When it comes to photographing birds, one of the least desirable perches to me is on a wire. It’s always disappointing to find a good, confiding bird that happens to be perched on a wire – I would, of course prefer a more natural setting. But sometimes that’s just what you get, and looking back over recent years I’ve had number of pretty decent shots in spite of the wire perch; here are some of my favorites.
I decided to forego my Christmas shopping on Black Friday, and headed to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge instead (that was a joke, by the way, I know, keep my day job). Birding the refuge can be a little bit overwhelming during duck migration. Black Lake, the first large body of water on the left on Wildlife Drive, was absolutely loaded with waterfowl! There had to be thousands of birds present. Some birds are close enough for good binocular looks and even some photos, but most of the birds are pretty far out – it’s a distant sea of waterfowl. For the day, I had a total of 15 species of swimming waterbirds at the refuge: Canada Goose, Tundra Swan, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Greater Scaup, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, and American Coot. I also did alright with raptors, with: Red-tailed Hawk (3), Bald Eagle (4), Northern Harrier (3), American Kestrel (1), and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (1).
One of the more exciting moments was seeing an incredible 87 (!) SANDHILL CRANES. I viewed them from East Road – the birds were relatively obscured by vegetation which made getting a good count difficult. At first I counted approximately 60 birds, but then I discovered there was a second group, just 100 yards away. My best count was 87, but I’m sure there were some birds that were hidden and not counted.
I wanted to drive through Wildlife Drive one more time. I stopped by the visitor’s center and another birder told me that he had seen a SNOWY OWL nearby to the refuge just a little bit earlier. I ran for the owl, but alas, it must have moved and I was unable to relocate it. I did get lucky with the CATTLE EGRET that has been recently reported; a bird that I would normally be pretty excited about but I was bummed to have missed a Snowy by such a small margin. From there, I decided to leave the refuge and bird Cayuga Lake…
…I drove the west side of the lake and ended up at Cayuga Lake State Park, which had a nice dock for viewing the lake. I added 4 species of waterfowl (American Black Duck, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, and Horned Grebe), bringing my total for the day to 19. I was most excited, however, with the gulls present: Ring-billed, Herring, Great Black-backed, and BONAPARTE’S.
On Saturday morning I tried again for the Snowy Owl, but was unsuccessful. I also wanted to try Cayuga Lake again, this time I went down the east side of the lake. I was hoping to do better with Bonaparte’s for photos – I got much better looks, but the photos were terrible. I did add Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, and Common Goldeneye to my waterfowl list, giving me a total of 22 species in two days – not too bad. Good birding in Seneca County!
The good thing about not being able to bird all week is that I am really appreciating my birding time when I get it, down to the littlest things, such as that beautiful feeling of putting my binoculars up to my eyes and focusing in on a bird; it’s a joy. The bad thing (or at least one bad thing among the many), is that I feel out of practice. This is my second week of no weekday birding and I’ve had the same feeling both weekends, where I was just a little bit out of sorts and not really quick to ID birds.
Additionally, you would think that, since I didn’t have the opportunity to bird all week, that I might come up with a plan for my Saturday morning when I finally can get out. But I didn’t. So I just headed out and cruised the black dirt; my main goal was to try and find some Canada Geese to sort through. The morning was mostly a dud; my highlight was watching in my scope, as an absolutely gorgeous Coyote made its way across a field in the distance. That was awesome. I also bumped into John Haas, who I hadn’t seen in a while, so that was nice. We sorted through the largest group of Canada Geese that I had all morning (maybe 600 birds?). Unfortunately, we came up empty and I was running late to meet up with Linda Lou at the Bashakill to do water testing, so I had to run. While I was doing the water testing, John put out an alert that he had a CACKLING GOOSE on route 416 by Hillcrest Farms. After water testing and little lunch, I headed out into the rain and ran for John’s Cackler. It took me ages to find the bird, but eventually I did. It was a really good stop and I got really great looks in my scope and the usual goose documentary photographs. Huge thanks to John for finding and posting.
After, I thought it might be a good idea to try for more waterfowl. I headed to Tomahawk Lake, since it wasn’t far away. I had: Common Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, and a single Ring-necked Duck there. Then, I headed to Round Lake. I went there because there is a covered spot for viewing the lake, since the rain had picked up pretty good at that point. At Round Lake I had 4 species of waterfowl: Mallards, a single Ruddy Duck, two Pied-billed Grebes, and three Greater Scaup that were close enough to shore for some decent photos (rain and horrible lighting aside). By the time I left Round Lake, it was late and dark already. I was going to head to Glenmere Lake, but that will have to wait until tomorrow…
I tried to get up early on Saturday morning to do some birding before heading up to the mountain. It took ages to get out of the house for some reason, so my time ended up being pretty limited, but I had enough time to take a quick cruise through the black dirt. And, I got really lucky, finding a relatively large flock of Horned Larks (about 200 birds) right away. In the flock I could see several Snow Buntings while they were in flight. I had a single American Pipit on the road when several birds landed in front of my car. And, most excitingly, I had a single LAPLAND LONGSPUR that I located as I scanned through the flock with my scope.
So, my last day counting up at Mt. Peter Hawkwatch was a pretty good one. And, to my mind, it was exactly how hawkwatch in early November should be: Very cold, crisp, and sunny with a steady northwest wind blowing and a good flight of Red-tailed Hawks (20) and Red-shouldered Hawks (15). The only missing ingredients were the Golden Eagle or Northern Goshawk that I was hoping very much for, but unfortunately both species were a no-show. I had a lot of good help and company while I was there: fellow Mt. Pete counters Tom Millard and Denise Ferrel spent several hours each helping, and Bruce Christensen, Jose Garcia, Rob Stone, Karen Heifetz, Nancy Sierra and Joe Baldacci all visited and provided plenty of help and good company too. I totaled 49 migrating raptors, which is enough to stay busy for most of the day. Unfortunately, nearly every bird was super high so photo ops were very few; I actually never even got my weekly Turkey Vulture shot. My final bird of the season, which passed over right at the end of the day, was a sky-high Great Blue Heron that was so high that I needed the scope to get a good ID on the bird. I thought that was a pretty cool way to end the season.
QUICK POST: I took a cruise around the black dirt this morning. I was hoping for Horned Larks/Lapland Longspurs/American Pipits and also to sift through some geese looking for rarities. I did well with American Pipits, seeing them in several locations and finally getting some photographs, but struck out with larks and longspurs. I had a hard time finding any collections of geese; eventually I did find a couple of larger groups, but other than Canada Geese, the only other goose I found was a single Snow Goose. I had a pleasant surprise when I located two late moving American Golden Plovers. They were late enough that when I went to do my eBird report they were flagged as a rare bird. Not an amazing morning, but any time I get a shorebird in OC, I’m a happy birder.
It was a sad day for everyone at Mt. Pete. We learned yesterday evening that fellow counter and friend Carol Linguanti had passed away after a long battle with cancer. In spite of the fact that she had been sick for a while, it was still somehow shocking to me, and I was deeply saddened. Carol was one of the good ones, a truly great friend that had more enthusiasm and love for life, family, friends, and nature than anyone I’ve ever met. She will be missed by so many people it’s hard to grasp. Thoughts, prayers, love, and positive energy go out to her family as they go through this hardest of times.
Well, Carol must have been smiling down on me today. I had an absolutely incredible day at Mt. Pete. The sky was absolutely filled with birds – raptors and more. I had two major raptor highlights – a GOLDEN EAGLE which was located by Ken Witkowski to the east of the viewing platform. I managed to get the bird in the scope as it circled slowly; the distinctly shorter neck, as compared to a Bald Eagle, was apparent and the bird was basically all dark on the underside, so likely an adult. The second highlight was the Red-shouldered Hawk count – I had 27 RSHA which broke the previous daily record of 24! It was an active day for migrating raptors, and in the end I had 113 for the day.
There was also plenty of other bird movement with some of my favorite birds. Six Common Loons were counted; a couple actually passed close enough for photos (typically they are WAY out there). Geese were on the move too, I counted 472 Canada Geese and 95 BRANT. Double-crested Cormorants came through in 5 skeins with a total of 235 birds! At one point a large skein of cormorants flew in line with a small plane and the birds scattered to avoid it. Chaos reigned for a short time but then they got back into formation. We also had a single Great Blue Heron, flying so high you wouldn’t believe it; it passed right over the platform, totally invisible to the naked eye. Incredible stuff, these are the days that I love so much when it comes to hawk watching. Excellent birding – thanks Carol!
Today was another relatively slow day for me at Mt. Peter. I recently wrote that I have been snake bit this season, but in retrospect, I’m not sure that’s true. Instead, I think that the crazy warm temperatures have really affected the counts this year, particularly in October (which has felt more like August). We have had fewer “good” days this October. Last year, we had 10 days with over 50 migrating raptors; this year we have had only 6. We have also had more “bad” days this year, with less than 25 birds on 13 days! Last year, by comparison, had only 8 days in October with less than 25 birds.
I was hoping for the best, but I was not overly optimistic coming into today. The continuing warm temperatures and a south wind were not a promising combination. I totaled 24 migrating raptors (see report below), which was just enough to keep me from going bonkers. An added bonus was that the majority of the migrating birds today flew over very low. This allowed for some really great looks and some photo ops too. I had additional photo ops when one of the local Red-tailed Hawks finally decided to spend some time near the viewing platform. And, I’m always hoping for something a little different to fly over the mountain, and today I was not disappointed – I had 3 skeins of BRANT fly over! I really should have gotten a good Brant photo, but I was a little slow on the draw. The Brant made my day, as they were my 216th species in Orange County this year.
So, I’ve been at my new job for just over two months and up until today, I hadn’t done any birding in the area, choosing to hustle home and bird in Orange County instead. Well, the days have finally gotten short enough that it’s really tough for me to do any birding in OC, so today, for the first time, I decided to bird near my work in Garnerville, NY.
My original plan was to go to Stony Point Park, which is only 10 minutes from my work and, on the map, it looked perfect to bird the Hudson River since the park is located on a peninsula that juts out into the river. My plan was foiled when I arrived at the park to find out that it closes daily at 5:00 pm! I was ripping mad about it, but I took a look at the map on my phone and picked a second nearby location, dropping a pin on a spot that looked like I might get a look at the river. When I arrived at the location, to my surprise, it was a park! It was the Town of Stony Point’s River Front Park to be more precise, and what a find! It’s actually closer to my work and the location is just super. I’ve included a map below, you can see Stony Point Park just to the north, and that River Front Park actually sticks out further into the river than Stony Point SP.
It was a perfect night for birding on the Hudson, and just how I would want it to be: cold and windy, with super dark clouds and patches of beautiful bright gold sunlight peeking through periodically. It was a simultaneously creepy and beautiful night. I set up and began to scope the river; I was happy to see many gulls. I had Ring-billed (many), Herring (3), and Great Black-backed (2) gulls tonight and I’m hoping that I have more gulls to look forward to this winter. Waterfowl were less accommodating tonight; I had only Double-crested Cormorants (12). As I left the park, I could see that there is plenty of other good birding possibilities in this little area, so that was exciting to me; I have something to look forward to.
My weekend of birding started early on Saturday morning. Following up on a tip from Rob Stone, I headed out to Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge’s Liberty Marsh. When I arrived, birding bud Linda Scrima was already there, viewing the main part of the marsh from the viewing platform. We walked out to view the pond north of Oil City Road, where a beautiful sight awaited us – 36 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS were huddled together in beautiful morning light. We took photos and scanned for more shorebirds. A single bird flew in and joined the Pecs – it was a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER! Further scanning revealed two distant Wilson’s Snipe and another distant bird that I identified in the field as a Semipalmated Sandpiper, but in retrospect, with the bird being so far out, it is maybe best left unidentified. I had to get up to Mount Peter for hawkwatch, so we headed back to the parking lot. We took one last look at the pond in front of the platform and found yet more shorebirds – 7 Greater Yellowlegs and nearly a dozen Lesser Yellowlegs! What a great morning for shorebirds in OC!
Hawkwatch was once again a bust for me – so far, I am snake bitten this season for sure. I even had the big guns up to help me (Judy Cinquina and Denis Ferrell, fellow Mt. Pete counters), but it didn’t matter, the birds were not flying on this day. Jeff and Elizabeth Zahn visited and turned their (and mine) hawkwatch luck around. We had 12 of my 19 birds in the hour or so while they were there, including a pair of beautiful adult Red-shouldered Hawks that flew directly over the platform. The biggest news during hawkwatch had nothing to do with hawks at all – Maria Loukeris had located and photographed a SAY’S PHOEBE out at Liberty Marsh! She could barely believe it and she sent out photos to confirm the ID. Once confirmed, several folks went out for the bird but it was not relocated. I had plans directly after hawkwatch, so my search for the Says would have to wait until Sunday morning…
So, Sunday morning I went to Liberty Marsh to try for the the Say’s Phoebe. This time when I arrived, Scotty Baldinger was at the viewing platform. It was great to see Scotty (it always is!) and, in spite of not relocating the SAPH, we had a fabulous morning of birding. Sparrows were abundant and we had 5 species: Savannah, Song, White-throated, Swamp, and my FOS WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. Other highlights included a flock of over 40 American Pipits flying over our heads and landing in a field. Initially it did not look like we would do any good for shorebirds, but on our way back I spotted a flock in flight. There was an adult Peregrine Falcon in the area, we had just seen it earlier, and I’m guessing it was keeping them on their toes. The birds eventually put down in the pond north of Oil City Road – it was the same flock of Pectoral Sandpipers with the White-rumped Sandpiper. The flock was jumpy and took laps around the pond, allowing for some decent photo ops. They eventually left that pond and put down in the marsh south of Oil City Road; we were unable to relocate them. One last look from the viewing platform got us one Greater Yellowlegs and 3 Lessers. Scotty and I parted ways; I hit a couple other spots before heading home, but they were not as productive. What an excellent weekend of birding! I feel like I need it.
If you had a chance to be out this evening, you know it was a gorgeous night, cool and breezy with an amazing sunset. The only thing that could make it better is a beautiful bird, and the Rusty Blackbird is the kind of bird that can just make your day with their distinctive call and fabulous coloring. I ran into several of these beauties this evening at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary and I’m still smiling about it.
