I was running a little bit early to meet Karen Miller at the Winding Waters Trail, so I decided to make a quick stop at the Pine Island Turf Nursery. There was a good collection of shorebirds present, so I called Karen and she joined me there. We had three Bald Eagles, a Gadwall and did pretty well with the shorebirds, with 12 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 8 Lesser Yellowlegs, and a single Pectoral Sandpiper. Our intention was to go for warblers on this morning, so we did not linger and headed over to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge.
In spite of the windy conditions, Winding Waters Trail was full of birds. The area to the right of the trail, for the first 500 yards or so, is flooded and there are some Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs as well as Solitary Sandpipers there. As we walked the trail, we had plenty of birds to look at, and since I haven’t really gone for warblers year, I got several first of the season birds (FOS). Karen was very sharp all day and was finding many of the birds we saw. Karen headed home after we got back to the cars, and I went back to look at the shorebirds with my scope, and then went over to the viewing platform by the Liberty Loop and I walked out Liberty Lane, where the fields were flooded and I was hoping for more shorebirds. It was only somewhat productive; I had 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 3 Spotted Sandpipers. I ended the day with 45 species and 10 FOS birds. Here’s my list:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
American Black Duck
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs (FOS)
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird (FOS)
Warbling Vireo (FOS)
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren (FOS)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird (FOS)
European Starling
Louisiana Waterthrush (FOS)
Common Yellowthroat (FOS)
American Redstart (FOS)
Yellow Warbler (FOS)
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee (FOS)
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Love the American Redstart picture! Outstanding picture! Great morning, Matt.
Thanks Miller – it was a great morning! It felt so good to get out.
Matt
Where is the winding waters trail? I haven’t been to that one yet. Wilma
Wilma,
If you take a left out of the parking lot at the Liberty Loop, go about a half a mile or so on Oil City Road, there is a parking area right before you hit the Wallkill River. That is the trailhead, and the trail makes a large loop. Matt
Thanks, I’ve been on that trail alittle but didn’t know it had a name
Wilma