Super Birding In Orange County!

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~I love these blue morph Snow Geese! Coming in for a landing on Onion Avenue in New Hampton, NY 3/18/15.~

Wow, what a day of birding in Orange County today. I, of course, was at work and missed most of it! The action started early when I received a text from Karen Miller 7:30 this morning saying that while she did not relocate the Snow Geese from last night, she did have (8) likely TUNDRA SWANS at the Camel Farm. An hour later Linda Scrima texted that the Snow Geese had just come in and landed in the fields off of Onion Avenue. She also sent over a photo confirming the Tundra Swans. A couple of hours later, John Haas and Rob Stone were on the scene and located not one, but 2 ROSS’ GEESE!  And one of them was a blue morph! Check out John’s blog for his account. And not too long after that, I checked my email to see that Rob Stone had located a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at Scenic Farms Golf Course! Are you kidding me??? I was losing my mind at work and when I finally got out my first stop was at the golf course to go for the GWFG. I met Bruce Nott and Dave Baker over there, and thanks to them I was able to see the bird pretty quickly. Unfortunately it was miles out, so no photos. My next stop was the Camel Farm, where Dave and I had no luck with the swans. Next was Onion Avenue, where I spent most of the rest of the evening trying for the 2 Ross’ Geese with some great company like Ken McDermott, Marianne Ofenloch, and Scotty Baldinger. Unfortunately, we never located either bird.

My last ditch effort was to join Bruce to check the Camel Farm one more time… and I got lucky and the 8 Tundra Swans were there! Karen Miller joined us for a better look than she had gotten in the morning. I took some distant photos and enjoyed seeing them through my scope. What a day – incredible really!

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~SNGO in flight, New Hampton NY 3/18/15.~
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~Snow Goose at Onion Avenue, 3/18/15.~
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~I like this shot, a nice mix of white and blue morph Snow Geese in New Hampton, NY 3/18/15.~
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~On a slow day, the number of flocks of mixed blackbirds would have been the top story. It’s hard to estimate how many birds where out there, maybe 5,000+. Onion Avenue in New Hampton, NY 3/18/15.~
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~A great way to end the evening – 7  of  the 8 Tundra Swans at the Camel Farm, 3/18/15.~

 

4 thoughts on “Super Birding In Orange County!”

  1. Great shots Matt……as usual!!!\

    I hope these lovelies will be around tomorrow afternoon for me!!!

    Wilma

  2. Congrats, they don’t look like they’re blown out at all! And you even got each bird separately… Nice shot with the blues, even if they do overlap. 🙂

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