~A pair of RED-THROATED LOONS at Wickham Lake, 04/06/17. I was thrilled to see these two birds. In the scope I had excellent views and they were just gorgeous as they worked their way around the far end of the lake, sticking close together the entire time.~
QUICK POST: I stopped by Wickham Lake after work this evening to try for the Red-throated Loon that Rob Stone had located earlier in the day. I was on my way to a doctor’s appointment and only had a few minutes, plus the rain was coming down pretty hard. I got to the lake, set up my scope, looked in and had not one, but two (!) RED-THROATED LOONS. As I was enjoying seeing the birds, it started to thunder and lightning. I high-tailed it to my car and went to my appointment soaking wet. Afterwards, I went back to the lake. The rain had stopped and the sun even came out briefly. I enjoyed much better looks of the RTLOs as well as a pair of Common Loons and a single Long-tailed Duck. Excellent birds!
~One more shot of the 2 Red-throated Loons at Wickham Lake, 04/06/17.~
~CASPIAN TERN at the Bashakill today, 04/05/17. Photo by Linda Scrima.~
There was some good birding to be had in Orange and Sullivan Counties today. I, of course, was not only working, but working late two hours away in New Milford, Connecticut. Early in the day I got a report from Linda Scrima that there was a CASPIAN TERN at the Bashakill; the bird was originally located by Scotty Baldinger. John Haas also had several other good birds in Sullivan County, including HORNED GREBE, AMERICAN PIPITS, and LONG-TAILED DUCK. Click here to see his blog post from today.
~A Beautiful shot of a LONG-TAILED DUCK at Wickham Lake, 04/05/17. Photo by Linda Scrima.~
In Orange County birding news, I got word from Bruce Nott that he had a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON at Masterson Park (next to Washington Lake). And Rob Stone reported RED-NECKED GREBE, HORNED GREBE, and LONG-TAILED DUCK at Wickham Lake. I made it back to OC in the late evening and joined Linda Scrima at Wickham and we were able to relocate all three of these birds. We had good scope looks of the HOGR, very distant but decent scope views of the RNGR, and the LTDU was right by the shore! I wanted to cry because in my haste to leave the studio for my appointment in Connecticut, I had forgotten my camera. The one time there is actually a close good duck at Wickham Lake and there I was camera-less! Thankfully, Linda got good shots of the bird and shared them with me for this post. This is an exciting time of year, things are happening!
~I’m not even sure if this qualifies as a documentary photo. Red-necked Grebe digiscoped at GREAT distance, Wickham Lake 04/05/17.~
~I spotted this Lesser Scaup in a small pond as I neared Wickham Lake – it was a small taste of what was to come! LESC in Warwick, 03/27/17.~
Last night’s rain must have had some good timing – it grounded a fair amount of waterfowl in Orange County. My first indication that it was going to be a good day was when I received a text around noon from Bruce Nott. He had a RED-THROATED LOON at Orange Lake. Which was followed shortly afterwards with a text that he had 2 LONG-TAILED DUCKS and a Common Loon at Washington Lake. Then, a half hour before quitting time I got word from Rob Stone that he had a slew of birds at Wickham Lake. I joined Bruce Nott, Kathy Ashman, and Linda Scrima at the lake to enjoy this waterfowl bonanza. Including the Canada Geese I had as I drove in, we had 17 (!) species of waterfowl!
How’s that for a waterfowl list?!? I was particularly happy to see Redheads in Orange County for the first time ever. This is the sort of day, as a birder, that I get really jazzed about, and Bruce, Kathy, and Linda all seemed equally excited about it. Another good bird we had while were there was a single BONAPARTE’S GULL, always a favorite of mine. The only downside was that, of course, the birds were quite distant. Scope views were pretty amazing but photos were nearly impossible. Huge thanks to Rob and Bruce, great birding for sure!
~Can you spot the Bonaparte’s Gull? A nice assortment of waterfowl at Wickham Lake, 03/27/17.~
~One of my few photo ops today – Merlin with prey at Wickham Lake, 03/25/17.~
Three weeks ago I did a waterfowl survey of 9 locations not too far from my home in Goshen. Today I repeated this survey, hitting the same 9 locations in the same order. The overall number of birds was down from over 950 to under 700 birds, but I had a little more variety today with 16 species of waterfowl (up from 14). I’ve included species lists by location below.
I was hoping for some more interesting birds, but all 16 species were what I consider the usuals. Things were better in that regard earlier in the week, when I had a trio of Long-tailed Ducks at Glenmere Lake, and yesterday when I had a single Common Loon at Wickham Lake:
I did not have many close up looks at ducks today, so not too many photo ops. This Bufflehead was near the shore of Round Lake as I pulled up, but it move out pretty quickly.
~Excellent birds! Three LONG-TAILED DUCKS at Glenmere Lake this afternoon, 03/21/17.~
QUICK POST: I was doing some lazy birding after work this afternoon. I stopped by Glenmere Lake and I was scanning the lake from my car and getting ready to leave, having seen just the usuals. But, then 3 ducks caught my attention; I half-thought they might be LONG-TAILED DUCKS, but it wasn’t until I got out of the car and put the scope on them that I really believed it. The birds were very distant, too distant for even documentary photos, so I walked the snowy trail that heads southwest along the shore of the lake to get a little bit closer. This did allow me to get some documentary photographs and some great looks at the bird, which were in beautiful light. I put the word out and although I had to leave, Karen Miller reported back that she too had gotten the ducks. Good (if lazy) birding!
~ Orange County Snow Bunting in the snow, 03/16/17.~
QUICK POST: For the second consecutive time, on my way to participate in a DEC Raptor Survey, I had a really nice photo op. Two weeks ago I had a large group of confiding Ring-necked Ducks. Last night, it was Six Snow Buntings on the side of the road. They seemed uncooperative at first and flushed, but then came back to land very close to my car, posing nicely on the tops of the piles of plowed snow. Good birds for sure!
~I love these birds, definitely towards the top of my long list of favorites. Snow Bunting in the Black Dirt Region, 03/16/17.~
~A male Common Merganser in flight at Wickham Lake, 03/04/17.~
I decided to do my own Orange County waterfowl survey of sorts this afternoon. I visited nine different locations not too far from my home here in Goshen. First thing I will say is that it was COLD out there today. The temperatures weren’t so bad, in the mid-twenties, but wind made it very cold, bringing tears to my eyes all day. I think if it was a little bit more comfortable out I would have been a little bit more thorough; I felt like I certainly could have spent some more time at some of the locations. That being said, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon and I ended up with 14 species of waterfowl and over 950 individuals. I had a Northern Shoveler and a Pied-billed Grebe at Brown’s Pond and both birds were my first of the year in Orange County. Scroll down to see my results by location.
~A pair of American Kestrels mating on a wire, Orange County NY, 02/2517.~
So, I bumped my head on Tuesday evening. I didn’t even hit it very hard (I’ve certainly hit it way harder), but I must have gotten it just right and I ended up giving myself a concussion. Which put me to some degree out of commission for a few days. When Saturday afternoon rolled around, I was feeling a little bit better so I did some birding, mostly just driving around southern Orange County. As I drove around, I was getting the usuals but I was enjoying it very much just because I hadn’t been out much during the week. Then I happened to see two falcons flying together in the distance. Luckily there was a nice area to pull over, so I parked and watched as the two birds spent some time coming and going from the overhead wires and then, excitingly, the birds mated on a wire. How lucky can you get? American Kestrels mating right in front of me in perfect light. It was very cool to observe and I believe it is only my second time seeing AMKEs mating, the first time being a few years back at the Shawangunk Grasslands from one of the photo blinds.
~The male (left) is a bit puffed up and in the foreground so he looks almost the same size as the female, but to me, in the field the female was noticeably larger. Orange County American Kestrels, 02/25/17.~
~Always a favorite and often cooperative. Merlin in the black dirt, 02/19/17.~
I’ve birded locally most days in the past week and while it’s been enjoyable, things have been on the slow side. Today things picked up a bit for me when I located a large flock of mixed blackbirds in the black dirt, and then shortly after that had a cooperative Merlin, followed by a large flock of Snow Geese, which I still have not grown tired of. Earlier in the week at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, I had my first Great Blue Heron of the year (and it was in good light!). I’m feeling like I might be ready for winter birding to be over – maybe the flocks of blackbirds are an indication that birds are starting to move?
~This might be my favorite Snow Goose photo of the year – I love the dreamy quality of it. A sea of Snow Geese in the black dirt, 02/19/17.~~I had a very large flock of mixed blackbirds in the black dirt today, 02/19/17. This shot has mostly Red-winged Blackbirds with some Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles mixed in. ~A Great Blue Heron does a fly by at Wallkill River NWR, 02/19/17.~ ~A White-crowned Sparrow strikes a strange pose, barely hanging on. In the black dirt, 02/11/17.~~More SNGOs in the black dirt, 02/19/17.~~A Northern Cardinal just before sunset at Wallkill River NWR, 02/15/17.~
The flock of Snow Geese not only remained in the black dirt today, it grew in size, pushing 5,000 birds. I got out of work on time today and thanks to Bruce Nott I was able to drive directly to the birds, where I met up with Wilma Amthor and Linda Scrima to enjoy the show. The birds picked up often and the light was intermittently very good, so we enjoyed watching and photographing the birds. Beautiful birds, beautiful evening.
