Female Eurasian Wigeon at Darlington Park 10-26-12
After work today I went to Darlington Park in Bergen County NJ looking for a female Eurasian Wigeon that had been reported on eBird. Reports said that the bird was among 15 American Wigeon. I was happy to see that the birds were still present. It took me a little while to figure out which one was the Eurasian Wigeon, but once I did it was pretty obvious. I wonder if I had happened upon this group of birds without any prior knowledge if I would have picked out the Eurasian Wigeon among the American Wigeons? I’m not so sure I would have, or if I did I probably would not have had a clue what it was. Here are some photos from the day – I was disappointed because it was yet another very gray day that I was out birding in…
The female Eurasian Wigeon and this male American Wigeon were inseparable. They followed each other all around the lake.Female Eurasian Wigeon and Female American Wigeon.All of these birds seemed to have some vegetation hanging off their bills at one time or another.A couple pairs of American Wigeons.
There was also a couple of Pied-billed Grebes present. One was larger and light colored while the other was darker and smaller – noticeably shorter at all times. I really enjoy these birds, I had fun just watching them interact with one another.
I am pretty sure but not positive that this is a Red-tailed Hawk. I never saw this bird from the front and I find identifying perched hawks to be a challenge. Please leave a comment if you can ID this bird -thanks!
It was a rainy and foggy afternoon so I decided to go to 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary to see if any new ducks were present. I did pretty well with waterfowl, I saw many Canada Geese, several Mallards, around 20 Green-winged Teals, 5 Mute Swans, and 3 Ruddy Ducks. Unfortunately, the 2 Pied-billed Grebes that I have been see out there recently were not to be found.
Three Ruddy Ducks way out there in the fog and mist.
A puffed up Field Sparrow. 6 1/2 Station Road 10-24-12.
The sanctuary had a lot of bird activity, here’s my species list:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Great Blue Heron
Red-tail Hawk ?
Ring-billed Gull
Eastern Phoebe
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
The highlight of the day was not even bird related. I saw a BOBCAT slink alongside the creek and then into the brush! It was very exciting and my heart was racing for quite a while after that.
An immature Bald Eagle flies right over the Mt. Peter Hawkwatch, 10-14-12Osprey at Mt. Peter 9-23-12
I have been spending much of my birding time this fall hawk watching. I volunteer at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch, which is located on Kain Road in Warwick NY (just across the street from Bellvale Farms Creamery), so I have been out there on many days. I have been thinking about why I enjoy hawk watching so much and I came up with a few good reasons. It is really amazing how many birds you can see if you sit in one spot for a while. On September 20th, Mt. Peter had its highest count of the year – 1,281 migrating raptors! Over a thousand of them were Broad-winged Hawks! And this is not even considered a “big day” for Broad-winged Hawks. You don’t just see hawks either, I have seen Brant, a Great Blue Heron, Gulls, Common Ravens, Common Loons, and even Glossy Ibis fly over hawk watches! There is also plenty of time to look for songbirds when there is a lull in the hawk activity.
I also find hawk watching to be extremely challenging. It is certainly a different way of birding for me. Some days it is difficult just to to find any migrating hawks in the sky, depending on wind and weather conditions, how high the birds are flying, and what the cloud cover is like (among other things). An all blue sky is the most difficult sky to find hawks in. Sunny with some clouds seems to make the hawks most visible for me. Some days it can be tough to just locate the birds, but identifying the raptors is by far the most challenging and rewarding aspect of Hawk Watching. It is so much fun trying to figure out what species of bird you are looking at – sometimes at a great distance, often in silhouette, usually with no size comparisons to be made.
Finally, there is an aspect of hawk watching that would never have guessed would become so enjoyable to me – the camaraderie. I always enjoyed birding alone – sort of an escape, but I am finding more and more that I am enjoying birding with other people. Mt. Peter is extraordinary, the people there are amazing – so friendly, knowledgeable, generous. I highly recommend a visit.
If you are interested in seeing the data collected by the Mt. Peter volunteers, please visit: http://www.hawkcount.org/.
A busy day out at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch 9-23-12One of the local Red-tail Hawks at Mt. Peter 9-23-12
Tricia and I also made it out to Hawk Mountain for the first weekend of October. The highlight for me was 9 Peregrine Falcons on Saturday.
Me at Hawk Mountain. Photo by Tricia.An Osprey flies on the West side of the North Lookout at Hawk Mountain.At Hawk Mountain, many of the looks are from above. I have this as a Cooper’s Hawk 10-6-12.One more Osprey. They counted 55 Osprey migrating over Hawk Mountain on 10-6-12
