Dennings Point State Park – Heron Triple Play

A young Black-Crowned Night-heron out during the day at Dennings Point in Beacon NY.

Yesterday evening I was supposed to meet Karen Miller at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR.  I was running early, so I decided to head over to Dennings Point State Park in Beacon NY. I had birded there one other time – it was a really nice hike but I did not see or hear very many birds. I figured I would give it another shot and it really paid off. About ten minutes into the hike I reached the first view of the water. As I got close to the shore, I flushed three Green Herons by tripping on a root! I looked out over the water and a along the shore and saw:

  • 7 Green Herons
  • 3 Black-Crowned Night-herons
  • 2 Great Blue Herons
  • 4 Great Egrets
  • Canada Geese
  • Ring-billed Gulls

Wow! What a great start! I talked to Karen and we decided to save the Shawangunk Grasslands for another day, she would join me at Dennings Point instead. It was a great day of birding! I had 29 species for the day and I got many good looks at both the Green Herons and Black-Crowned Night-herons. At one point, at a point in the trail a little deeper in the woods, we had close to ten species of song birds in just a few minutes. This was Karen’s highlight of the day. Here’s some photos from the day:

A pair of Green Herons ignore each other.
A Great Blue Heron in the distance.
I took this photo through the branches. A young Black-Crowned Night-heron and a a Green Heron hang out together at Dennings Point in Beacon NY.
This Blue Jay chased off two Green Herons and one Black-Crowned Night-heron. One Green Heron put up a fight, but the jay won in the end. To the victor go the spoils I guess.

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