I spent five hours yesterday in a photo blind out at the Shawangunk Grasslands. I feel like when it comes to bird photography when it rains it pours – the light was really nice all day, there were plenty of birds to be seen, and best of all, the Short-eared Owls came up early.
Seeing the above Northern Shrike was the highlight of a great Saturday of birding. Huge thanks to John Haas and Bill and Jayne Fiero who found the bird during the Eastern Orange County Christmas Bird Count (see John’s blog post about it here). Also many thanks to Ken McDermott who was also out at Corbett Road and let me know exactly where he had seen the bird earlier in the day. And finally, congratulations to Jeff Goulding who was having a tough day. The Northern Shrike was a life bird for him and I’m sure it made his day just a little bit better.
I started the morning off with a quick stop at Orange-Rockland Lake. I have been stopping by there fairly regularly and finding good numbers of both Ruddy Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks. This morning was no different:
My next stop was at Brown’s Pond, where I found an incredible variety of waterfowl in huge numbers:
I was also surprised by getting a few good songbirds:
t was after Brown’s Pond that I went to Montgomery and saw the Northern Shrike. What a thrill, this is a bird that is very exciting to me. I became convinced that I was not going to see the bird when Ken had to leave, but about five minutes later I spotted the bird – exactly where Ken had seen it earlier in the day. I also had an adult Bald Eagle fly over in the distance while I was there. Here’s one more of the shrike:
My final stop was the Shawangunk Grasslands. You can drive your car into the grasslands now and park on the old airplane runway. It was pretty cold today, so I was happy to have this as an option. The highlight was getting my best look ever at a Rough-legged Hawk. It was tangling pretty good with some of the Northern Harriers:
So it may not officially be winter yet, but it feels like it to me. My birding time has been cut back considerably and when I do get some time it is usually in the afternoons when the light is very gray and disappearing quickly. That being said, I am still getting out, and while the conditions have not been great for seeing and photographing birds, the birding has still been pretty good.
After work 0n December 3, I went out to Mission Land Road in Pine Island. Rob Stone had reported to the Mearns Bird Club that he had 4 Sandhill Cranes there, so I wanted to see if I could get a look. I found the birds easily enough, pretty much right where he had found them. They were WAY off in the distance, which meant no photos, but I got good looks in my scope and then in my binoculars as I watched them fly off towards the Wallkill River NWR. What big beautiful birds, especially in flight. I also had a number of Canada Geese and a Male American Kestrel while I was out there.
Later that week I took the trip into the Bronx, to Van Cortlandt Park in search of a Barnacle Goose. The goose had been reported many times on eBird, and I also saw it in a post buy Corey Finger at 10,000 Birds (which is an amazing site that you must check out!). I’ll tell you what, the Barnacle Goose has my number. You can ask Tricia how much time I spent last fall trying to track one down here in Orange County with no luck. Well it was the same deal in the Bronx. In a soccer field at Van Cortlandt Park there were approximately 700 Canada Geese to sift through. I sifted until it got dark but alas no Barnacle Goose. I checked on eBird afterwards, and no one else had the goose that day either, so I am figuring the bird just wasn’t present that day. There WAS a reported siting the very next day… I did find the above Cackling Goose, though I don’t know if I would have identified it if I hadn’t read in Corey’s blog post that he had one out there. Either way it was very cool to see this bird, which was a life bird for me. The light was horrible so the photos are nothing to write home about, but really not too bad I guess.
On the weekend of December 8-9, I did some Orange County birding both days. The weather was not cooperating; Saturday was rainy, foggy and gray, Sunday was just a cloudy gray day. On Saturday I hit Skinner’s Lane, Mission Land Road, and Wallkill River NWR. While I did not have any out of the ordinary birds, I was able to get some photos.
On Sunday I tried a new spot in Orange County (for me)- Brown’s Pond. Bruce Nott had reported a Lesser Scaup out at Brown’s Pond so I thought that might be an interesting stop. I did not find the Lesser Scaup, but I did have 27 Common Mergansers (my first ones since the spring), and 3 Hooded Mergansers which are always a favorite of mine. On my way home I stopped at my local spot: 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary and saw mostly the usual cast of characters, with the highlight for me being this Brown Creeper:
Finally, this week I did some birding in Bergen County, New Jersey. At Franklin Lake early in the week I had a couple of great days, finally getting there to see the pair of Redheads that where originally reported on eBird by Rob Fanning on the third of December. I felt like I was kind of dragging my feet, finally getting over there on December 10th. Luckily the birds where still there, along with 42(!) Ring-necked Ducks, 11 Mute Swans, 4 Gadwalls, and one lonely Canada Goose.
Then, on Friday, Karen Miller made it down to Bergen County. We met over at Franklin Lake in hopes of seeing the Redheads, but, believe it or not, the sun was TOO BRIGHT. There was a tremendous glare on the lake making seeing the birds very difficult, so we decided to head over to Franklin Lakes NR which is right down the road. We walked some of the trails there. Highlights included many Hooded Mergansers, 10 Gadwall, and we got some really nice looks at a very active Belted Kingfisher.
Last weekend Tricia and I made it out Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge while visiting her family just outside Syracuse, New York. As we pulled into the refuge, we immediately saw a group of large white birds fly over…I was hoping and expecting to see some Snow Geese, but these birds did not have black wing tips. I remembered that we had seen a Trumpeter Swan the last time we were at Montezuma NWR in early September. What I forgot though, was that we spent some time trying to determine whether it was a Trumpeter Swan or the more common Tundra Swan. From what I have read, Montezuma NWR is one of the relatively few places where both species occur. So we spent the day at the refuge and saw many swans and at the time I was thinking they were all Trumpeter Swans. It wasn’t until we were back at the house that I realized that what we were seeing could have been either Trumpeter Swans or Tundra Swans (or both!)
So I looked over my photos and did some reading, and it seems like even for experienced birders, it is not very easy to tell the two species apart. One of the best guides that I found for identifying the two species can be found on the Sibley Guides website. I particularly like the drawing on this page that compares the head of the Trumpeter to that of the Tundra. David Sibley focuses on what he calls “bill-shape field marks”, and this certainly what was most helpful for me as I went through my photos and tried to identify them. I also spent a lot of time on the Trumpeter Swan Society‘s page. They have a Swan and Goose Identification Brochure that is very informative and it is printable.
TUNDRA SWAN:
TRUMPETER SWAN:
Oh, and we did also get to see some Snow Geese. All were at a great distance, but they were so beautiful to see:
Sources:
The Trumpeter Swan Society – Website
The Sibley Guide – Website
The Crossley Guide
iBird Pro – iPhone Application
On Sunday afternoon, Tricia and I made an impromptu visit to Jones Beach. We were heading back to Goshen after celebrating my little sister’s 40th birthday at the Irish Times Pub in Holbrook, Long Island the night before. A skein of Brant flying over changed our plans in a hurry – I was really itching to do some birding. Tricia was on the phone with her sister at the time and she told us how to get to Jones Beach.
We had a really good afternoon of birding. We saw many species and were able to identify the following:
I had a pretty good day with the camera – I managed to get pretty good exposures on almost all my photographs. I have thought about it and I think there are a couple of reasons. The first is that the light was pretty steady, there were no clouds moving through or anything else to change the light significantly. The second is that I think I am getting better at making the proper adjustments. I was also making adjustments as I photographed certain birds, getting several shots that were lighter as well as some darker ones.
It really was a very exciting day of birding, I am having trouble deciding on my highlight. It was a lot of fun to bird in a different location because we got to see so many birds that we don’t normally get to see. I am pretty sure that it is not anything special to see loons at Jones Beach, but it was a thrill for me. Same for the Brant. The Crossbills were very exciting too – life birds for me, but I think getting such a close look at the Merlin was probably my favorite part of the afternoon. Because we don’t get to see them very often, Tricia’s highlight was seeing all the shorebirds as we walked along the beach.
I have spent most of my birding time this week looking for waterfowl and swimming waterbirds. I made three visits out to 61/2 Station Road Sanctuary here in Goshen early in the week and did pretty well:
Most of these birds were located in the small pond located south of the Heritage Trail. It is pretty difficult to get any good looks on this pond – there are many branches and brush blocking the view, plus the birds are pretty far away. I used my scope to get some good looks, but taking photos is tough.
I also made it out to the Celery Farm a couple days after work. I did pretty well there, seeing more Canada Geese and Mallards, my first Hooded Mergansers of the fall, a Ruddy duck and Northern Shoveler. I also scored with a Double-crested Cormorant that posed nicely for me.
Also located near my work in Bergen County NJ, The Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve seemed like a good place to search for waterbirds moving through. I made it out there two afternoons after work and I was not disappointed:
I had a little bonus while I was out there – a GREEN HERON! It is definitely unusual to see a Green Heron in Bergen county at this time of the year, and eBird considers it a rare bird right now. It certainly caught me by surprise but I was able to snap a photo as it flew off:
Finally, on Saturday I went out to Swan Lake in Sullivan County NY with my birding buddy Karen Miller. I want to thank John Haas for giving us the lay of the land – it really helped out and we had a great morning of birding. Highlights for me were several Lesser Scaup which is a life bird for me (thanks John for help with the ID!) and also seeing over 100 Common Mergansers (my first of the fall). I was finally able to get some waterfowl photos:
It was a rainy and foggy afternoon so I decided to go to 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary to see if any new ducks were present. I did pretty well with waterfowl, I saw many Canada Geese, several Mallards, around 20 Green-winged Teals, 5 Mute Swans, and 3 Ruddy Ducks. Unfortunately, the 2 Pied-billed Grebes that I have been see out there recently were not to be found.
The sanctuary had a lot of bird activity, here’s my species list:
The highlight of the day was not even bird related. I saw a BOBCAT slink alongside the creek and then into the brush! It was very exciting and my heart was racing for quite a while after that.
I went out to the Wallkill River NWR on Saturday morning, planning on walking the Liberty Loop. It was a gray rainy morning, but I was still hoping to get some flight photos of the Northern Harriers that have been cruising the loop lately and I also had 3 Pied-billed Grebes out there on Thursday evening and I wanted to see if they were still at the refuge. When I arrived I took a quick look around from the viewing platform and noticed a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree north of Oil City Road. I decided to walk up Liberty Lane and check it out and leave the Liberty Loop for another day. I was not disappointed, especially in the raptor department:
There was a complete absence of shore birds, but there were 6 Great Egrets and 2 Great Blue Herons in the pond to the left of Liberty Lane. There was a good showing of songbirds – I got a nice look at a Red-bellied Woodpecker, there were many American Goldfinches, and I had a couple of Palm Warblers too. I saw many sparrows which I struggled to identify as usual. I really have to put more time into it, but I haven’t made it happen yet. I had several Song Sparrows and I believe I also had a number of Savannah Sparrows, which I identified with my photos once I got home:
I had an amazing Sunday morning of bird photography!
I walked the Liberty Loop at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday evening. I have been doing some reading and working on shorebird identification lately, so my primary goal was to see if my work would pay off. The Liberty Loop trail had a different feel on this day for sure. As soon as I got out of the car I heard birds overhead. To me they sounded like they were saying “me…me………me…me”. Karen Miller and I had heard the same call the day before out at the Shawangunk Grasslands. I managed to get some good looks and some photos and when I got home I figured out it was a flock of Bobolinks – at least 40 birds. From the viewing platform several shorebirds could be seen as well as a couple dozen Canada Geese, a Great Blue Heron and a Great Egret. A Northern Harrier cruised the marsh looking for prey. There was a conspicuous lack of Red-winged Blackbirds. Fall migration sure seemed to be underway.
I walked quickly to the southern end of the loop to look for shorebirds. There were a good many present and as usual I struggled to identify them. I took some time with it and determined that there were no out of the ordinary shorebirds present. Here’s my count:
I was pleasantly surprised to find several types of ducks in the back pond:
It was nice to see a variety of ducks again!
On my way out, I found this juvenile Black-Crowned Night-heron:
As you can see from the above photo, this heron was well aware of my presence, but did not seem to be bothered by me in the least. I walked slowly down the trail until I was in a good position for a photo and then snapped away. When I moved on, this young heron was still sitting in the same spot.
I was happy with my work with the camera – it was nearly dark, but I still managed to get some good photos. I am getting better with both my settings and with keeping the camera stead with a slow shutter speed (1/50th of a second!). Here’s one more of the BCNH:
