March 2024 – Orange Birding

Easter 2024

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates. It was a busy weekend for me, as we hosted family for the the holiday, but I did manage to get out a for a little bit on both days of the weekend. I walked Winding Waters Trail at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge on both days; it’s been absolutely loaded with waterfowl, and I was really interested in tracking down the Eurasian Green-winged Teal that Bruce Nott found earlier in the week. There are hundreds of Green-winged Teal there right now; I sorted through them a good while on Saturday and for a little while on Sunday, but I did not have any luck with my target bird. So I finished the weekend having seen just the usual suspects for this time of year, but as usual, I enjoyed trying to get some interesting photographs.

~I kind of dig this photo. Mostly Green-winged Teal, but I’m also seeing a few Mallards and four Northern Pintails. Winding Waters Trail, 03/30/24.~

~A fierce looking Bald Eagle at Brown’s Pond, 03/30/24.~

~I cannot believe the number of Song Sparrows I’m seeing this Spring. This one was at Winding Waters, 03/30/24.~

~American Kestrel in flight in the Black Dirt Region, 03/31/24.~

~Beaver just after sunrise at Winding Waters Trail, 03/30/24.~

A Good Morning, 03/24/24

After a bleak and rainy Saturday that broke my “bad weather = good birding” rule in convincing fashion, I enjoyed a lovely, crisp, cold, and sunny Sunday morning of productive birding. I ran into Kyle Knapp at Lower Wisner Road, where we easily found my first Rusty Blackbirds of 2024; they were feeding with a small flock of American Robins out in a field. The Brown Thrasher that Kyle found skulking in some nearby hedges was an excellent bonus bird. Brown Thrasher is not a bird I see very often, so it was good to get one so early in the year.

~Brown Thrasher, Lower Wisner Road in Warwick, 03/24/24.~

~One of four Eastern Bluebirds on Lower Wisner Road, 03/24/24. I don’t know if it was the light, or what, but these birds were just spectacularly blue; just gorgeous.

Afterwards, I headed out to the black dirt to see what I could find. I was finally able to track down some Wilson’s Snipe – they were in an odd location to me – out in a field on Skinners Lane, loosely associating with nearly a dozen Killdeer. Later, at The Camel Farm, I was able to find my first American Pipits of the year; a trio of birds working around some of distant puddles out in the field.

~Three of four Wilson’s Snipe in the black dirt this morning, 03/24/24. The birds were a little bit distant, but still really good to see them.~

~Here’s a bird that I don’t see all that often, and I haven’t photographed in ages. American Tree Sparrow in the black dirt, 03/24/24.~

~One moe Eastern Bluebird shot, Lower Winsner Road 03/24/24.~

Ring-necked Duck, 03/17/24

Looking at field guides, and from my own personal experience, Ring-necked Ducks do not show off their namesake very often. Even today, when I photographed this drake, I didn’t take notice of it. But, when I reviewed my photos, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I’ve never seen a maroon/brown neck-ring this distinctive. I’m not sure if this is the effect of particular lighting condition, or if this is this individual’s current plumage. Regardless, I didn’t much luck otherwise with photos today, but I definitely wanted to share a couple shots of this good-looking bird, which I photographed at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary this morning.

~Male Ring-necked Duck at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 03/17/24.~

~One more shot of the drake Ring-necked Duck at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 03/17/24.~

Birding Around the County, 03/16/24

I was up super early this morning, so I was able to enjoy one of my favorite things – the Black Dirt Region at sunrise. I was hoping I might catch a glimpse of a Coyote at that hour, but it wasn’t to be. I was, however, rewarded by finding and photographing three Lapland Longspurs just after sunrise. It’s been several weeks since I’ve found any LALOs, so it was good to catch up with those birds. Unfortunately, not long after seeing the longspurs, I found a recently deceased Short-eared Owl. The field where I found the bird had been recently cleared; sadly it appeared to me that the bird had been killed by a run-in with some farm machinery.

~Red-tailed Hawk perched on a limp wind sock at sunrise in the black dirt, 03/16/24.~

~One of three Lapland Longspurs in the black dirt on 03/16/24.~

Later in the morning, I checked some of the lakes in southern Orange County. I didn’t find much, but I was happy to find a Common Loon at Wickham Lake in beautiful plumage:

~Common Loon at Wickham Lake, 03/16/24.~

My final destination on this Saturday was the Hudson River near Newburgh. The big excitement for me was finding a single Lesser Black-backed Gull on the sandbar in Cornwall Bay. Also of note was a trio of Red-breasted Mergansers. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Great Cormorants which have been in the area recently.

~Lesser Black-backed Gull waaaaay out there. It’s the bird on the far right. I kind of like having the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge in the background for this shot. Cornwall Bay, 03/16/24.~

Sunday Shots, 03/10/24

It was a little bit of an uninspired weekend of birding for me. I never really put a good plan together for either day, so I just kind of wandered around the county and it was ultimately not very productive. I think a lot of it has to do with the time of year – it’s sort of in between right now – some winter birds are holding on, but many are on the move, yet migration isn’t in full swing just yet. Highlights for me included adding Hermit Thrush to my 2024 OC list at D&H Canal Park Saturday morning, and catching up with a Great Cormorant on the Hudson River first thing this morning. As usual, regardless of how productive it was, I like to share some of the images from the weekend on a Sunday evening; fortunately I didn’t strike out on that count.

~Always a favorite among the ducks for me – Ruddy Duck at Beaver Dam Lake, 03/10/24.~

~It’s been nice to see an increase in the number Killdeer around. This one was in the black dirt on Friday evening, 03/08/24.~

~Pileated Woodpecker near Reservoir 3 on 03/09/10.

~Ruddy Duck at Beaver Dam Lake, 03/10/24.~

~Rare bird alert! Lol, just kidding. It just feels that way this winter when it comes to Rough-legged Hawks, which have not been very numerous in the county. Black Dirt Region, 03/10/24.~

Sunday Shots, 03/03/24

Today was good day of birding – I stuck to the black dirt region, and although I had mostly the usuals, there were plenty of birds around and I enjoyed some good photo ops. I also walked Wallkill River NWR’s Winding Waters Trail. It was a pleasant and very birdy walk. I had distant looks at the recently returned Sandhill Cranes, which was pretty cool. There were thousands of blackbirds on the trail; they never sat still for very long.

In the afternoon, I got word from Linda Scrima that she had a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at the Camel Farm, of all places. I ran for the bird, and when I arrived, I found that it had been joined by a second LBBG, out in a field, among over 300 Ring-billed and a handful of Herring Gulls. It was a terrible look at the birds (distant and starkly backlit), but I was happy to add this species to my Orange County list for the year. Huge thanks to Linda for the heads up on an excellent find.

~It was nice to spend s0me time with this Peregrine Falcon in the black dirt, 03/03/24.~

~Singing Eastern Meadowlark in the black dirt region, 03/03/24.~

~This Short-eared Owl made a brief appearance this morning, and unfortunately stayed on the backlit side of me. Black dirt region, 03/03/24.~

~Turkey Vulture, Westtown NY, 03/03/24.~

~Bald Eagle at the Camel Farm, 03/03/24.~

~A pair of female Common Mergansers in the rain on Beaver Dam Lake, 03/02/24.~

~Blackbird flock on Winding Waters Trail, 03/03/24.~

~Male Common Merganser on Celery Avenue, 03/03/24.~

~One of two Lesser Black-backed Gulls at the Camel Farm, 03/03/24.~

OC Red-headed Woodpecker, 03/02/24

A mostly uneventful, rainy morning was saved when I found a single RED-HEADED WOODPECKER at the south end of Brown’s Pond. It’s been a few years since I’ve had this species in the county (others have had it), so for me it was good to see one. The bird was working some dead trees on the far side of the pond, so photos were difficult but I was able to at least document it. The only other noteworthy birds this morning was a quartet of distant Red-breasted Mergansers which I viewed on the Hudson River from Donahue Memorial Park.