Sunday Shots 4/6/14

The big news of the day was that Tom Burke had located a EURASIAN WIGEON at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. I was birding at the Bashakill with Karen Miller when I received a call from John Haas, letting me know about it. Tricia and I finally made it out to the refuge in the early afternoon and walked the west side of the Liberty Loop and joined several other birders that were looking at the bird in scopes. We got great looks in the scope, but photos were really tough. On our way out, more birders were on their way in to get a look at the bird. Here is a pretty awful photo of the bird:

Before the wigeon excitement, I had a nice morning of birding out at the Bashakill with Karen. We started at Haven Road, where my best bird was a Pied-billed Grebe seen in the distance on the north side of the bridge. There was a good number of Tree Swallows present, so I spent some time trying to photograph them in flight. They are not only a small bird, but so quick and unpredictable. Here’s a couple shots:

Our next stop was the Main Boat Launch, where I got to see Ed Morse for the first time of the season; it was great to see him back at it, keeping a close eye on the Bashakill Eagles. We checked on the eagle’s nest, saw 12 Horned Grebes in the distance, and then walked the Birch Trail. On the way we ran into Scotty Balding who informed us that he had seen an additional 16 Horned Grebes from the lookout, and a raft of 172 Ring-necked Ducks just a bit further down the trail. I spoke to Scotty again later in the day and his total count for Horned Grebes was 33! Pretty amazing that the Bash has had so many HOGRs for so long. Karen and I enjoyed the walk and had some relatively close encounters with some of the Bashakill’s more familiar residents:

This last photo is from earlier in the week but I didn’t have a chance to post it (it was on Thursday, the same day as the Caspian Tern sighting). Rob Stone had called to let me know there was a good photo opportunity for Common Goldeneyes at Greenwood Lake. I never got a Common Goldeneye close enough for good shots, plus the lighting was not great, but I do like this shot of a Bufflehead taking off: