Good Birding in the New Year, 01/04/26

I’ve had a pleasant and productive start to 2026. I was off work from Christmas through today, so it has been a nice break with a lot of birding.

New Year’s Day: I started the year off by taking care of some good birds in the black dirt. Birds of note included a couple of lingering Greater White-fronted Geese, Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and a Lapland Longspur. A pleasant surprise was a young Peregrine Falcon. In the afternoon I went to Newburgh for gulls, but all the gulls were loafing across the river at the Beacon Waterfront. It was brutally cold over there, with the wind whipping in my face, but I was able to get the Glaucous Gull and 3 Iceland Gulls.

January 2nd: I went to Reservoir #3 first thing in the morning. My target bird was Red Crossbill, but I had no luck there. I did pick up a few good birds, however, including Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, and Golden-crowned Kinglet. On the way back I stopped by the Liberty Loop and added Rough-legged Hawk, American Tree Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrows. On my way home I found 3 Snow Geese in a flock of Canada Geese.

January 3rd: I participated in another Christmas Bird Count, this time with Maria Loukeris. Our area included Port Jervis, so I was back in that area again. New birds for me that day included: Bald Eagle, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, and a nice look at a Barred Owl.

January 4th: I had an excellent morning at the Newburgh Waterfront. I caught up with the Glaucous and an Iceland Gull – this time in Orange County. I also got lucky with the continuing rare warblers at the Waterfront Trail – I saw both the Northern Yellow and the Orange-crowned on my first try – if you know my track record with warblers, you know this is a record.