I met Linda Scrima out at Pochuck Mountain State Forest early on this cloudy morning. In the beginning of the trail, it was not very birdy, but we continued further up the mountain until we got to a small pond and that’s where things got interesting. Our first good bird was my FOY BLUE-HEADED VIREO. Shortly afterwards, we located another personal FOY, a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER. As we worked our way around the pond, I heard a call that sort of sounded familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Linda, however knew it immediately – it was a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH. We followed the call, located the bird, and got fabulous looks and pretty decent photos, especially considering the poor lighting. We ended up having a good morning at Pochuck; we hiked probably about 4 miles and had 28 species.
Afterwards, we walked the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge’s Liberty Loop. Highlights included our second Louisiana Waterthrush of the day, which was located by Linda on the west side of the loop, just off the trail. We also did pretty well with shorebirds with several Killdeer, 2 Greater Yellowlegs (FOY), 1 Lesser Yellowlegs (FOY), and a pair of Wilson’s Snipe. All in all, a good day with some good year birds for both of us.
I’ll take good birds over good pictures, any day (that being said, your pictures came out great, considering how dark and overcast it was)…
Thanks Linda, and yes, I would take good birds too, but it is uncanny how often there is a good bird/bad light combination! Matt