Yesterday evening I was on Missionland Road, searching for the nearly two dozen Lapland Longspurs seen there earlier in the day by both Rob Stone and Ken McDermott (21 and 19 respectively), when I received a call from Ken. There were two Short-eared Owls perched together north of Oil City Road at Liberty Marsh. I headed over and the birds were still on their perch. It was a distant look and this photo is heavily cropped, but still pretty darn cute. Thanks to Ken for the call and hopefully I will get back out to try for the LALOs on another evening this week.
I went to the Newburgh Waterfront this evening to try for gulls; I had a report from Curt McDermott on Sunday of a Glaucous Gull. Gulls were plentiful, but I unfortunately was unable to locate anything other than Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Great Black-backed Gulls. I did have three Bald Eagles on the ice floes – two adults and one immature.
So sweet, Matt, and perfect light! Have to take a ride down and try for the Lapland Longspurs.
Yeah Deb, the light was really nice that night. I went for the LALOs this evening and Missionland was totally covered with snow drifts – I was happy to get back to a clear road! Matt