This weekend’s birding was a little bit of a mixed bag. Saturday morning I checked some nearby lakes and then went to the Newburgh Waterfront. I was hoping for any sort of interesting waterfowl but unfortunately I came up completely empty. I stopped by Kendridge Farm on my way home, and was able to salvage the morning by finding a couple of Fox Sparrows – my first of year. It was my 210th species of the year in Orange County. In the afternoon, I went out to the black dirt for a little while. It was mostly quiet, but I did find (4) young Bald Eagles on Lynch Avenue.
Sunday was a better day for me. I took a nice hike at Reservoir 3 in Port Jervis first thing. It was a pleasant and birdy walk. Highlights included many Red-breasted Nuthatches and (4) Golden-crowned Kinglets. Noticeably, I did not hear any Red Crossbills flying over. Afterwards, I went to the black dirt and had a productive visit. I had a large flock of Snow Buntings (60+ birds); thank you to Karen Miller for the heads up. There were loads of Horned Larks flying around in loose flocks – I dipped on Lapland Longspur, but I was able to find a nice flock of American Pipits (approximately 30+ birds). My best bird of the day was a single Vesper Sparrow; it’s always nice to catch up with that species.
