When I looked at today’s forecast last night, I was hopeful that we might get some good birds. It called for rain starting before sunrise and continuing through the morning until the early afternoon. When I arrived at Wickham Lake this morning, it was a steady rain. I was initially viewing from under the pavilion, but then I saw some interesting ducks, so I had to venture out into the rain for a closer look from the shore. I was pretty excited when I got a better look – it was (4) SURF SCOTERS and (1) BLACK SCOTER, which was super exciting for me. Also of note was (4) Bonaparte’s Gulls, associating with about a half dozen Ring-billed Gulls. I checked a few more lakes in the area, and when I got to Walton Lake, I found (2) more Surf Scoters. The rain had stopped, and the birds were closer, so I was at least able to get a halfway decent photo of the birds.
I checked a few more local lakes without anything noteworthy and then headed to the Hudson River. I’d seen on social media that route 218 (Storm King Highway) had finally reopened after being closed for I think over three years, so I wanted to drive that for the first time in ages. Unfortunately it was raining pretty good again when I went through, so the views weren’t so great, but I’m excited that it’s open again. I birded Cornwall Bay with hardly any birds. I went to the mouth of the Quassaic Creek, and I was happy to find that the Black-crowned Night Heron had returned! I snapped a few shots and sorted through some cormorants, hoping for the Neotropic Cormorant that had been reported this week, but no luck.
I made my way up to the Newburgh Waterfront, where at first I didn’t have much. Then, to my surprise, while I was sorting through the gulls on the floating docks, a couple of LAUGHING GULLS flew in. They spent some time close to the shore for a while, but then eventually settled down way out on the river with a small flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls. I’d put the word out, and Silas, Bruce and Jeanne joined me with the birds. Later in the day, Ronnie reported that they had relocated to the parking lot at the boat launch; Bill Fiero was able to catch up with them there.
