2024 Year in Review

Looking back at it, it was a pretty remarkable year of birding in our area. We had an extraordinary number of what I would consider REALLY GOOD BIRDS. Fortunately, I was able to catch up with a good number of them. Here’s the list that I came up with, in chronological order. I’m sure there are additional birds that could have made the list; if you have any, feel free to add a comment to fill in the gaps.

01/01/24: Red Crossbills flyover at Reservoir 3, near Port Jervis. It was good to get this bird on my year list on the first day of the year, and I was able to photograph one gritting on the road several weeks later:

01/06/24: Northern Shrike at Wallkill River NWR’s Winding Waters Trail. It’s always good to see one of the coolest birds we get in our area.

01/07/24: I found a Yellow-throated Warbler at the Newburgh Waterfront trail See photo below in top 10 pics.

01/21/24: GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL!!! An absolutely fantastic find by Bruce Nott. Bruce originally found the bird at the Newburgh Waterfront; I was personally able to catch up with it in Beacon a day later.

02/11/24: Ross’s Goose on Wisner Road, found by Maria Loukeris. Another Ross’s Goose was located in the fall by Silas Wareham.

03/02/24: I found a Red-headed Woodpecker at Brown’s Pond.

04/13/24: I finally caught up with the Great Cormorant that had been in the Newburgh area. I believe Bruce Nott was the original locater of that bird.

04/20/24: LITTLE GULL!!! Extraordinary find by Jeanne Cimorelli, originally at Washington Lake, and then later relocated by Bruce Nott on the Hudson River by Plum Point.

05/12/24: The NEOTROPIC CORMORANT spent its 3rd year in a row at the Newburgh Waterfront area. I was able to catch up with it on this date.

05/13/24: TRICOLORED HERON!!! Another great OC find by Linda Scrima. It was really something to see this species in our area, and just minutes from my house.

06/01/24: I was able to see and photograph the Kentucky Warbler on Mine Road, originally found by Bruce Nott.

06/30/24: I was thrilled to find an AMERICAN AVOCET at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary.

07/12/24: I found a Blue Grosbeak in the Black Dirt Region. It had been a while since we’ve had one, and I believe a lot of birders got this one.

07/06/24: Borderline extralimital; Jeanne Cimorelli made another extraordinary find – she identified a PACIFIC LOON among a group of Common Loons at Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County. I was able to catch up with the bird a day later, and then I went back a week later and got some decent photos.

08/02/24: A Yellow-crowned Night Heron was found by Mary B. at Majestic Park in Gardiner NY. I did not get this bird unfortunately.

08/09/24: Jeanne had a remarkable 21 Laughing Gulls at the Newburgh waterfront, and later in the evening, I found a pair of Willets in the Black Dirt Region. A day later, John Haas had a Laughing Gull at Rondout Reservoir.

11/24/24: A CAVE SWALLOW was found by Patrick D. at Roundout Reservoir. I unfortunately did not have any opportunity to run for this bird.

OUT OF OUR AREA

In early February, I went on a 12 hour pelagic trip out of Brooklyn. While we did not have any extraordinary birds, we did do very well with good numbers of our target Alcid species, including Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, Dovekie, and Common Murre. I also enjoyed some great photo ops with Iceland and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

In early May, Tricia and I spent a long weekend on Cape Cod. Again, I didn’t have anything out-of-the-ordinary, but but it was super birdy with loads of photo ops.

And then, in late August, I joined Rob Stone and we did an overnight pelagic out of Cape Cod. During this trip, we had several extraordinary birds, and I got 5 new life birds, including my #1 target for the trip, SOUTH POLAR SKUA. My other lifers were: Long-tailed Jaeger, Pomarine Jaeger, White-faced Storm-petrel, and Audubon’s Storm Petrel.

TOP TEN PHOTOS OF THE YEAR

And finally, to my favorite part of this post each year: my top ten photos of the year. I love to look back over a year of bird photography and try to whittle it down to my favorites. I feel like this year’s top ten is a little bit weaker than some that I’ve had in previous years, but hopefully I’m being overly critical of my own work, and readers will find them appealing.