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:
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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.
American Golden-Plovers continue onTurtle Bay Road in the Black Dirt Region. John Haas had 4 there early in the day yesterday, Rob Stone and Curt McDermott had 15 late in the evening, and I made a quick stop there this afternoon at around 4:30 to find 10 American Golden-Plovers still present. Also present were approximately 25 Killdeer and 1 Spotted Sandpiper.
Again the birds were just too far out for any kind of photos, so that’s two posts in a row with no pics! Good Birds – No Photos.
Tonight at Skinner Lane I had two UPLAND SANDPIPERS. Unfortunately, the birds were out too far for photos, so you can click here for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology page on Upland Sandpipers or here for Google images of the bird.
I went out birding on this rainy day in search of the Willet that Rob Stone had found the day before at Wallkill River NWR. I actually ran into Rob at the refuge where we walked the loop but had no luck with the Willet. From there I headed over to Skinner Lane. There was not much going on in the field that has recently had the pools of rain water, just some Killdeer and what I’m thinking were Least Sandpipers. A few fields later on the left side I saw a couple of interesting looking birds. When I got my scope on one, it appeared to be an Upland Sandpiper, with its long neck, shortish bill, and small head. It was walking in the short grass along the edge of longer grasses, ducking into the longer grasses from time to time. Rob Stone showed up after a while and enjoyed good looks at the bird and then and located a second Upland Sandpiper. Awesome night for me – life bird!
I birded the Basha Kill WMA by kayak this foggy morning. The highlight of the outing was this Blue-winged Teal:
The sun finally broke through in time to get a few raptor photos:
Here’s my list for the day:
Canada Goose 5
Wood Duck X
Blue-winged Teal 1
Great Blue Heron 5
Osprey 2
Northern Harrier 1
Bald Eagle 1
Common Gallinule 6
Mourning Dove 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Ruby-thr. Hummingbird 5
Belted Kingfisher 2
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 6
Tree Swallow 30
Barn Swallow 2
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-br. Nuthatch 1
House Wren 1
Veery 1 heard
Gray Catbird 10
Cedar Waxwing 28
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
American Goldfinch 1
On Thursday after work I made a quick stop at Skinner Lane and found no shorebirds, so I headed over to Wallkill River NWR. It had rained just a little on Wednesday night, so I was hoping that maybe some new birds had moved in. Judy Cinquina had also reported a good number of shorebirds at the reserve to the Mearns Bird Club. I found a sizable number of shorebirds present that largely reflected what Judy had seen a day earlier. Most shorebirds where found on the West and South sides of the Liberty Loop:
Semipalmated Plover 3
Killdeer 28
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Lesser Yellowlegs 8
Semipalmated Sandpiper 4
Least Sandpiper 25
Pectoral Sandpiper 2
Wilson’s Snipe 2
This morning I received a text from Rob Stone – American Golden Plover at the Pine Island Turf Nursery. Tricia and I headed over and thank goodness John Haas was there and on the birds because I don’t think I would have ever found them. Out in the distance in one of the fields, there were 4 birds present; two were adults in breeding plumage. The views were quite distant, but the light was good and the black undertail coverts on these two birds could be seen easily enough. They were harvesting onions while we were out there and the farm machinery finally moved close enough to flush the birds and I got one single photo of the birds in flight. This another distant photo, I think it is worth it click on it to enlarge it so you can a little bit of a look at these birds:
A final note: I had a few minutes in the early afternoon, so I cruised by Skinner Lane and again struck out. I also went to the Camel Farm where I had a single Greater Yellowlegs. My final stop was at the viewing platform at Wallkill River NWR, where I did not see any shorebirds but had 7 Great Egrets and 2 Green Herons in my very brief visit.