Sunday Shots, 02/19/23

My best birding of the weekend came on Saturday afternoon. I finally went to the Newburgh Waterfront at the most productive time of the day, only to find it completely dead. I looked across the river to Beacon and saw that there were many gulls present there. I headed over, figuring the birds would cross the river to Newburgh while I was driving. Fortunately, they didn’t; as a matter of fact the birds stayed at the Beacon Waterfront until when I left just before sunset. I had a total of (5) gull species for the afternoon; in addition to the expected three species (Ring-billed, Herring, & Great Black-backed), I was able to locate a young Iceland Gull and a young Lesser Black-backed Gull. The LBBG was particularly satisfying for a couple of reasons: 1. It’s a bird I somehow missed in 2022, and 2. the LBBG is not the easiest bird to pick out of the crowd.

~A single Iceland Gull among a bunch of Herring Gulls. It’s the well illuminated all-white gull about 6 or 7 gulls from the right. Beacon Waterfront, 02/18/23.~
~Lesser Black-backed Gull, Beacon NY 02/18/23. It’s the bird on the far left, notice the dark mantle and its size: it is slightly smaller than the Herring Gulls.~

Other good birds on Saturday included a pair of Snow Buntings in the black dirt and my first Common Goldeneye (Wickham Lake) and Merlin (BDR) in Orange County 2023.

Sunday was mostly uneventful. First thing, I birded 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary for the first time in ages. It was quite birdy and I was pleased with 27 species in just under an hour of birding. Afterwards, I cruised the black dirt and it was pretty quiet. I found several larger flocks of Canada Geese; I enjoyed sorting through them, but didn’t find any additional species.

~I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Horned Lark perch off the ground. This individual perched on this old corn stalk long enough to grab a shote. Black Dirt Region 02/18/23.~
~One of two Snow Buntings I had in the black dirt on Saturday, 0218/23.~
~House Finch in the black dirt, 02/18/23.~
~White-throated Sparrow at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 02/19/23.~

4 thoughts on “Sunday Shots, 02/19/23”

  1. These are amazing pictures. Truly impressive. Would you ever be interested giving a presentation on bird photography for the Audubon society? I would love to learn from you.

    Either way, great pics.

  2. Nice!!! As usual, you have awesome photos. I love gulls and sorting through them way more than geese. Not sure I’ve seen horned larks perched before either.

    1. Thanks so much Jodi. I love geese, but I’d certainly choose gulling over any type of birding at this point. I wish there were more spots near us to go for gulls. Matt

Comments are closed.