One of five cooperative Ruddy Ducks at Kiamesha Lake, 11/02/14.
Since we have not been getting many ducks in southern Orange County, Karen Miller and I decided to head up to Sullivan County and get our fix. It was a very cold and windy day, probably not the best day for going for waterfowl. We went to Swan Lake, the Neversink Reservoir, Morningside Park, and Kiamesha Lake. We did pretty well, but honestly the cold an the wind made it difficult to bird. At the Neversink Reservoir, it was so windy that we could barely see through our scopes – our eyes were constantly tearing and the scopes were shaking in the wind terribly. Bufflehead were the bird of the day with many being seen at all locations except for Morningside Park. In the end we got our fix with 10 types of swimming waterbirds seen and even had some cooperative Ruddy Ducks in sunny weather at our finals stop – Kiamesha Lake for some photo ops. Here’s my list:
Canada Goose
American Black Duck
Mallard
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
It was really great to see the Bufflehead, it had been a while! Taking off at Swan Lake, 11/02/14.Ruddy Duck at Kiamesha Lake, 11/02/14. I love the colors on this bird.We had many Common Merganser for the day. These were taken at Swan Lake, 11/02/14.A shot of one more Ruddy Duck, Kiamesha Lake, 11/02/14.
A slightly better shot of the Cattle Egret in flight, Warwick, NY 11/1/14.
This morning before heading over to Mount Peter for the Hawk Watch, I stopped in Warwick to look for the Cattle Egret but could not locate it. I figured that the bird had certainly moved on. I continued to Mt. Pete, and just as I started to unpack my gear I got a call from Karen Miller, who had relocated the bird. I whizzed down and joined Karen, but the bird flew before I had my camera ready, so once again I only got flight shots of the bird. Karen, on the other hand, got some fabulous shots of the bird perched. Huge thanks to Karen for the heads up, and for the photos that she emailed to me for this post:
Cattle Egret in Warwick NY, 11/1/14. Photo by Karen C Miller.I think this bird has a lot of character. Cattle Egret in Warwick NY, 11/01/14. Photo by Karen C Miller.
I headed back up the mountain and counted hawks. It was cold, gray, and I did just alright with migrating raptors, with 63 for the day. Thanks to PJ Singh and Maria Loukeris for their visits, which really helped on a day like today. Here is my report for the day:
Mount Peter
Warwick, New York, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2014
——————————————————————-
Species Day’s Count / Month Total / Season Total
—————— ———– ————– ————–
Black Vulture 5 5 134
Turkey Vulture 24 24 361
Osprey 0 0 110
Bald Eagle 0 0 68
Northern Harrier 1 1 37
Sharp-shinned Hk 3 3 1079
Cooper’s Hawk 0 0 99
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hk 6 6 78
Broad-winged Hk 0 0 5685
Red-tailed Hawk 19 19 229
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 3
American Kestrel 0 0 134
Merlin 0 0 22
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 11
Total: 63 63 8110
———————————————————————-
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 15:45:00
Total observation time: 6.75 hours
Official Counter: Matt Zeitler
Observers:
Visitors:
PJ Singh, Maria Loukeris
Weather:
Cloudy and cool with the temperature hovering right around 5 degrees
Celsius all day. Winds were over 10 km/hr for the duration of the watch.
Rain caused the watch to start one hour late and end fifteen minutes early.
Raptor Observations:
Four unknown Red-shouldered Hawks, one adult Red-shouldered Hawk, one
immature Red-shouldered Hawk, and one unknown Northern Harrier. The heavy
cloud cover and low light made it challenging to locate and identify
migrating raptors.
