February 2017 – Orange Birding

Getting Lucky

~A pair of American Kestrels mating on a wire, Orange County NY, 02/2517.~

So, I bumped my head on Tuesday evening. I didn’t even hit it very hard (I’ve certainly hit it way harder), but I must have gotten it just right and I ended up giving myself a concussion. Which put me to some degree out of commission for a few days. When Saturday afternoon rolled around, I was feeling a little bit better so I did some birding, mostly just driving around southern Orange County. As I drove around, I was getting the usuals but I was enjoying it very much just because I hadn’t been out much during the week. Then I happened to see two falcons flying together in the distance. Luckily there was a nice area to pull over, so I parked and watched as the two birds spent some time coming and going from the overhead wires and then, excitingly, the birds mated on a wire. How lucky can you get? American Kestrels mating right in front of me in perfect light. It was very cool to observe and I believe it is only my second time seeing AMKEs mating, the first time being a few years back at the Shawangunk Grasslands from one of the photo blinds.

~The male (left) is a bit puffed up and in the foreground so he looks almost the same size as the female, but to me, in the field the female was noticeably larger. Orange County American Kestrels, 02/25/17.~

Local Photos, 02/19/17

~Always a favorite and often cooperative. Merlin in the black dirt, 02/19/17.~

I’ve birded locally most days in the past week and while it’s been enjoyable, things have been on the slow side. Today things picked up a bit for me when I located a large flock of mixed blackbirds in the black dirt, and then shortly after that had a cooperative Merlin, followed by a large flock of Snow Geese, which I still have not grown tired of. Earlier in the week at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, I had my first Great Blue Heron of the year (and it was in good light!). I’m feeling like I might be ready for winter birding to be over – maybe the flocks of blackbirds are an indication that birds are starting to move?

~This might be my favorite Snow Goose photo of the year – I love the dreamy quality of it. A sea of Snow Geese in the black dirt, 02/19/17.~

~I had a very large flock of mixed blackbirds in the black dirt today, 02/19/17. This shot has mostly Red-winged Blackbirds with some Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles mixed in.

~A Great Blue Heron does a fly by at Wallkill River NWR, 02/19/17.~

~A White-crowned Sparrow strikes a strange pose, barely hanging on. In the black dirt, 02/11/17.~

~More SNGOs in the black dirt, 02/19/17.~

~A Northern Cardinal just before sunset at Wallkill River NWR, 02/15/17.~

Rye, New York 02/18/17

~A Fish Crow lets me know it is NOT an American Crow “uh-uh, uh-uh”. Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 02/18/17.~

I spent this beautiful Saturday morning out at the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary in Rye, New York. Although I saw only the expected birds, I had an excellent morning with 43 species observed. I guess if you are going to get the usuals, it’s good to be in a place where there are a lot of “usuals”. As expected, I did best with waterfowl, seeing 18 different species. It had been over a year since I’d been to the sanctuary and although I was feeling like I was having a good day, I was wondering how it compared to the previous years. Since 2013, I’ve visited the sanctuary 5 times, always in January or February. My average number of species for those visits is 34, and I’ve never had more than 36. And what makes it even more interesting is that this was the first time I’ve been there and the feeder station was not filled up. In past visits that feeder station would really be hopping and I’d get several species right there. Today, all the feeders were empty and I didn’t get a single bird. One bird that I was really hoping for was Purple Sandpiper since it’s a good spot for them, but today I came up empty. I did add seven birds to my New York State year list, which was nice. I’ve included my list of species at the bottom of this post. Good birding!

~One of my favorites, too bad it is backlit. One of many Long-tailed Ducks at Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 02/18/17.~

~A male Hooded Merganser in the pond at the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 02/18/17.~

~Bufflehead butt with pink feet, Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 02/18/17.~

~Red-bellied Woodpecker, a bird that I see and hear constantly but don’t get many photos of. Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, 02/18/17.~

~American Black Ducks do a fly by at the Rye Town Park, 02/18/17.~

Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Great Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow

The Jersey Shore Doesn’t Disappoint

~Sanderling at Morgan Avenue Mudflats, 02/05/17.~

Maria Loukeris and I spent a fantastic day of birding down at the Jersey Shore today. Our first stop was at Morgan Avenue Mudflats in Middlesex County. We dipped on our target bird – the Black-headed Gull which had been reported as recently as Friday, but we did get lucky with a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. We got great looks at the bird and some documentary photos.

Our second stop was at Manasquan Inlet in Ocean County. I knew it would be a good stop when I stepped out of the car and photographed a Common Loon at close distance. We worked our way out onto the jetty and I saw a very white bird on the water, not far from the jetty. “Is that a gannet?” It was a NORTHERN GANNET; we had several while we were there, and one in particular spent a large amount of time not far from the jetty. We reached the end of the jetty and Maria found the bird of the day, a RAZORBILL! The bird was very close to the jetty; I could barely believe it. We got super looks at the bird, and even some decent shots. It was definitely the highlight of the day.

~The bird of the day, RAZORBILL at Manasquan Inlet 02/05/17.~

~It was nice to see this Lesser Black-backed Gull at Morgan Avenue Mudflats, 02/05/17.~

Our final stop was at Shark River in Monmouth County. As it was last year when we were there, the place was absolutely loaded with birds. We never located the Eurasian Wigeon that had been reported, but we did pretty well with waterfowl (and a couple of shorebirds too):

Canada Goose 55
Brant 250
Mute Swan 85
Gadwall 55
American Wigeon 45
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 12
Bufflehead 125
Hooded Merganser 65
Red-breasted Merganser 25
Ruddy Duck 1
Black-bellied Plover 3
Dunlin 7

We ended the day with a total of 30 species from the three locations. Good birding!