A very exciting find for me – Black-billed Cuckoo out at Wallkill River NWR 7/31/13.
Seeing and photographing an adult BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO was definitely the highlight of my visit to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge after work today. It was a fabulous night for birding; the weather was perfect, there were minimal bothersome bugs, and there were plenty of birds to be seen.
I walked the Liberty Loop in the counter clockwise direction and not far up the trail I found a pair of Great Egrets (of a total of four for the day).
I know it is an invasive plant, but I love the purple Loosestrife in this photo. I also like the water drops falling from the tips of the egret’s toes.
Walking up the west side of the loop, I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. This was exciting to me; if you read my posts this past spring, you know how much I like this bird. I heard it call one time but I was not able to locate the bird. My disappointment was short lived, less than twenty minutes later I saw a large bird fly from the woods and land in a tree in the marsh. I figured it was a Brown Thrasher, but I was pleasantly surprised to find my best bird of the night, the Black-billed Cuckoo. This is a bird I have only heard before, so it was awesome to get really good looks and some relatively distant but decent photos too. Here’s one more shot of the bird:
Black-billed Cuckoo at Walkill River NWR, 7/31/13.
My main reason for going to the refuge was to see if any shorebirds had moved in. There was not much in the way of shorebirds, a pair of Semipalmated Sandpipers, 3 Killdeer, and 9 Least Sandpipers were all that I found. All were seen on the southernmost part of the loop.
Two of the nine Least Sandpipers that I saw out at the Wallkill River NWR, 7/31/13.
I totalled 39 species for the day, a couple of which are birds that I don’t often get a chance to photograph.
This looks like a young Northern Mockingbird to me. It was with two other mockingbirds that appeared to be adults. Wallkill River NWR 7/31/13.
I love this little bird but don’t really see them very often. House Wren, one of two perched in the same tree at Wallkill River NWR 7/31/13.
Finally, here is my list for the evening:
Canada Goose 20
Wood Duck 1
Mallard 10
Great Blue Heron 12
Great Egret 4
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 3
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
Least Sandpiper 9
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Black-billed Cuckoo 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Willow Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 4
Eastern Kingbird 6
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 2
Tree Swallow 11
Barn Swallow 4
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 4
Northern Mockingbird 3
European Starling 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Song Sparrow 12
Indigo Bunting 8
Bobolink 3
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle 10
Orchard Oriole 8
American Goldfinch 15
I made it out to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge a couple of times this week and took many photos. A good collection of shorebirds continue at the refuge, as do a group of six Great Egrets (down from 10 last weekend). Herons are numerous, with Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons all being seen and heard. All the birds photographed were seen while walking the Liberty Loop Trail or on Liberty Lane. Here are some of the shots I got this week:
Click on photos to enlarge.
One of four Greater Yellowlegs at the refuge on 7/24/13.I got to see this Lesser Yellowlegs near a Greater Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper. It was really interesting to note the differences between the three. Wallkill River NWR 7/24/13.
A Solitary Sandpiper and a Lesser Yellowlegs at the refuge on Wednesday 7/24/13. I don’t love this photo but I like seeing the two birds together.
The morning light was really appealing, and I am really happy with the colors in this photo. Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR 7/27/13.Great Egret at the refuge this morning, 7/27/13.Who’s gonna mess with this crew? Not me. Five of six Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR 7/27/13.I’ve been seeing a hearing plenty of Green Herons at the refuge, but not getting close enough for any good photos. Wallkill River NWR 7/27/13.Great Blue Herons are numerous out at Wallkill River NWR. This one flew right in front of me. This Shot is SOOC, taken 7/25/13.Birds flying away usually don’t make for great photos, but I sort of like this one. GBHE out at Wallkill River NWR 7/25/13.I was with Karen Miller and Sharon Dewey Scavotto when we found this bird. We were all stumped, and after getting home and looking briefly in some books I’m guessing a young Brown-headed Cowbird, but I’m still not really sure. Please comment if you can I.D. this bird! Thanks.
An adult just happened to fly behind this juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons out at Wallkill River NWR, 7/20/13.
I went out on a mission this evening to photograph the Black-crowned Night Herons out at Wallkill River NWR. I walked the Liberty Loop and tried to time it so that I was on the east side of the loop (where the BCNHs roost) right before sunset. I walked in a counter-clockwise direction so that the fading sun would be at my back as I approached the trees where the birds roost. I was not disappointed – I saw four BCNHs, three adults and one juvenile. These photos have an interesting dreamy quality to me and I’m not entirely sure why. I think there are two factors, the first being that nearly all the photos where shot through the trees which create a blurry foreground (background?). Also, the light was very interesting and hard for me to get a handle on. My settings for all these photos where not at all what I would typically encounter in low light situations; I had to under-expose all of these photos!?! Fortunately these birds were not really aware of my presence so I had plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s some more shots:
Although they are not a beautiful bird, I find the young BCNHs fascinating to look at.Adult Black-crowned Night Heron at Wallkill River NWR 7/20/13.I see so many photos of BCNHs showing the white head plume – this is the first time I’ve gotten any showing it.I don’t love this photo, but I though it was cool to catch 3 BCNHs in one shot.
Beyond the Black-crowned Night Herons, the birding was pretty good. Highlights included ten (!) Great Egrets, my first Great Egrets at Wallkill River NWR this year.
One of ten Great Egrets out at Wallkill River NWR, 7/20/13.
Shorebirds made another good showing, I heard first and then saw three Greater Yellowlegs. Also present were Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, and this Solitary Sandpiper.
I have this as a Solitary Sandpiper, Wallkill River NWR 7/20/13.
Here’s my list for the day:
A pair of Red-tail Hawks perched on the north side of Oil City Road, 7/20/13.
Canada Goose 25
Wood Duck 6
Mallard 4
Great Blue Heron 12
Great Egret 10
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Killdeer 6
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Least Sandpiper 2
Mourning Dove 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 4
Tree Swallow 6
Barn Swallow 2
Wood Thrush 2
American Robin 15
Gray Catbird 8
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
Indigo Bunting 5
Bobolink 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Orchard Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 3
I took this shot of a Brown Thrasher a week ago out at the Shawangunk Grasslands. I didn’t really have much to say about that day, it was just a short visit, but I like this photo and wanted to post it. I have been hoping for a decent thrasher photo for a little while now, so I was excited when I saw a family of Brown Thrashers just off the entry road at the grasslands. They stayed mostly hidden, I have several obscured photos, but I did manage the above shot which was a bit distant but I still like it.
Red-tailed Hawk hunting from a hay bale on Pulaski Highway on my way out to Wallkill River NWR, 7/14/13.
This morning I met Karen Miller out at Wallkill River NWR, where we walked the Liberty Loop. It was a relatively birdy morning and we had many species that I had not expected to see, including my personal highlight of the outing, a pair of adult Black-crowned Night Herons seen from the viewing platform:
One of two Black-crowned Night Herons at Wallkill River NWR, 7/14/13. This one was in a small pool just to the left of the viewing platform.This BCNH flew in just as Karen Miller arrived. These birds were FOS for me.
Another highlight was a nice collection of shorebirds located at the south end of the Liberty Loop. I’ll add my usual disclaimer that I am STILL struggling with shorebird identification, but I feel fairly confident that we had Spotted Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, and a Solitary Sandpiper.
A Killdeer along with a Spotted Sandpiper out at Wallkill River NWR 7/14/13.
I have this as a Pectoral Sandpiper. Please leave a comment if you know otherwise! Thanks.
There were plenty of Great Blue Herons about, we even had 5 fly over at once. GBHE at Wallkill River NWR 7/14/13.
It was a really nice morning of birding (if you ignore the mosquitos that plagued the west side of the loop!), where we had over 40 species of bird:
This might be the same bird as seen on the hay bale at the top of this post. I took this shot on my way home and it was just across the road from where I took the hay bale shot.
Canada Goose 55
Mallard 10
Great Blue Heron 15
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 1
Killdeer 6
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 4
Pectoral Sandpiper 7
Mourning Dove 1
American Kestrel 2
Willow Flycatcher 3
Eastern Phoebe 4
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
House Wren 1
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 3
Cedar Waxwing 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 2
Red-winged Blackbird 65
Common Grackle 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Baltimore Oriole 2
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1
Late edit: I forgot to include Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 to our species list.
One of Tricia’s favorite sayings is “When in doubt, head north“, which is exactly what we did last weekend. Actually, I got the idea from John Haas after a recent discussion with him about being in a “birding slump”. His advice was to take a trip and spice things up a bit; he suggested the trip up north to Saranac Lake and gave me great tips on where to do the best birding. If anyone is interested in doing some birding in the Adirondacks, leave a comment and I will pass along as much information as I can.
FRIDAY
Tricia and I headed up on Friday after getting out of work a little bit early. It was a pleasant drive that was highlighted by finding a female Common Merganser with her brood on the side of the road in Keene NY. I felt like this was a good omen for the weekend to come.
Common Mergansers in Keene NY, 7/5/13. The color of the rocks below the surface and the late afternoon sun created an unusual and not necessarily pleasing effect, giving this photo and overall orange look. I made some adjustments to try to save it, but ultimately I am somewhat disappointed with all my shots of these birds.
Friday evening we made a brief stop at Bloomingdale Bog Trail, near Bloomingdale Road. We were there for less than an hour when it started to rain pretty heavily, but before we ran for the car we managed to identify 14 species, including two life birds for me – a pair of Lincoln’s Sparrows and three Gray Jays.
Adult Gray Jay at Bloomingdale Bog, 7/5/13.Juvenile Gray Jay at Bloomingdale Bog, 7/5/13.Lincoln’s Sparrow at Bloomingdale Bog, 7/5/13.
SATURDAY
We knew that we were certainly going to do some paddling while we were up in the area – Tricia did a canoe trip some years ago with her brother at the St. Regis Canoe Area, which involved several days of paddling and camping out. We only had one day, so I referred to ‘Quiet Water New York’, a fantastic guide to paddling in New York state. We decided to do one of the Fish Creek Loops; it included five ponds, four carries and most importantly, it could be done in a day. Here is the route we took:
Our paddling route for the Fish Creek Loop.
This was an adventure for me; up until now, I have just paddled locally in a single body of water for a couple of hours at a time. In ‘Quiet Water New York’, they mention seeing a Common Loon diving, so I was hoping that we might see one as well. We parked the car at the south end of Follensby Clear Pond. It was only moments after getting out of the car that Tricia noticed two Common Loons swimming in the distance. We put our kayaks in ASAP hoping to get close enough for a photo or two. We put in, and I was just floating in my kayak, trying to get situated and get my camera out of my dry bag. Tricia started calling my name urgently – a Common Loon had surfaced less than five feet from my kayak!
This Common Loon Surfaced so close to me I had to wait to be able to take a photo! Follensby Clear Pond, 7/6/13.
I was thrilled to say the least. These loons are such beautiful birds, and to be able to see them this closely was quite a treat for me. We paddled to the north end of Follensby Clear Pond where we had more loons which were very active all around us, including this chick:
A very cute Common Loon chick in the north end of Follensby Clear Pond, 7/6/13.Common Loon at the north end of Follensby Clear Pond, 7/6/13.
The loons were very active all around me – I was panicking trying to take photos!I was hoping to get a good shot of a loon flapping like this!
I guess loons are a heavy bird, so they require a long running, flapping take-off.
Other birds seen on Follensby Clear Pond included: Common Merganser, Osprey, and Great Blue Heron. We found the carry to Polliwog Pond with the help of a local paddler who also happened to count Common Loons on the ponds for the Department of Environmental Conservation.
We paddled through Polliwog Pond and found the carry to Middle Pond. During the carry, we had two Hairy Woodpeckers, which we got very good looks at but no photos because the camera was packed in a dry bag. Middle Pond held a nice surprise:
These two chicks seem somehow conspiratorial. Common Loon with two chicks, Middle Pond 7/6/13.
We made the carry to Floodwood Pond where we had only distant looks at Common Loons as we ate our lunch in our kayaks. I had one raptor fly over in the distance the I could not positively identify other than it being a Buteo. We were also hearing many birds from the shore all day, but not getting any looks. From Flatwood Pond to Little Square Pond is an easy paddle; the current just takes you at a steady pace. Fish Creek was easy as well; it was a very relaxing float down the creek. We made our final carry back to Follensby Clear Pond where we found more accommodating loons:
This is one of my favorite shots of the day. Common Loon at Follensby Clear Pond, 7/6/13.
Common Loon splashing at Follensby Clear Pond, 7/6/13.
It took us over seven hours and we were both exhausted. The final paddle to the where we parked the car was tough, it felt like we were paddling in quicksand. What a fantastic day! I cannot wait to do it again!
SATURDAY EVENING
In the evening, Tricia and I were both sure we would fall asleep if we didn’t get out and do something, so we decided to head over to Bigelow Road to do some birding. It was not very birdy, we were hearing some birds but not seeing any. We ran into three birders from the Syracuse area who were very nice. They were telling us that they hadn’t seen much either when Tricia said “I see a bird”. We looked in a tall evergreen and found a BOREAL CHICKADEE! The bird was a bit distant but managed to get some photos which ended up better than I expected.
BOREAL CHICKADEE at Bigelow Road in Saranac Lake NY, 7/6/13.
SUNDAY
Sunday morning I went out birding alone for a couple of rainy, misty hours at Bloomingdale Bog. Although the weather was not cooperating, it was a really nice morning of birding. I identified 29 species and I had a couple of highlights. The first one was unexpected for me. I looked back down the trail at one point and I saw a Northern Harrier cruising the trail, tilting from side to side hunting. Later, I saw a second Northern Harrier flying in the distance with what appeared to be a snake in its grasp. My second and best highlight of the morning was seeing a couple of BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS. The light was terrible for photos, and the birds were distant. I did the best I could and I at least have this shot for documentation:
Black-backed Woodpecker at Bloomingdale Bog, 7/7/13.
What a great weekend it was! Even sitting in hours of traffic to get home didn’t dampen our spirits after a fun, adventurous weekend like that.
I love the pose this Red-winged Blackbird was taking – wings stretched out. Basha Kill WMA 7/4/13.
I woke up early and took my kayak out to the Basha Kill for a paddle. Due to the heavy rains from earlier this week, the water level was really high, causing Haven Road to become flooded. The high water made an impact on my birding in a few ways. The first is that it made for a very easy paddle with no vegetation to slow me down in the channels. It also allowed me to explore the Bash outside the channels, where vegetation was present but it was still a relatively effortless paddle. Another effect of the high water level was also helpful. One of my target birds for the day was the Common Gallinule, which has been, for me, one of the tougher birds to get a good look at. Today I got several good looks and actually managed to get some decent photos. I believe that with the water up, there was less vegetation to hide these birds. Conversely, the final effect was not helpful at all. Great Blue Herons were out in numbers today, I saw probably 15 or so, but I never got close enough for a photo! Not one! I think that the GBHs were more easily aware of my presence without the vegetation to hide my approach.
I heard this bird long before I saw it. I am thrilled to finally get a decent shot of a Common Gallinule. Basha Kill 7/4/13. Adult Bald Eagle at Basha Kill WMA, 7/4/13. I had a close encounter with one of the adults bringing in food to the two fledges but I did not manage to get any photos as they flew right over me in my kayak.One more shot of the many Red-winged Blackbirds out at the Basha Kill, 74/13.I’m trying to branch out a bit, taking photos of things other than birds. Basha Kill, 7/4/13.
