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.~

2 thoughts on “Birding Around the County, 03/16/24”

  1. Hi Matt,

    I like the size comparison to the other gulls in the picture with the LBBG. Great pictures!

    Thanks,
    Joe

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