This evening at around 5:50 pm I had three Buff-breasted Sandpipers on the west side of Missionland Road, right across from Gurda Street. This is a life bird for me, huge thanks go out once again to Rob Stone for locating and posting – it is appreciated!
Here’s a quick post from my outing on Sunday morning. I arrived at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge just after sunrise; the sunlight was beautiful and the birds were plentiful. Here’s my list for the day:
Canada Goose 45
Mallard 30
Northern Shoveler 5
Green-winged Teal 10
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 10
Green Heron 5
Turkey Vulture 2
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Black-bellied Plover 1
Killdeer 6
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 12
Pectoral Sandpiper 3
Wilson’s Snipe 2
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
American Kestrel 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 10
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 40
Common Yellowthroat 4
Northern Parula 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 3
Song Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal 1
Bobolink X
American Goldfinch 2
Wow, today was a slow day at the hawk watch. Just one day after having over 2,700 migrating raptors, I had only 23 today. The good news is that the birds were flying a little lower so I was able to snap a few photos. Here is my report for the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 21, 2013
——————————————————————-
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 81 81
Bald Eagle 0 46 46
Northern Harrier 0 11 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk 16 208 208
Cooper’s Hawk 0 15 15
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 18 18
Broad-winged Hawk 4 7109 7109
Red-tailed Hawk 0 5 5
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 2 49 49
Merlin 0 4 4
Peregrine Falcon 0 3 3
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 3 3
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 0 13 13
Total: 23 7566 7566
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Bill Connolly, Bill O’Keefe, Rob Stone
Visitors:
Lee Geiger, several families.
Weather:
It was a little cool and very cloudy in the morning but warm and partly
sunny in the afternoon. Temperatures ranged from 15 to 24 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
For migrating raptors we had one adult Red-shouldered Hawk, one male
American Kestrel, and one unknown American Kestrel. Non-migrating raptors
included Turkey Vultures, Black Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks (2) and a low
flying Coopers Hawk that passed 50 yards to the west of the platform, below
eye level, and darted into the trees.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non Raptor Species: American Goldfinch (1), Cedar Waxwing (15), Blue Jay
(20+), Canada Goose (1), Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1), and Chimney Swift
(13). Non-raptor highlight was a Common Loon to the west of the platform,
heading north.
Both yesterday and today I left work and spent an hour or so at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch. Yesterday I caught the tail end of a great day – over 1400 migrating raptors passed over. While I was there we had a large kettle of fly over, comprised of over 160 Broad-winged Hawks and one immature Bald Eagle. It was really so cool to see. Today, although over 500 raptors were counted migrating over the watch, I did not fair too well. By the time I got there, things had pretty much dried up. I got a decent look at an immature Bald Eagle that did not migrate, but headed north instead. I also took a shot of one of the local Turkey Vultures, which seem to be the only birds flying low this year:
On both days, after the watch, I headed over to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. I mostly birded from the viewing platform both days, though I did walk west on the trail yesterday for a stretch. There were a good number of shorebirds present, including Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpipers, and a Solitary Sandpiper. Other favorites included Great Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, many Green Herons, a Northern Shoveler and a couple of Northern Harriers. But, the highlight for me was getting some good photo ops with this Belted Kingfisher:
This is a couple of days late, but on Sunday I filled in for John Haas at the Summitville Hawk Watch. It was a slow day which I will attribute to a SSW wind for most of the day. Ideal winds would come from the NW. Here’s my report for the day as it appears at hawkcount.org:
| 2013-09-15 Observation Start Time: 08:00 End Time: 16:00 Observer Hours: 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Today was my first day counting out at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch. It was a good day for me, we had enough hawks to keep it interesting, but not too many to make it difficult for me as the counter. The birds were flying high, but we had 200 migrating hawks today. Here is my report from hawkcount.org:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 14, 2013
——————————————————————-
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 15 61 61
Bald Eagle 3 29 29
Northern Harrier 0 8 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk 17 87 87
Cooper’s Hawk 1 7 7
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 6 6
Broad-winged Hawk 156 870 870
Red-tailed Hawk 0 4 4
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 3 36 36
Merlin 1 3 3
Peregrine Falcon 1 2 2
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 1 2 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 1 10 10
Total: 200 1126 1126
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers: Ajit I. Antony, Beverly Robertson, Bill O’Keefe,
Judith C. Cinquina, Rob Stone, Scot Marchal
Visitors:
Penny Whitlick, Enid Hayflick, Mike Ipp., Jan Hesbon, Diane Brown
Weather:
Cool and cloudy for most of the day with a steady NW wind that was strong
at times. Temperatures ranged from 11 to 16 degrees Celsius.
Raptor Observations:
Raptors were flying high today even in the first hour of the watch. (3)
Adult Bald Eagles migrated and we had one adult Bald Eagle that headed
north. Also migrating were (1) Red-shouldered Hawk (unknown) and (3)
American Kestrels (2 unknown, 1 female).
Non-raptor Observations:
Bird Species identified: Tree Swallow (17), Canada Goose (34), Cedar
Waxwing (36), Common Raven (4), Chimney Swift (11), House Wren,
Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow (2), Blackburnian Warbler, Blackpoll
Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, American Redstart, Red-eyed Vireo,
and Magnolia Warbler. Non-raptor highlight was two Common Ravens flying
very close to one another and one of them doing a barrel roll.
After the hawk watch, I headed back to the Pine Island Turf Nursery to try for a better shot of the American Golden-Plovers:
Thanks once again to an alert from Rob Stone, I got the chance to see approximately 40 American Golden-Plovers at the Pine Island Turf Nursery this evening. Earlier in the day he had 75! What a treat to see these beautiful birds, I even managed to get close enough for some decent photos (distant and heavily cropped, but useable!).
I also think that I had one Black-bellied Plover, here is a photo of that bird.
I also had two American Pipits and 4 Horned Larks while I was out there. The American Pipit is for some reason not a bird that is on my radar. When I saw these two birds, I did not know what they were. It was a case of shoot first and ask questions later. Unfortunately I did not get any quality photos of the birds. The following really should not be posted anywhere, but since it is a life bird for me…
**If you go to the Pine Island Turf Nursery, please stop in the office and ask permission to bird there. The people there are really nice.**
I also made a quick run through Turtle Bay Road, where I found three American Golden-Plovers and about 75 Killdeer.
I only have time for a quick post. I met Karen Miller over at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge yesterday evening where, to me, it was really beginning to feel like fall (in spite of the warm temperatures). We had some good ducks – many Mallards, some Green-winged Teals, and a single northern Shoveler. There were still some shorebirds present, including Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, and three Wilson’s Snipes. Green Herons are plentiful at the refuge right now for sure. Last week, we had eight (!) perched in one small tree! Here are some photos from the day, click on them to enlarge:
I have also made it out to the Mt. Peter Hawk Watch after work each night this week. It has been a slow week for me, in three visits I have a total of 4 migrating raptors (2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 2 Osprey). Here’s a shot of one of the Turkey Vultures that hang out on the cell tower near the watch:
Hawk Watch Season officially began for me today; I made my first visit out to Mt. Peter Hawk Watch. Judy Cinquina was the official counter for the day, and while we did not have much action while I was there, she did count 135 migrating raptors for the day – mostly Broad-winged Hawks. To see details of today’s count, or to look up data from past years’ counts, go to Hawkcount.org. This site is a great resource; data from 275 hawk watches in North America can be found there. For daily counts and more raptor posts you can also check out and become a member of the Mt. Peter Facebook Group.
I spent the weekend with my family in the Poconos and did not do any birding to speak of. This morning, however, as Tricia and I were getting ready to head home, I received a text from Rob Stone – Black Tern at the Camel Farm. Luckily the bird was still present when we arrived in the early afternoon. We joined Ken McDermott and fellow Mearnser Lisa and got good looks in both the binoculars and in the scope. I snapped some distant photos – there was no way I was doing a third consecutive post with no photos! Thanks again to Rob Stone for the heads up on this one.
