As of Saturday morning, the three GLOSSY IBIS continue in the back pond of the Liberty Loop at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. The light was much better and the birds a touch closer which made for some decent photo ops. Other highlights of my walk around the loop this morning included an adult Bald Eagle, 40+ Bobolinks, and a Peregrine Falcon that whizzed through and caused all the shorebirds to pick up. Here’s my photos from the morning:
The back pond at the Liberty Loop is certainly the local birding hotspot right now. Only one day after having a Willet there, today there were three GLOSSY IBIS present. The birds were in close, providing super looks and good photo ops. Linda Scrima joined me after a little while and we really enjoyed watching and photographing the birds as they fed nearly non-stop. Gorgeous and exciting birds! Here are some more shots:
Quick Post: Tonight after my golf match I stopped by 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary and I had what I believe was a STILT SANDPIPER. It was located at the small pond that is south of the Heritage Trail (I call it the Citgo Trail because you can access it from the Route 17M Citgo Station). Because I came straight from golf, I did not have my camera. I failed miserably at taking photos with the iPhone through my scope, but I did shoot some video of the bird (which is also pretty poor!), which can be seen HERE. Also present were approximately 20 Least Sandpipers, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 8 or so Killdeer. I will try for the bird again tomorrow and hopefully get some photos…
QUICK POST: I made a brief stop at the Liberty Loop after work – shorebird numbers were slightly down but still considerable. The big news was the addition of a Pectoral Sandpiper, my FOS. Here’s my list for the day, more guesstimates than counting as I did not have tons of time:
Killdeer: 15
Spotted Sandpiper: 2
Solitary Sandpiper: 2
Lesser Yellowlegs: 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper: 1
Least Sandpiper: 25
PECTORAL SANDPIPER: 1
QUICK POST: Shorebirds are on the move now! Observed on the southern end (the back pool) of the Liberty Loop this afternoon:
Killdeer: 20+
Spotted Sandpiper: 1
Solitary Sandpiper: 3
Lesser Yellowlegs: 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper:5
LEAST SANDPIPER: 48
I had two sets of birding plans for this morning that were foiled. I was initially going to go down to New Jersey to chase the European Golden-Plover that had been reported, but all the reports I read and received indicated that it was likely that this bird had moved on. My second plan was to get out to Sullivan County with Linda Scrima to try for the Stilt Sandpiper that Karen Miller found yesterday – you can read about it at the Bashakill Birder. That plan was cut short with a couple of phone calls this morning from John Haas, letting me know that the bird had not been relocated. With a change of plans, we decided meet up with Maria Loukeris and walk the Liberty Loop at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. What a good decision that turned out to be; it was a very active morning with wading birds stealing the show. It started with Linda locating a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON from the viewing platform moments after our arrival. This was my FOS BCNH in Orange County so that was a bonus for me. In the distance we could see three Great Egrets in flight and as we began to walk the loop, it was apparent that Great Blue Herons were present in numbers. We eventually caught up with the egrets and they were quite accommodating, allowing for many photos. I am not thrilled with my results, but still it was great to see them.
The big news of the day, however, was a nice collection of shorebirds:
2 Solitary Sandpipers
3 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
8 Least Sandpipers
12 Killdeer
1 Wilson’s Snipe
It was exciting to see that some shorebirds are moving through and it was a great morning of birding with a large variety of species being seen and heard – we had 47 birds on our list for the walk.
Quick Post: I had my first significant shorebird sighting of the year: 9 Greater Yellowlegs tonight at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. Thanks to Linda Scrima and Maria Constantelos Loukeris, who originally located the birds and gave me the heads up. When I saw the birds, they were located on the north side of Oil City Road, in the pool that is furthest to the west (towards Winding Waters Trail).
Tricia and I were back on Long Island this week to spend Christmas with our families. The day after Christmas, I went birding out east with with Tricia’s Brother-in-law Bill. We basically started out at Cupsogue County Park (a spot I’ve been wanting to get to, having seen many reports of good birds there), and then we headed east on Dune Road. The highlight of the day was locating two (!!!) SNOWY OWLS. Both owls could be seen easily from the car on the beach side of Dune Road and the light was nice which made for some nice photos. Aside from the Snowies, we did pretty well, identifying 28 species and seeing a few more than that; I did not have my scope with me which meant leaving some of the more distant birds unidentified. The birding on Long Island is pretty amazing, the birding hotspots seem endless. Thanks once again to Bill for showing me around; it was a super day of birding.
Here is my species list for the outing:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
American Black Duck
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Northern Harrier
Black-bellied Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Mourning Dove 9
Snowy Owl
American Crow
American Robin
European Starling
Snow Bunting
Tonight at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, the two Long-billed Dowitchers continue in the small pond to the south of the Heritage Trail. Additional shorebirds included 11 Lesser Yellowlegs and 4 Pectoral Sandpipers. I also enjoyed a decent showing of waterfowl with Canada Geese, Mallards, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, a single American Black Duck and a single Northern Pintail.
I also tried something new for me tonight: I wore camouflage. I’ve heard many photographers talk about how effective camouflage is for photographing wildlife, and tonight I experienced it for the first time. While shooting Yellow-rumped Warblers, I noticed that the birds seemed far less likely to flush. Also, while shooting the two Dowitchers, 10 Lesser Yellowlegs flew in and landed between myself and the Dowitchers – pretty darn close really. It’s only one outing, but it does appear to make a difference.
I had a pair of Dowitchers out at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary this evening, between 5:00 and 6:00. I do not know whether they were Long-billed or Short-billed. I did hear them call, and my immediate thought was Long-billed, but I am not familiar enough with the calls to make a positive ID. Please comment if you get these birds or if you have any thoughts on the ID. Thanks!
10/5/13 – Here a several more shots of the birds from various angles. 
