Mountain SP, 05/10/20.~ ~One more of the PIWO, with an ant on its bill. This bird was enjoying a nice snack, Pochuck Mountain, 05/10/20.~ ~My yard continues to entertain. This week I watched Blue Jays build a nest in the tree right outside the window where I have my work computer set up. Also, two Wood Ducks roosted in the yard on Saturday night, I flushed them as I walked through the yard early Sunday morning. Here’s a Black-capped Chickadee in our crabapple tree.~
This evening, Tricia and I were sitting on the back deck having a cocktail. Tricia stepped inside for something and I took the opportunity to check out a wren that was making a racket on the far side of one of the evergreens. I made my way around, but I couldn’t locate the bird until it flushed into the neighbor’s yard. Meanwhile, the wren was replaced with another bird – I got my bins on it and was very surprised to see it was a LINCOLN’S SPARROW!
~Beautiful bird! LINCOLN’S SPARROW, my yard, Goshen NY 05/03/20.~
I didn’t have my camera with me, so, barely moving a muscle I reached into my pocket and quietly called Tricia. Thankfully she answered immediately; I asked her to bring me my camera. I kept my eye on the bird while Tricia smoothly walked the camera out to me; the bird hadn’t moved an inch! I clicked away like mad, I was shaking from the excitement, so I knew there would be a lot of throwaways. The bird changed its perch one time before disappearing behind the evergreen and we never saw it again. Lincoln’s Sparrow in my back yard! I’m still floored by this!
In spite of a late start, I had an excellent morning of birding at Goosepond Mountain State Park. I walked for over 3 1/2 hours and it was quite productive. I had a total of 41 species, 12 of which were year birds for me. Highlights included: BLUE-HEADED VIREO, BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, and BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. I also had a pair of Broad-winged Hawks, deep in the woods. On my way out, I had one with a fresh kill (chipmunk). On my way back I watched as the two birds copulated high in the trees. It was pretty cool.
~Yellow-rumped Warblers were quite numerous at Goosepond Mountain today, a conservative estimate would ~For as often as I hear this bird, I rarely get photographs. Carolina Wren at Goosepond Mountain, 05/02/20.~ ~Blue-headed Vireo, Goosepond Mountain 05/02/20.~ ~Broad-winged Hawk with chipmunk. Goosepond Mountain 05/02/20.~
I also had a couple of interesting yard birds this week. Who knew what I’ve been missing by going in to work every day? Working from home certainly has its advantages.
~I was sitting at my desk working and I caught a bird landing in one of our trees out of the corner of my eye. I was certainly surprised to see it was a Wood Duck!!! My yard, Goshen NY 04/27/20.~~Tricia spied this Wood Thrush out our kitchen window and called me in. I grabbed my camera a got a few shots – all with its back to me – before the bird took off. My yard, Goshen NY 05/01/20.~
I got a little bit of a late start this morning, but looking at the tide table, I would be arriving in Newburgh right at low tide. Plum Point was my first stop, mostly to check for gulls in Cornwall Bay. I only had a handful of Ring-billed Gulls, but I eventually located a RED-THROATED LOON. The bird appeared to be much closer to Donahue Memorial Park on the other side of the bay, so I headed over for a better look. Of course, when I arrived it took me ages to relocate the bird and it was way out from there as well. I’ve fallen for that trick way too many times.
~Black-crowned Night-heron at Quassaick Creek, 04/26/20.~
Birding bud Bruce Nott had arrived at Plum Plum point shortly after I left. We communicated and after some searching he got on the loon. Afterwards, I met up with Bruce and I followed him to Quassaick Creek, where he had seen several Black-crowned Night-herons in recent days. When we arrive, there were 2 present and I was able to get a decent (if partially obstructed) shot of one of the birds.
~This adult Bald Eagle flew down very low and directly overhead! Newburgh Waterfront, 04/26/20.~
From there, we headed to the Newburgh Waterfront. There was a decent number of gulls present; the most interesting being two young Great Black-backed Gulls. We lingered, hoping something good would fly in, and we weren’t disappointed. I spotted a tern flying north over the river and got Bruce on it right away. We tracked the bird in our scopes as it crossed the river to the Beacon area, where it seemed like it might want to stay for a bit, but then it started to circle up, higher and higher until I was looking through my scope almost directly above us and I lost the bird. Our impression is that the bird was a FORSTER’S TERN; it was a lighter bird with no darkness at the upper wingtips. Photos seem to support this, but I’m just not comfortable enough with tern identification to be sure. Still, it was the most exciting ten minutes of the day!
~Tern species flying over the Hudson River, 04/26/20. I’ve included one more shot of this bird at the bottom of this post, if anyone has any thoughts on its ID, please comment.~
After the tern excitement, Bruce located a BONAPARTE’S GULL in beautiful plumage. Viewing this bird was also short-lived as an adult Bald Eagle flew in low and all the gulls scattered. I headed home after that; I checked on my Common Raven’s nest on the way home and they appear to have two young birds in the nest. It was a pleasant morning and early afternoon of birding, in spite of the cold temperatures and the intermittent rain.
~Bonaparte’ Gull at Newburgh Waterfront, 04/26/20.~ ~Common Grackle at Newburgh Waterfront. This shot was taken earlier this week with much better light and weather. ~~I guess this American Robin is making the most of each trip for nesting materials. Creamery Pond in Sugar Loaf, 04/25/20.~ ~One more shot of the Tern sp. in Newburgh, 04/26/20.~
What a difference a day makes. On Saturday morning, I photographed the Red-tailed Hawk below in less than ideal conditions; it was dark, rainy, and snowy. In order to get anything useful from it, I had to bump the ISO to 2000 and overexpose by 1 1/3 stops (actually, I should have overexposed more, as I still had to increase the exposure significantly in post processing). In spite of it being grainy and little too dark in places, I sort of like the results. I’m wondering if it may just be because it’s a little bit different and kind of cool; the bird is clearly wet from the rain and is grasping a squirrel in its left talon.
~Red-tailed Hawk at Creamery Pond in Sugarloaf, 04/18/20.~
By contrast, this morning I was lucky enough to find a Bald Eagle perched on the roadside in the beautiful light not long after sunrise. I shot this bird at ISO 800, but really I should have dropped it to 400 for better results. This shot doesn’t capture my imagination quite as much as the Red-tail. It’s a beautiful bird with nice light (at least on the head and chest), but other than it being a Bald Eagle, it’s not all that exciting to me, and it’s also messy with all the branches in the foreground and background. Tricia prefers it, so different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
After work I went to the Newburgh Waterfront to chase the Iceland Gull that Bruce Nott reported earlier in the day. I had no luck with the ICGU, but as luck would have it, I found a CASPIAN TERN! I was super excited to see this bird and I put the word out immediately. Bruce Nott arrived just before all the gulls, and the tern picked up and flew. I tracked the tern as it headed south along the river and eventually out of view.
~Right on! CASPIAN TERN taking off at the Newburgh Waterfront, 04/15/20.~
John Haas arrived shortly after the bird flew. The three of us tried to relocate the bird, searching areas to the south, but we weren’t having any luck. We reconvened at the waterfront, where the Lesser Black-backed Gull made another appearance. I decided to call it a night; I was just about to pull out when my phone rang – it was John – the Caspian Tern had returned! I was happy all three of us were able to get the bird.
~Excellent bird for the county! CASPIAN TERN at the Newburgh Waterfront, 04/15/20.~~CATE in flight, Newburgh Waterfront 04/15/20.~
