May 2024 – Orange Birding

Excellent Morning, 05/27/24

I woke up late and with low birding exceptions. Things started out pretty well when I ran into Kyle Knapp in the black dirt and we enjoyed photographing one of the most confiding Grasshopper Sparrows I’ve ever come across (see photos below). But, it wasn’t until I went to 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary afterwards, that things got really good. I arrived and almost immediately found an adult LITTLE BLUE HERON. I was really surprised by this, as we have only had an adult in Orange County one other time that I know of. I took some quick photos, and put the word out. At some point, when I was looking at my phone or camera, the bird had just disappeared…

Enter Dave Hultgren. We had never met before today, but I saw him further up the trail, so I went to him to see if he saw the bird fly. He did not just then, but he informed me that earlier, he had TWO adult Little Blue Herons! I walked further up the trail trying to relocate the birds, and sure enough, when I found one, I found two! It was pretty cool. Several other birders came to see the herons; Bruce Nott found a couple of Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a Least Sandpiper. Then, John Haas found a slightly larger sandpiper – it was a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER! What a great morning!

~Little Blue Heron at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 05/27/24.~

~Make that TWO Little Blue Herons! 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 05/27/24.~

~Grasshopper Sparrow in the Black Dirt, belting it out! 05/27/24.

~Grasshopper Sparrow in the Black Dirt Region, 05/27/24.~

Sunday Shots, 05/26/24

With songbird migration winding down, and no real weather moving through, my expectations for this weekend were relatively low. And maybe because of that, I really enjoyed the past couple of days. In addition to several songbird locations, I tried for shorebirds in the county – in primarily three locations:

6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary: Conditions are quite good at this location right now, but unfortunately I haven’t had much variety. Shorebirds included Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, and Spotted Sandpiper.
Camel Farm: Conditions are not great (water is a little high), but I was thinking it might still be good for phalarope species. I had no luck with phalaropes, in fact on Saturday I had no shorebirds at all. On Sunday I faired a tiny bit better and had Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Sandpiper (my first of the year).
Hudson River Near Newburgh: I arrived at Plum Point right at low tide on Sunday morning and scanned the sandbar. I came up empty at first, but then the highlight of my weekend, a pair of CASPIAN TERNS flew in and landed. I joined up with birding bud Bruce Nott and we checked the sandbar at the mouth of the Quassaick Creek, where we found a single Killdeer and a Least Sandpiper. Afterwards, Bruce relocated the NEOTROPIC CORMORANT near the ferry, so I went over and enjoyed excellent looks but battled a backlit situation for photos.

~Neotropic Cormorant continues at the Newburgh Waterfront, 05/26/24.~

As we’ve come to expect, good photos for shorebirds in Orange County are tough to come by. But, I did take a lot of other photos, and I’m also playing a little catch up with some photos that I never got to last weekend.

~Belted Kingfisher at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 05/18/24.~

~American Redstart at Pochuck Mountain. I haven’t birded this location much in recent years, so I decided to spend some time there on Saturday morning. It was birdy enough to keep me interested, but really there was not much too exciting. Four Yellow-billed Cuckoos was a highlight.

~Ruby-throated Hummingbird, our yard, 05/18/24.~

~This pair is kind of cracking me up. I keep seeing them way out in the same field in the black dirt region. I took this shot on 05/18/24.~

~Great Blue Heron at Beaver Pond on 05/21/24. I was trying for the Tricolored Heron, but I had no luck.

~A pair of Snapping Turtles (yes there is another one under the water), presumably mating at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 0/26/24.~

~Gray Squirrel with a nut in our yard earlier this week.~

Sunday Shots, 05/19/24

As opposed to last weekend (when I added over 30 species to my Orange County year list), this weekend I added just a handful of new species. But! Also as unlike last week, this week I was able to get some photos of songbirds. I birded at several locations this weekend – Laurel Grove Cemetery, Elks Brox Park, 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, & Sterling Forest. It was an enjoyable weekend for me; all the locations were active with many birds, the weather was good, and I was able to get some decent photos of some of the beautiful songbirds which have recently returned to our area.

~Blue-winged Warbler at Sterling Forest State Park, 05/19/24.~

~A Prairie Warbler belting it out. Sterling Forest, 05/19/24.~

~Black-capped Chickadee at Elks Brox Memorial Park, 05/18/24.~

~A female Scarlet Tanager at Elks Brox, 05/18/24.~

Wow! Orange County Tricolored Heron, 05/13/24

Towards the end of the work day today, Karen Miller reported a Glossy Ibis at Beaver Pond, near Glenmere Lake. Linda Scrima ran for the bird, and not only did she get the ibis, she also located a TRICOLORED HERON! I ran for the bird after work, and fortunately it was still present. The bird was a little bit distant, but views in my scope were spectacular. It was actually a little jarring to see this beautiful bird right here in Orange County. Unfortunately, the bird flew, heading south, right around 6:30. Some of the birders present were going to go to the Liberty Loop to see if it showed up there, but as of this writing, I haven’t heard anything. This is the second documented siting of this species in OC, the previous was found by Ken McDermott in Cornwall Bay, way back in 1982! Congratulations to Linda on another great find.

All images taken at Beaver Pond in Florida, NY on 05/13/24.

Making Up For Lost Time

Wow, it was a very birdy weekend for me. Being away, there were plenty of birds that moved into the area that I hadn’t gotten yet for the year, so when I finally got back to it this weekend, I added a remarkable 34 new species to my Orange County 2024 year list. This put my year total at 167 (see my list of all the birds I added this weekend below). My birdiest spot was Elks Brox Memorial Park in Port Jervis, where I added 16 species in just about an hour’s time.

My most exciting bird was tracking down the NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, which has recently returned to the Newburgh Waterfront area (thanks to Bruce Nott for the heads up). Unfortunately, as birdy as it was, I did not have many photo ops, so here is a distant shot of the Neotropic Cormorant doing a nice wing flap.

~NEOTROPIC CORMORANT returns to Newburgh! Taken just south of Quassaick Creek, 05/12/24.~

Cape Cod 2024

Tricia and I enjoyed a five day weekend on Cape Cod last weekend. The weather was a mixed bag and it felt like we had all four seasons during those five days and the birding was very enjoyable and relatively productive. I had 63 species for the trip (see complete list at the bottom of this post). This is up 11 species from when we last visited during the same week back in 2022. That said, nearly all the birds where what I would consider ‘expected’ species; the only out of the ordinary birds I had for the entire trip were a handful of very distant, unidentified flying alcids at Race Point on 05/07/24. The bird of the trip for me, was Red-throated Loon. I went to Race Point on 05/04/24 & 05/07/24 and High Head Beach on 05/05/24, and both places were absolutely loaded with Red-throated Loons (and a pretty good showing of Common Loons as well). What I really enjoyed about the RTLOs, was that many were in or nearly in breeding plumage – something that I’ve never seen before.

~A Red-throated Loon just off shore at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

As readers of the blog know, gulls are maybe at the top of my favorite types of birds. I was disappointed with the trip in this regard -in addition to the 4 expected species (Laughing, Herring, Great Black-backed, & Ring-billed), I only had a handful of distant Bonaparte’s Gulls. Two years ago, I had absolutely loads of Bonies, as well as Lesser Black-backed, Iceland, and Glaucous!

As for mammals, in the water I had Gray Seals, Humpback Whales, and a Fin Whale. I met an old timer at Race Point – he had a Right Whale feeding before I ran into him, but unfortunately I was unable to relocate it. I was bummed, because that would have been amazing. On land, of note I had two Coyote sitings, both on my drive out to Race Point very early in the morning on 05/07/24.

~Red-thoated Loon in nice plumage at Race Point, 05/04/24.~

One final thing. It struck me during this trip was how different being at the shore is aesthetically, as compared to Orange County. There is an airy, light feel to the surroundings and regardless of the weather, the palette seems to have more of a pastel quality to it, which I really enjoyed, both just existing in it and photographing it.

~You can’t miss these guys at Race Point. Piping Plover in the early morning sun on 05/04/24.~

~Herring Gull with a nice meal, flying over Wellfleet Harbor, right across the street from the place we stayed, 05/06/24.~

~Willet perched high on vegetation during a hike I took at Great Island Trail, 05/06/24.~

~Common Loon, Wellfleet Harbor 05/06/24.~

~Laughing Gull in flight at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~Red-breasted Mergansers were present in MASSIVE numbers every day I was on the cape. This crew was shot at Race Point on 05/07/24.~

~Herring Gull at Wellfleet Harbor, 05/06/24.~

~A Gray Seal came in for a closer look at me on the shore at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~This was awesome – I’ve never seen it before. This Humpback Whale was repeatedly slapping its pectoral flipper on the water! High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~Fin Whale at High Head Beach, 05/05/24.~

~Selfie at Race Point, 05/07/24. I believe those are Coyote tracks over my shoulder.~

Cape Cod 2024 Teaser

Tricia and I spent a long, lovely weekend on Cape Cod. I did loads of birding, of course, and I took many, many photos which will take some time to get through before I can post. It was really great to get away for a few days – when I wasn’t birding I was resting, relaxing and enjoying some great seafood. I look forward to sharing my experiences once I’ve edited all these photos (I am really curious to see how they turned out).