~American Robin feeding at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
I spent a couple of cold hours this morning walking the Heritage Trail at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary. It was quite birdy and I tallied 20 species for the walk; I’ll include my species list below. The best and most surprising bird for me was a female Northern Harrier which was cruising the open area below the Orange County Jail. I also enjoyed seeing 2 Great Blue Herons, one that flushed as I walked along the trail and the second was all tucked in on the bank of the stream alongside the trail. It was a brisk -3 degrees Fahrenheit when I started my walk, and it warmed up to a balmy 1 degree Fahrenheit by the time I got back to the car.
A male Eastern Bluebird shows a little wing, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16. This is a species that I seem to see often when it’s very cold like this.~~It was really cool to see this Great Blue Heron all hunkered down on the bank of the stream which runs parallel to the Heritage Trail, 2/14/16.~
Great Blue Heron 2 Northern Harrier 1 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Ring-billed Gull 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 6 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 8 American Crow 1 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Eastern Bluebird 4 American Robin 12 American Tree Sparrow 25 Dark-eyed Junco 65 White-throated Sparrow 6 Song Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 1
A pair of White-throated Sparrows forage on the trail in front of me at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~~A puffed up American Tree Sparrow, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~~Downy Woodpeckers were plentiful during my walk and also very accommodating. 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~~One more shot of the American Robin feeding, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 2/14/16.~
~A White-breasted Nuthatches strikes the usual pose, Port Jervis NY 2/6/16.~
I woke up early this morning and made it out to Port Jervis just after it started getting light out. I’ve spent nearly all my recent birding time in the black dirt, so I was looking for a change. I started at a spot just outside of Port Jervis that allows for a quiet walk with enough birds to keep it interesting. My first bird of the day was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, my first of the year in Orange County. One of the last birds I had was a Common Raven which was another to add to my Orange County list for 2016. I saw or heard 14 species on what ended up being a very cold walk; when I got back to my car and I was thinking it had finally warmed up, I looked at the temperature and it was only 19 degrees! I had an interesting experience with a group of maybe 8 White-breasted Nuthatches (it was hard to keep count!). I’ve never seen that many together at once, and they were calling and flying all around me, landing on nearby trees and on the road as well… it was pretty cool.
From there I made a couple of brief stops as I made my way into Port Jervis to bird Laurel Grove Cemetery. I parked at the far end and then made a loop to eventually end up back at my car. It was a birdy walk and I added another 3 birds to my Orange County 2016 list: Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, and Brown Creeper (a drastic improvement over last year, when it took me 11 months and 27 days to find a creeper!). I walked for just about an hour and had 19 species.
~I didn’t realize it until I stopped to think about it, but I had 4 Bald Eagles today, all of them adults. Orange County Bald Eagle, 2/6/16.~
I headed home for lunch with Tricia, winding my way through the black dirt without any remarkable sitings. After lunch I headed up north to see if I could do any good with waterfowl. I made three stops: Tomahawk Lake, Brown’s Pond, and Lake Washington. I only had any luck at Lake Washington, where I had 42 distant Common Mergansers and 8 Mallards. My more notable sitings were not waterfowl, I had an American Kestrel on the way to Tomahawk Lake in Hamptonburgh, and then when I arrived, I added my sixth bird of the day to my Orange County list, a Northern Flicker.
I left the county at the end of the day and headed out to Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge to try for the Short-eared Owls. I had a Red-tailed Hawk as I entered the refuge, which was absolutely packed – it was the first time I’ve had to parallel park at the grasslands! I talked to Ralph and he said that three different groups had outings at the refuge that evening. I had 7 Northern Harriers including one Gray Ghost, and then, up pretty late in the fading light, I had 4 Short-eared Owls – which was a nice way to end a super day of birding.
**I’ve updated the Species Photos 2016 page. I now have 25 species on the page, I think I need to start focusing on this page a little more.**
~I’m really not so crazy for White-breasted Nuthatches, so I can’t really remember seeing one on the ground like this. WBNU in Port Jervis, NY 2/6/16.~~White-breasted Nuthatch, Port Jervis, NY 2/6/16.~~I saw this bird fly in and thought “please be a hairy!”, and it was. Hairy Woodpecker at Laurel Grove Cemetery, 2/6/16.~~On my way to Tomahawk Lake, I pulled over to get a better look at a bird on a distant hay bale. It was an American Kestrel. And it flew towards me and perched in the tree in front of my car! Lucky day! AMKE in Hamptonburgh, NY 2/6/16.~
~Wow! Greater White-fronted Goose in the Black Dirt Region, 1/29/16.~
I love getting word of a good bird while I’m at work. Well, I love it and I hate it. It’s great because it’s exciting and something to look forward to after work, but it can be terrible too because the day inevitably passes very slowly and there is always the chance that the bird will move on. This morning I received a text from John Haas – he had a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE among a couple thousand Canada Geese at Turtle Bay in the black dirt, which was very exciting to me! As expected, the day did drag on, and of course, as I was leaving I received word from Linda Scrima that after spending most of the day at Turtle Bay, all the geese had lifted up. She had scoured all the regular black dirt geese locations and was unable to locate any large groups of geese. I could think of one other location where the birds could be located, but it was private property. Linda met me at the location, and with the homeowner’s permission we were able to relocate the bird and get some good photos too!
My exciting evening of birding didn’t end there. I had been in contact with Bruce Nott and he was at the Newburgh Waterfront looking for gulls. I contacted him after leaving the GWFG and he was on a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, presumably the same bird John Haas had located earlier in the week (that guy’s having a pretty good week!). I made my way over to Newburgh and when I arrived, Bruce and Ajit and Liza Antony all had the bird in their scopes. I hopped out of the car and took a good look at the bird in both scopes before going back to the car for my own scope. They told me how they had lost the bird but relocated it while I was in transit! What a great afternoon and evening of birding!
~They all lined up nicely for this photo, Greater White-fronted Goose up front, of course! Black Dirt Region, 1/29/16.~~I don’t even know if this even qualifies as a documentary photo – Lesser Black-backed Gull at the Newburgh Waterfront, 1/29/16. Click here to see a decent shot I got of a LBBG last March at this same location.~
~This young Cooper’s Hawk found a man-made perch that I actually like for photos. This was wood and rusty metal rack in the back of an abandoned pick up truck. Black Dirt, 1/24/16.~
QUICK POST: I was out of town visiting family, so the only birding I did over the weekend was this afternoon when I ran around the Black Dirt Region for a couple of hours. It wasn’t the most productive of outings; I had only 18 species for the afternoon, and all were expected birds. The highlight for me was two ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS; it’s nice to see that RLHAs seem to have finally moved into the area in some numbers. They were too distant for photos but still nice to see. At any rate, here are few shots from the afternoon.
~It was a day for man made perches, I guess. White-crowned sparrow on a crate in the black dirt, 1/24/16.~~Same crate, different bird. Song Sparrow in the Black Dirt Region, 1/24/16.~
~An American Kestrel that actually did not flush as I drove by! A birding miracle in the Black Dirt Region, 1/16/16.~
I birded the Black Dirt Region by car this morning and covered a lot of ground. I wanted to first check to see if the Snowy Owl continued – I was unable to relocate the bird and did not hear of anyone relocating the bird all day. My second goal of the day was to sort through some of the many Canada Geese in the area, looking for rarities. I really wanted to locate a Cackling Goose, especially since John Haas had reported 2 from the day before. I located two decent candidates; one flew before I got any photos or could be sure of the ID. When I located the second candidate, Linda Scrima joined me and although we got some decent looks and photos of the bird, we left unsure of the ID. I kept going back and forth with this bird, sometimes it looked really good for a Cackling and other times not so good. Being this unsure, I will leave this bird unidentified, but I’ve included a photo of the bird in this post in case anyone would like to weigh in. The only other notable geese from the day were 5 Snow Geese. My final goal was to try to add some birds to my Orange County list and I increased it by 9 birds. I had 30 birds on my species list, which I’ve included at the bottom of this post. Highlights of the day for me included 2 Rough-legged Hawks and 2 American Kestrels.
~A male Northern Harrier, the Gray Ghost in flight in the black dirt. This was taken earlier in the week, 1/13/16.~~Three of the 5 Snow Geese I had in the black dirt today, 1/16/16.~~Same Gray Ghost as above, perched on the ground. Black Dirt Region, 1/13/16.~~American Kestrel taking flight, Black Dirt Region, 1/16/16.~~This was Cackling Goose Candidate #2… Any thoughts? ~
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Ring-necked Pheasant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Short-eared Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch
~Wow!, Snowy Owl in the Black Dirt Region, 1/14/16.~
I met Kyle out in the Black Dirt this evening after work to try for some raptors – Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls were the goal. I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted a large white bird fly over a field in the distance, being chased by crows – SNOWY OWL!!! We immediately jumped out of the car and got the bird in the scope to find it had perched on a distant small post in a field. We watched the bird as it was harassed by both Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls; it flew one time and found a new perch, but shortly after returned to its original perch. The bird was very distant, so pics were tough; the above is from the camera, and the shot below is with the iPhone through the scope. It was a super exciting night! Lifer Snowy for Kyle and my first one in a couple of years!
***If you go for this bird, please be respectful of the locals in the black dirt. Many roads are private and not public and shouldn’t be used without permission. Farmers are still working so please keep all roads clear and let them work. As a general rule, for me, if there is any sort of work going on I leave the area.***
~iPhone shot through the spotting scope – Snowy Owl in the Black Dirt, 1/14/16.~
~The highlight of the day for me – Merlin with prey at Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~
Before I get to the wrap up, I wanted to mention that I created a new page for 2016 where I will post photos by species. Each time I take a photo that consider an improvement on the previous for any species, I will replace it on the list. As a starting point, I’ve typed out the list from the Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club Checklist of Birds for Orange County. As I was typing it out, I realized how daunting it can be to think about getting all these photos – there are over 265 birds on the list! It will be interesting to me to see how many of these I will get and also how many I might add to the list. Click here to check it out or on the page at the top right called Species Photos 2016.
The weekend started on a good note with a Friday evening trip to the Black Dirt where I was able to relocate the dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk, originally located by Steve Sachs the day before and relocated in the morning by Linda Scrima. Due to the distance and the trees, I was unable to get any photos, but Linda got some and gave me a couple to post here, see them below (thanks Linda!). It was a sort of strange experience seeing that bird – it was vocalizing constantly and moving from perch to perch to perch, never staying in one place for very long.
~Beautiful bird – dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk in the Black Dirt, 1/8/16. Photo by Linda Scrima.~I really like this shot, showing the top side of the bird including the red tail. Dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk, Black Dirt 1/8/16. Photo by Linda Scrima.~
On Saturday, Kyle Dudgeon, Linda Scrima, and I headed to Piermont Pier to try for the WESTERN GREBE. The bird was located by some other birders shortly after our arrival; it was a little far out and backlit but we got decent scope views and Kyle and Linda got their lifer WEGRs. I was hoping for more waterfowl, but really we did not have a large list: Canada Goose, Mallard, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, and Double-crested Cormorant. We had some Buffleheads and Ruddies that were close enough for photos but the light was not very good. The highlight for me was a Merlin, perched in a tree and eating prey (which looked to be a Dark-eyed Junco). On our way home we made a stop at State Line Hawkwatch, but it was a bust as we had only two distant Red-tailed Hawks in the half hour we were there.
~This is not a pretty bird, but it IS pretty cool. Black Vulture in Blooming Grove, NY 1/10/16.~
On Sunday morning I met Maria Loukeris out in the Black Dirt, we tried unsuccessfully to relocate the dark-morph Western Red-tailed Hawk. We did, however, see my first ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK of 2016, hunting (successfully) over a distant field. This is only the second RLHA that I have seen this season. In a relatively short amount of time we had a good number of raptors: Maria had an American Kestrel before my arrival, and in addition to the RLHA we had 8 Red-tailed Hawks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. From there I checked Glenmere and Tomahawk Lakes but neither had much waterfowl present; in fact Tomahawk was mostly frozen over, but I managed to see a high-flying Bald Eagle which was nice.
~Fish Crow at Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~~The Merlin made quick work of that poor junco. Piermont Pier, 1/9/16.~~Don’t mess with these two, they look like they are in a mood. Ring-billed Gulls at Piermont Pier 1/9/16.~Canvasbacks all tucked in, Piermont Pier 1/9/16.~
~I’m not sure why (maybe because the bird seemed small), but I thought this bird was a Sharp-shinned Hawk when I saw it in the field. Tonight, looking at photos I am thinking it is a Cooper’s Hawk, possibly a juvenile male? Black Dirt Region, 1/3/16.~
This morning I went out and did my first birding in Orange County for the new year. I took a tour of the Black Dirt Region, ending at the Liberty Marsh at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, where I did not walk the trails but just viewed from the platform for 20 minutes or so. I then check on Wickham Lake and Glenmere Lake before heading home. It felt good to get my list for the county started and I ended the morning with 27 species; I’ve included today’s list at the bottom of this post. Highlights from the morning included seeing large flocks of Horned Larks with Snow Buntings mixed in. At one point I had nearly 75+ Horned Larks taking a dust bath in the road in front of me. I’ve only seen this one other time and it was really cool to see it again. On the disappointing side, I was hoping to run across some Snow Geese in the black dirt, especially after seeing them fly over in Ulster County the day before.
~A Horned Lark takes a dust bath in the road, Black Dirt Region 1/3/16.~~HOLAs dust bathing in the road, Black Dirt Region, 1/3/16.~~I came home to find this Sharp-shinned Hawk in my driveway, not a bad way to end a birding outing. Goshen, NY 1/3/16.~
All species located in Black Dirt Region (including Liberty Marsh) except where noted:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle (Wickham)
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Home)
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Belted Kingfisher (Glenmere)
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Black-capped Chickadee (Glenmere)
Tufted Titmouse (Glenmere)
White-breasted Nuthatch (Glenmere)
European Starling
Snow Bunting
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
~Spoiler Alert: Bird of the Year, the Gyrfalcon finds a nice perch in a field off of Bruyn Turnpike in Wallkill, NY, 2/10/15.~
*Click on links in orange to go to original blog post for each species.*
The 2015 birding year was interesting for sure; filled with highs and lows. It was a year of extreme rarities in our area, such as the amazing and famous Gyrfalcon, observed in both Orange and Ulster County in February and also the one-eyed Crested Caracara, which was seen in the Montgomery area in April.
Spring and summer went as one would expect, with plenty of good birding especially in the spring. Autumn, however was strange and unproductive. Actually, early fall was good; shorebirds were being seen regularly including several notable birds (Stilt Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, and White-rumped Sandpiper). But, the seasonably warm weather seemed to affect the fall raptor migration here in Orange County; at Mount Peter Hawkwatch nearly all migrating raptors were down in numbers. Broad-winged Hawks provided a glaring exception and a welcome highlight of the season: a record breaking 11,256 Broadies were counted at Mt. Pete this season. It was difficult to find many migrating waterfowl this fall, especially in southern Orange County where I spend most of my birding time. I only had two notable sightings in the county: a Common Goldeneye at Wickham Lake and a White-winged Scoter at Indian Kill Reservoir.
BY THE NUMBERS
Here are my species totals for the year, with previous years’ totals for comparison:
I really ended up focusing my birding here in Orange County in 2015. At some point in the fall, I realized that 200 species was a possibility, so that became my goal. But, I struggled coming down the stretch and finished the year with 197. I missed a few birds that figured I would get (Fox Sparrow, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin), but really I think if I had done better with warblers this year I would have reached 200 no problem.
I added 29 life birds this year; 2 fewer than last year. Eighteen of them were added while we vacationed in Florida in the spring. I am now up to 344 life birds. My New York State Life List stands at 256 species; I added 14 birds to it this year.
This is my 128th post of the year. I was surprised when I totaled it up because I would have thought that I had posted more than last year, but in fact this is 25 fewer posts than I did last year.
And finally, according to Google Analytics, the blog had 21,228 visits by 9,913 individuals. I am happy to report that visits have more than doubled in the last year and the blog has reached over 2 1/2 times as many individuals this year.
BIRD OF THE YEAR AND MOST EXCITING BIRDING EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR: GYRFALCON!
~Gyrfalcon perched off of Hoagerburgh Road in Ulster County, 2/7/15.~
The Gyrfalcon was originally located by Karen Maloy near Blue Chip Farms on February 6th in the afternoon. When I relocated the Gyrfalcon the following day, it was definitely my most exciting birding experience of the year, maybe of my life. I nearly had a heart attack when I pulled up my binoculars to check out a raptor that had just landed in an evergreen, and it was the Gyrfalcon! This is not a bird you can mistake, but I felt like I had to keep checking – I just couldn’t believe it! What an incredible looking bird, just gorgeous. And then, it became famous. Birders and photographers came from all over to see it. It caused traffic jams wherever it decided to perch. For me it was and easy decision, the Gyrfalcon = Bird of the Year AND Most Exciting Birding Experience rolled into one.
BIRDING LOCATION OF THE YEAR: MOUNT PETER HAWKWATCH
~GOLDEN EAGLE directly over the viewing platform at Mount Peter Hawkwatch, 10/17/15.~
It was difficult for me to come up with any location that stood out this year, but as I started to think back over the year I realized that doing the hawkwatch is definitely one of my favorite types of birding, if not my favorite. I really enjoy the challenge of identifying raptors in flight, and it helps that I felt more confident than ever this year. I also enjoy the camaraderie at the hawkwatch. Judy Cinquina has really assemble a great crew of dedicated volunteers. The record number of Broad-winged Hawks was fun and exciting, but my personal highlight was seeing my first Golden Eagle at Mt. Pete. It was great to finally get one up there; it was a juvenile that was very accommodating as it flew directly over the viewing platform which allowed me to get some decent shots of the bird.
TOP TEN PHOTOS OF THE YEAR
Last year I changed this section from “Photo of the Year” to “Top Five Photos of the Year”. After looking back at my photos from 2015, I’ve decided to increase it once again, this time to ten photos. While I did not have a single shot that stood out as the “best”, I did feel like I had a good number of good photos and it was difficult to pare them down to ten. And, photographs have always been an important part of this blog, so I figured why not. Due to a strange update to the blog, you need to click on the photos once, and then a second time to see large versions.
~Short-eared Owl in the black dirt, 2/22/15.~~Male Northern Harrier, the “Gray Ghost” at Missionland Road, 3/21/15.~~Anhinga fishing at Naples Botanical Garden, 5/6/15.~~Cooper’s Hawk at Newburgh Waterfront, 1/24/15.~~Common Loon at Follensby Clear Pond, 6/13/15.~~Upland Sandpiper at Blue Chip Farms, 6/9/15.~~Burrowing Owl in Cape Coral, Florida 5/5/15.~~Roseate Spoonbill at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, 5/3/15.~~Double-crested Cormorant at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, 5/3/15.~~Northern Harrier at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 1/17/15.~
Once again, I’d like to thank all the birders in our area. Special thanks to Rob Stone, John Haas, Judy Cinquina, Karen Miller, Linda Scrima, Maria Loukeris and Kyle Dudgeon for all their help and good company this year. Happy New Year to everyone, I’m looking forward to the birds of 2016!
~A Red-tailed Hawk takes flight off of an icy perch, Black Dirt Region, 12/2915.~
With the overnight frozen mix that continued with a steady rain in the morning, I did not think I would get much birding in today, and I certainly was not optimistic about taking photos. Fortunately the roads were fine for driving, so I did a tour of the black dirt in my car. I ran into some good birds close enough to the road for pics, and the icy conditions made for what I think are some interesting photos. I had a total of 33 species for the day; I covered a large territory and I’ve included two species I picked up during a quick stop at Tomahawk Lake at the end of the outing (Common Merganser and N. Mockingbird). I’ve included my species list at the bottom of this post.
~Cooper’s Hawk, Black Dirt Region, 12/29/15.~~My latest favorite – American Tree Sparrow framed in icy branches. Black Dirt Region, 12/29/15.~~Red-tailed Hawk on an icy perch, Black Dirt Region 12/29/15.~
Black Dirt Region and Tomahawk Lake, December 29, 2015:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mallard
Common Merganser
Black Vulture
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-headed Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Blackbird sp.
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
