Quick Post: Yesterday morning I did a quick tour of some of the hotspots in the Black Dirt Region and Indiana Road was by far the most productive, with the following present:
SATURDAY
With the days being at their shortest, Christmas on the immediate horizon, and the cold gray evenings we’ve been having, I have not gotten much birding in during the week. So, when Saturday finally rolled around, I was dying get out. I met up with Karen Miller at Wallkill RIver NWR early in the morning. It was a warm, beautifully sunny morning. We walked part of the loop but it was not very birdy and walking in the melting snow was taking the fun out of it for both of us. We decided to jump in our cars and hit a few spots. As we were getting in our cars we had our best bird – a light morph Rough-legged Hawk.
We headed over to Missionland Road, where Rob Stone told me he had Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs the day before. We mostly struck out, finding only a small flock of Horned Larks.
Next we went to Skinner Lane, where there was much hunting going on and the road still had enough snow on it to make me nervous about driving on it. We decide to head over to Goshen to hit 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary. This was the best stop of the morning, with the highlight being a small group of American Tree Sparrows. I tried in vain to get a shot of one of them, but they would not cooperate.
It was a nice day to be out birding, but it was also frustrating for me because it was a beautiful sunny day I would have loved to have seen some more birds and to have taken more photos.
SUNDAY
Sunday morning was gray and cloudy, with light rain falling. I was heading up to the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR as the rain seemed to be getting heavier. I pulled over and checked the radar, and saw that bands of rain were passing to the north. So, I reconsidered and decided to bird the Hudson River instead. My first stop was in Newburgh where I birded from the Beacon Ferry parking lot. It was still raining, so I stayed in the car mostly, getting out from time to time. I had a single Common Merganser and a Double-crested Cormorant as well. I also really enjoyed seeing the Greater Black-backed Gulls among the Ring-billed Gulls and Herring Gulls.
I wanted to go to Croton Point Park next, mostly because I had never been there. I made a quick stop at Plum Point Park on the way, where I had an additional 10 Common Mergansers and an adult Bald Eagle, perched way off in the distance.
Croton Point Park was pretty good birding but not great for photography. I had a nice showing of songbirds as well as a Cooper’s Hawk around the feeders at the Nature Center. On the river I had 22 Buffleheads, 2 Common Mergansers, and a single Common Goldeneye. The Common Goldeneye very distant and I watched it for a long while hoping it would come in a bit closer. It was not until I got home that I figured out that the bird was likely a first winter female Common Goldeneye.
I got out and birded the black dirt region both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but compared to all the recent Snowy Owl excitement, both days were relatively uneventful. Here’s a few things that folks might find interesting:
SHORT-EARED OWL SURVEY
The highlight of my birding weekend was participating in the First Annual Unofficial Orange County Short-eared Owl Survey. The survey was organized by Curt McDermott and Rob Stone, who wanted an answer to the question of how many Short-eared Owls were currently in Orange County. The idea was to get birders out to known Short-eared Owl haunts both Saturday and Sunday evening to get a total for the county. So, on Saturday evening, Karen Miller and I went out to our designated area to count, which was the Wallkill River NWR. The plan was to get the best count we could there and then shoot over to Scenic Farms Golf Course on Glenwood Road and get a count there. We had a fabulous evening, counting 10! SEOWs at Wallkill River NWR and then picking up an additional 5 at the golf course, totaling 15 for the evening. Late edit: It should be noted that for the owls seen at Wallkill River NWR, for the purposes of this survey we are assuming that the birds pass back and forth over the county border as they work the open areas of the refuge (Thanks for keeping me in check Marianne!). On Sunday my spot was Pumpkin Swamp Road. It was really freezing cold, but it was worth it when I got a count of 6 SEOWs there. When all the locations were combined, the survey revealed a total of 31 Short-eared Owls in Orange County this weekend – very exciting!
On Sunday morning I was birding out at Indiana Road. I had pulled to the side of the road to get a look a several Horned Larks on the dirt road. Before I knew it, I had larks in front of me and behind me, probably close to 100 birds in all. The larks were taking a dust bath, a behavior that I find fascinating.
DUST BATHING
Birds take dust baths to maintain their plumage. They will scratch out a small depression with their feet and then get very low to the ground while wriggling their bodies and flapping their wings. This raises up the dust which falls between feathers and to the bird’s skin. Afterwards the bird will typically shake vigorously and then preen.
The dust bath helps the birds to maintain a proper amount of oil on their feathers. The dust absorbs unwanted oil on the feathers and also helps get rid of dry skin and debris. It may also help keep bird lice, feather mites and other parasites in check. Regular dust baths will keep the bird’s plumage both clean and flexible.
According to Wikipedia, dust bathing is a social behavior for some birds. I like this idea, and seeing all the Horned Larks dust bathing together makes me want to believe that there is a social element to this behavior in addition to the obvious hygienic element.
Sources:
Outside My Window Blog by Kate St. John
I got home early from work today, and as I was walking in the door I got a call from Rob Stone: A second SNOWY OWL had been located by Ken McDermott! In case you are thinking this is perhaps the same owl, Rob was out looking at the first Snowy Owl when Ken called him to say he had a second one! Incredible birding days in Orange County! I zipped right over to check out the bird and snap some photos. Thanks again to Rob and of course, Ken who located the bird.
I also went to check on the first owl (which I did not locate), but thanks to fellow birder Maria (sorry I did not catch her last name), I was able to finally get some decent Snow Bunting photos:
Last night I received an email posting through the Mearns Bird Club. Elizabeth McKnight had located a SNOWY OWL in the Black Dirt Region, not 15 minutes from our house! I was losing my mind last night thinking about this bird. I got up early to look for the bird before work. While I was out, it started to snow pretty good, making the task a bit more difficult. I looked for just over an hour, but I was unsuccessful in relocating the bird. Off to work I went. Just before noon I received a call from Bruce Nott. The bird had been relocated! I believe it was Curt McDermott and Scott Baldinger that found the bird. I jumped on the phone with my boss, and he was kind enough to let me go run for this bird. On my way there I called Tricia and Karen Miller to give them the heads up. I joined Bruce, Curt, John Haas, and Ajit Antony who were viewing the bird. Ken McDermott, Tricia, and Karen Miller joined us not long after that. Rob Stone, his son Anthony, and Jeff Goulding were the last to arrive. We were not disappointed as we all got really great looks at the bird. The folks who know more than I do generally agreed that it was likely a first year female. Thanks to everyone involved, this was a life bird for me and a really special one at that.
I covered a lot of ground today in search of waterfowl in Orange County. I started early and headed north and worked my way south as the morning progressed.
Chadwick Lake Park:
Canada Goose 30
Mute Swan 2
Mallard 5
Lesser Scaup 4
Ring-billed Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 1
**I received a phone call from Bruce Nott in the afternoon – 4 Common Goldeneye continue at Chadwick Lake Park (I failed to locate them while I was there).**
Lake Washington and Masterson Memorial Park:
Canada Goose 9
Mute Swan 2
Gadwall 32
Mallard 2
Hooded Merganser 28
Bald Eagle 1
Ring-billed Gull 75
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Brown’s Pond:
Canada Goose 145
Mute Swan 5
American Wigeon 4
Ring-necked Duck 18
Hooded Merganser 15
Common Merganser 36
Ruddy Duck 48
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 7
Belted Kingfisher 1
Northern Flicker 1
Orange-Rockland Lake:
Canada Goose 18
Ring-necked Duck 24
Ruddy Duck 7
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Glenmere Lake:
Mute Swan 1
Ruddy Duck 4
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Dark-eyed Junco 2
In the evening I decided to try for the Short-eared Owls again. It was sunny and beautiful when I left the house. By the time the owls got up, which was early at 3:30, it was very gray and dark out. Here’s my best effort:
I was happy I ran into Judy Cinquina this evening. It’s always good to see Judy, she is one of my favorite people, but tonight it was especially nice because she relocated the Northern Shrike while we were out on Lower Wisner Road in Warwick NY. What a great bird, I was so happy to get a better look and to be able to at least take some documentary photographs of the bird. I’ve said it before, but, I REALLY hope this bird sticks around!
The bird was located in the two taller trees a 150-200 yards south of the parking pull over area on Lower Wisner Road.
So it was my last day of the season as official counter out at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch. On my way to Mt. Peter, I stopped at Lower Wisner Road to look for the NORTHERN SHRIKE that Rob Stone reported yesterday. I relocated the bird in the distance right after my arrival. The bird flew and I didn’t track it very well – I think I was expecting it to return to its perch. Well, it never did, and I only got a brief and distant look at the bird. So, I tried for it again after the watch and I apparently missed it by 15 minutes. Several folks got to see the bird today, so that is good. Hopefully the bird will stick around and I will get a better look and possibly a photo.
At Mt. Peter, I had another slow day, but I had some decent photo ops of the birds I did see. Here is my report:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 09, 2013
——————————————————————-
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 0 5 53
Turkey Vulture 4 31 110
Osprey 0 1 124
Bald Eagle 2 15 109
Northern Harrier 1 11 50
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 34 1021
Cooper’s Hawk 2 9 60
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 20 106
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 7611
Red-tailed Hawk 7 350 429
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 3 4
American Kestrel 0 0 112
Merlin 0 0 14
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 14
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 3
Unknown Buteo 0 0 6
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 1
Unknown Raptor 1 5 26
Total: 19 485 9853
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Rob Stone
Weather:
Cold and cloudy with temperatures from 1 degree Celsius to 9 degrees
Celsius. Light winds all day; from the west in the morning and shifting to
southwest in the afternoon.
Raptor Observations:
Bald Eagle: 1 Adult, 1 Immature
Red-shouldered Hawk: 2 Unknown
Northern Harrier: 1 Male
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptor Species: American Robin (66), Cedar Waxwing (20), Dark-eyed
Junco (5), Ring-billed Gull (1), Common Raven (4), American Crow (13),
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
There were a couple of notable sightings in Orange County on Wednesday 11/6/13. I received a call from Bruce Nott just after 9 am. He had located an American Bittern at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge – Winding Waters Trail. The way I understand it, if you take a right at the fork in the trail, the bird was located in the first ditch that the trail crosses, on the right hand side out maybe a couple hundred yards. Congrats to Bruce on a great find. I also received a text from Rob Stone. Out at Skinner Lane, among the Horned Larks, he had relocated the two Lapland Longspurs and also had 20+ Snow Buntings.
While I was at work, I was trying to decide which of these two sightings to go check out at the end of the day. Ultimately, my decision was made for me; I got out of work a little bit late and that made going for the bittern a bit of a time crunch. My desire for Snow Bunting photos made this an easy decision to accept. Once out at Skinner, I did see two Snow Buntings in flight with about 25 larks, but they never did get close enough for photos. The longspurs were not relocated. Fellow Mearns Bird Club members Bruce, Curt, Lee, and Debbie were also out at Skinner. It was nice to shoot the breeze with them for a while; actually it was the highlight of the evening.
On our way out we had a Ring-necked Pheasant in the road. It is always difficult for me when I see these birds. They are so beautiful and wonderful to see, but knowing that the bird was likely released to be hunted saddens me. Lee and I clicked away, my best effort is at the top of this post.