I woke up before sunrise this morning and headed out; I was going to spend the morning birding in southern Orange County. My first stop was at Wallkill River NWR, where I walked the Liberty Loop for the first time in a while. The weather had finally warmed up a bit after the extended cold spell, so it felt really good to be outside and walking the trail. During my walk I had many of the expected birds for this time of year, but the highlight of my hike was seeing a Coyote crossing the marsh.
After walking the loop, I did a car tour of Pines Island and the Black Dirt Region. I hit many of my usual stops as well as some of new ones, such as Cedar Swamp Road, where I saw a couple of falconers flying their birds way off in the distance, and not surprisingly, I did not have any luck with the pair of Snowy Owls that were reported there. I ended up with 26 species for the day which I don’t think is too bad for not being anywhere near open water all day. Species highlights for the morning included seeing the same Snowy Owl that I’ve been seeing all week and a pair of LAPLAND LONGSPURS in a flock of approximately 45 Horned Larks. The real highlight for me, however was running into several birders I know while viewing the Snowy Owl. It was good to spend time and shoot the breeze with fellow Mearns Bird Club members Gerhard and Tracey, as well as Jack Austin and Linda – they are all such nice folks.
Here’s my list for the morning, the numbers are a bit rough since I totaled everything I saw while I was out, but I definitely was very conservative with my counts.
Canada Goose 1000
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 3
Red-tailed Hawk 8
Rough-legged Hawk 5
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 14
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 3
American Kestrel 2
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 500
Horned Lark 60
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
American Robin 18
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 80
Lapland Longspur 2
American Tree Sparrow 10
Song Sparrow 20
Dark-eyed Junco 55
Northern Cardinal 2
House Sparrow 12
Hi Matt. Always nice to see your shots; loved the coyote! Went to see the black dirt snowy again yesterday; I’m with you, can’t get enough! Where did you have the longspurs? That was a lifer for me that I finally got on Saturday in Stone Harbor (Cape May county) while 3 other birders from the Sussex Club & I were searching for a Smith’s longspur that had been there during the week. Didn’t find the Smith’s, but did also find western grebe at Monmouth Beach (south of Sandy Hook), another lifer. Beautiful day birding with friends that ended with a pastel shore sunset and a fingernail crescent moon. No photos to share, though…
Mariannne,
Glad you are enjoying the photos. Two lifers in one weekend! Very nice, sounds like a great day of birding. I had the Lapland Longspurs at Skinner in a flock of maybe 40 Horned Larks.
Nice to see you again today, Matt. Got distracted by a show between 2 short-eared owls shortly after you left and got a few nice shots (I’ll email later). As a result, no snowy or longspurs etc. today. Friday’s another day to try!
I actually ended up with a two-Snowy night! I stopped at one more place and I still had time (barely) to get the oil changed in my car. Always great to see you, nice that you got the SEOWs, I’ll look for the photos.
Two?? Good for you!