As most of you probably know already, spring migration hit our area in a serious way this week, particularly on Wednesday. I was out of commission all day and evening, so unfortunately I missed out on all the fun. You can click John Hass’ post here to read how the Bashakill had 15 species of warbler that morning. Not to be completely left out, I noticed an interesting bird in the backyard while working at my desk this morning. I got my bins on it, and it was an Ovenbird! It was my first of the season as well as a new yard bird for me.
~Sharp looking gull, a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL flies over the Hudson River at the Newburgh Waterfront, 04/25/21.~
I have to thank larophile Bruce Nott once again. This morning I chased a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL which he reported at the Newburgh Waterfront. Soon after my arrival, I located a distant black-backed gull. There haven’t been many (any?) black-backed gulls around recently, so I was feeling confident that this was the bird. My problem was that the bird was on the water (hiding leg color) and all alone (eliminating being able to judge by size). I needed to confirm that the bird was not the much more likely Great Black-backed Gull, so I waited it out. The bird slowly drifted north, nearly to the bridge. Then it flew south and put down again, south of the waterfront. Again I watched as it drifted north. It took a short flight at one point, and I was pretty sure, but not positive that I saw yellow legs. I watched as it drifted all the way north once again. I saw it next to a Ring-billed Gull, and the size looked good (larger, but not overwhelmingly so). The bird flew south once again and put down on the docks. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the docks, the bird had flown again. Luckily, this time it put down with a pair of Herring Gulls, and now the size looked perfect. I looked at my flight shots, and sure enough, yellow legs! That’s a good bird for the county, and it was really cool to see it in adult breeding plumage – we don’t usually see that in Orange County.
I finally got a decent look at a Rusty Blackbird. Owens Station Road, Wallkill River NWR, Sussex County NJ 04/24/21.~ ~A Tree Swallow uses a feather to lure in a mate. I wonder what kind of feather that is? Wisner Road, 04/24/21.~~Double-crested Cormorant in flight at Wickham Lake, 04/23/21.~ ~Red-winged Blackbird at the Liberty Loop, 04/24/21.~ ~Great Blue Heron with a snack, Liberty Loop 04/24/21.~
After work on Monday evening, I went to Wickham Lake hoping for new waterfowl or maybe even some gulls. Unfortunately I didn’t have any luck on either count. There was, however, a good number of swallows present, including my first Northern Rough-winged Swallows of the year. Along with the NRW Swallows were a handful of Barn Swallows and more than 100 Tree Swallows. Without much else going on, and with the light pretty good from time to time, I decided to try much luck photographing swallows in flight. It was my first time doing this with my new 500mm lens, and it made it challenging. I shot freehand on this day, but I think next time I’ll see how I do with the monopod. It was a nice way to spend a Monday evening.
~Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Wickham Lake, 04/19/21.~ ~Tree Swallow at Wickham Lake, 04/19/21.~ NRWS at Wickham Lake, 04/19/21.~~TRSW at Wickham Lake, 04/19/21.~
Well, in spite of still waiting for spring migration to really kick in, I had a satisfying weekend of birding. I spent Saturday morning at the Hudson River, but aside from the continuing Iceland Gull, it was uneventful. That gull frustrated me because it was on the floating docks at the Newburgh Waterfront, not too far out, but the bird kept its back to me and it was backlit to boot. I successfully chased a Long-tailed Duck at Orange Lake (thanks Bruce), and picked up a Red-breasted Merganser as a bonus. On my way out, I stopped at Gardenertown Road and patience paid off as I was able to locate 2 Wilson’s Snipe after some extensive searching.
~Pine Warble at Sterling Forest State Park, 04/18/21.~
Saturday afternoon I walked the Liberty Loop for the first time in ages. IT was a pleasant, if uneventful walk. Highlights included: American Coot, Common Gallinule, and my first Lesser Yellowlegs of the year. All three highlight birds were located on the Sussex County side of the loop.
Sunday morning I checked a number of lakes in southern Orange County, looking for new waterfowl or Bonaparte’s Gulls. For the most part I came up empty, but did manage to find a distant Horned Grebe in beautiful plumage at Round Lake. I stopped to use the restroom at Sterling Forest, and on my way out I had one of my best birds of the day, a Pine Warbler. I had to run to the car for my camera, but fortunately the bird lingered for me. A quick cruise through the black dirt yielded nothing of note, so I called it a day.
~Shorebirds are coming! My first Lesser Yellowlegs of the year, at the Liberty Loop, Sussex County NJ 04/17/21.~ ~ Wilson’s Snipe at Gardnertown Road, 04/17/21.~ ~This is one talented Osprey, Wickham Lake earlier this week, 04/13/21.~ ~I guess everyone is eating well! Killdeer with a mouthful at Lynch Avenue in the black dirt, 04/15/21.~
This morning started out well, I was able to add two new Orange County year birds at my second stop – Solitary Sandpiper and Blue-winged Teal at Beaver Pond near Glenmere Lake. The rest of the day proved to be uneventful. Wickham Lake held no new birds. I tried Greenwood Lake but it was socked in with fog. I stopped at Round Lake and photographed a Bufflehead. Then I headed to the Hudson River where the birds were on the scarce side. It was a tough day for pics with few opportunities and poor light. I had my best photo op of the day with a Great Blue Heron in the pond near my house, just before finishing up for the day.
~A good looking Great Blue Heron in the pond around the corner from my house in Goshen Village, 04/11/21.~ ~Bufflehead at Round Lake, 04/11/21~A pair of Blue-winged Teal at Beaver Pond in Florida NY, 04/11/21.~ ~This Eastern Bluebird with nesting materials was nice to see this morning with the NYS Breeding Bird Atlas ramping up again. Wickham Lake, 04/11/21.~ ~It’s so good to see shorebirds again. Solitary Sandpiper at Beaver Pond, 04/11/21.~
I’ve enjoyed some good birding in recent days. I got out on both Thursday and Friday evenings after work and a couple of times today. In those three days I was able to add 10 species to my Orange County 2021 list:
Barn Swallow, 4/8 at Wickham Lake
Osprey, 4/8 at Wickham Lake
Palm Warbler, 4/9 at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary
Swamp Sparrow, 4/9 at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary
American Coot, 4/9 at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary
Virginia Rail, 4/9 at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary
Eastern Meadowlark, 4/10 at Wisner Road
Chipping Sparrow, 4/10 at Greenwood Lake
BONAPARTE’S GULL, 4/10 at Washington Lake
PECTORAL SANDPIPER, 4/10 at Lynch Road in the black dirt
~Beautiful bird. I almost forgot how jazzed I get about shorebirds. Pectoral Sandpiper at Lynch Avenue, 4/10/21.~
Other good birds included a distant Common Loon at Greenwood Lake this morning, and excellent looks at an immature ICELAND GULL at the Newburgh Waterfront. Huge thanks to Bruce Nott for reporting both the Bonaparte’s and the Iceland Gulls. Also thanks to Maria Loukeris for letting me know about the post regarding the Pectoral Sandpiper on the Mearns Facebook page – thanks to Amy Klein for posting it.
~My new lens (Canon 500m Mark I) is still a work in progress. I took all of my photos of the Iceland Gull with the 1.4x extender attached and they were all quite soft. I was also using a monopod with a gimbal head. That’s a lot of new things at once. I exchanged texts with Kyle Dudgeon and he advised that I leave the 1.4x for now and just get used to the lens/monopod/gimbal head. Good advice, I think. ICELAND GULL at the Newburgh Waterfront, 04/10/21.~~Singing Eastern Meadowlark at Wisner Road, 04/10/21.~ ~Boy, I never really thought about what a Wild Turkey actually looked like until today. Crazy looking bird.. Wisner Road 04/10/21.~ ~Tree Swallow at Wisner Road, 04/10/21.~ ~Mute Swan at Wickham Lake, 04/06/21.~
Happy Easter to everyone that celebrates. It’s been a quiet one here; hopefully the last quiet holiday of this rotten pandemic. This week was mostly uneventful as far as the birding goes. I got out often, but without many exciting birds nor good photo ops. On Wednesday I went out to Lynch Avenue in the black dirt to chase the Wilson’s Snipe that had been reported by Bruce Nott and Linda Scrima. It was nice to get a shorebird in Orange County that wasn’t a Killdeer. Yesterday I only had the early morning to bird and today I got out all morning. I spent both morning checking lakes and the Hudson River, mostly for ducks but also on the off chance of a Bonaparte’s Gull or a Caspian Tern (no luck on either). I added Ruddy Duck to my OC list yesterday morning at Glenmere, and I added Lesser Scaup (Orange Lake) and Common Loon (Greenwood Lake) to it this morning. Anyways, here’s some shots from the week.
~Tooling around in the backyard earlier this week – Northern Cardinal.~ ~Wilson’s Snipe in the black dirt, 04/02/21. I originally saw these birds on Wednesday, but went back for photos on Friday.~~Roadside Red-shouldered Hawk on a wire, Goshen NY 04/04/21.~ ~Northern Flicker at Wickham Lake, 04/03/21.~ ~There have been loads of American Robins around recently, but none as interesting as this individual. Wickham Lake, 04/03/21.~
