March 2025 – Orange Birding

Waterfowl Weekend, 03/30/25

I enjoyed an excellent weekend of birding, with plenty of good waterfowl. The highlight was Wickham Lake this morning; Kyle Knapp and I made two visits to the lake, and we enjoyed some really excellent birds. Highlights included: (2) WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, (7) LONG-TAILED DUCKS, (3) RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and (2) HORNED GREBES. Along with the more expected species, we had a total of (15) species of waterfowl. We also had (3) species of gull, Ring-billed, American Herring, and my first BONAPARTE’S GULLS of year.

~It always seems to be the case with these exciting sea ducks – always distant and in poor light~ (7) Long-tailed Ducks on the move at Wickham Lake, 03/30/25.~

~Horned Grebe at Wickham Lake, 03/30/25.

Saturday was a little less exciting, with only new species of watefowl for me; a Common Loon at Walton Lake (the bird continued into Sunday morning as well). The bird was way too distant both days for photos, but the nicer weather on Saturday morning did allow me to get some decent shots of some other waterfowl.

~Northern Pintail at the Liberty Loop, 03/29/25.~

~Pied-billed Grebe at Wickham Lake on Saturday morning, 03/29/25.~

~This one is from last weekend, when Eastern Phoebes moved back into our area. This one was at Silver Mine Lake, 03/22/25.~

Saturday

Sunday Shots, 03/16/25

It was a low key weekend of birding for me. I stayed local, checking the area lakes each morning and then hitting the black dirt. I didn’t have anything too exciting, but I did add (4) new species to my Orange County 2025 list. That brought my species total to (93).

Cooper’s Hawk, My Yard 03/13/25
Horned Grebe, Round Lake 03/16/25
Rusty Blackbird, Black Dirt Region 03/16/25
American Pipit, Black Dirt Region 03/16/25

Photos were tough to come by, but I did manage to get a few raptor shots in my travels.

~Black Vulture portait. Black Dirt Region, 03/16/25.~

~Red-tailed Hawk on some farm machinery in the black dirt, 03/16/25.~

Sunday Shots, 03/09/25

Last weekend was a tough one – very few birds and almost no photo ops. This weekend was a different story. The PINK-FOOTED GOOSE on Saturday was by far the highlight, but in addition to that, it was a birdy weekend and I took a lot of photos. Heat shimmer gave me fits for photos as well as scanning, but that can’t be helped. I was at Wickham Lake both mornings at sunrise; the lake is loaded with birds right now and made for some enjoyable birding. There are many Common Mergansers (hard to say, but probably 300-400?). Gulls were plentiful as well; it was probably the most gulls I’ve ever seen on that lake, with approximately 100+ Ring-billed Gulls and 20+ American Herring Gulls.

~American Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls at Wickham Lake, 03/09/25.~

I can’t even tell you how many geese I looked through in the past two days – many thousands for sure. I had 11 Snow Geese (8 were blue morphs!), and I also had one bird that I think is a very good candidate for a Cackling Goose; see photo at the bottom of this post. Two Sandhill Cranes were reported at the Liberty Loop on Saturday afternoon – I ended up seeing them on Sunday morning through dumb luck (they flew in and landed in front of a flock of geese I was sorting through).

~Sandhill Crane coming in for a landing, Liberty Marsh 03/09/25.~

~I’m loving the fluffed up feathers in this shot. Sandhill Crane at Liberty Marsh, 03/09/25.~

~Blue morph Snow Goose in the black dirt, 03/09/25.~

~Ring-billed Gulls raising an early morning racket. Wickham Lake, 03/09/25.~

~Female Common Merganser at Wickham Lake, 03/08/25.~

~And a drake Common Merganser, Wickham Lake 03/08/25.~

~White-crowned Sparrow at the Liberty Loop, 03/09/25.~

~I’m calling the bird on the far left a Cackler. Black Dirt Region, 03/09/25.~

Orange County PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, 03/08/24

I went out to the black dirt region this morning, and made up for my failure to relocate the PINK-FOOTED GOOSE last weekend by finding it three times today! It was pretty exciting; I put the word out, and a lot of other birders got to see the bird as well.

When I relocated the bird the third time, I was wondering if it could be a second individual. I had left it in a field off of Turtle Bay Road only 10 or 15 minutes earlier. I contacted several other birders, and they informed me that the bird had, in fact, flown from Turtle Bay, but went north. Well, my location was to the south, just across from Scenic Farms Golf Course!?! Ultimately, though it was fun to entertain the possibility, it seems to me that it almost certainly had to be the same bird. Although the exact timing was unclear, there was probably plenty of time for the bird to relocate to the golf course site before I got there, even with a slight northward detour. Plus, the likelihood of having two PFGOs in the same area is super duper slim.