Since I’ve been out of the loop for a little while, I figured it would be a good idea to do a post of notable Orange County sightings that I know of from the past week:
SUNDAY 4/3/16 – It was a waterfowl fallout of sorts in OC. Rob Stone reported 20+ Long-tailed Ducks at Wickham Lake, along with 1 Greater Scaup, 1 Common Loon, and 1 Horned Grebe. Meanwhile, Kathy Ashman reported to Mearns Bird Club that she had 7 Horned Grebes at Glenmere Lake, with some in breeding plumage.
MONDAY 4/4/16 – Rob Stone had a Vesper Sparrow at Lower Wisner Road.
THURSDAY 4/7/16 – I had 1 Greater Scaup, 1 Common Loon (my FOY), and 2 Horned Grebes at Greenwood Lake. Kathy Ashman reported a Green Heron at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary.
FRIDAY 4/8/16 – I had 1 Common Loon at Sterling Lake and at Greenwood Lake I had 1 Horned Grebe, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, and 2 Common Loons.
SATURDAY 4/9/16 – I had my FOY Louisiana Waterthrush and Swamp Sparrow on the Sterling Lake Loop Trail. At White Oak Swamp, I finally got my FOY Rusty Blackbird and I also had my FOY Palm Warbler.
SUNDAY 4/10/16 – Maria Loukeris had a Common Loon at Glenmere Lake. I went for the bird later in the day and 4 Greater Scaup and 1 Lesser Scaup (FOY) had moved in as well. Earlier in the day, I had my FOY Osprey at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary (but missed out on the Green Heron).
~Common Loon at Glenmere Lake, 4/10/16. Thanks to Maria Loukeris for the heads up on this bird.~~Ruby-crowned Kinglet at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary, 4/10/16.~ ~Crappy photo of a good bird. Louisiana Waterthrush on the Sterling Lake Loop Trail, 4/9/16.~~Palm Warbler on the Sterling Lake Loop Trail, 4/9/16.~
~I was very excited to locate a pair of BUSHTITS at Summerlake Park in Tigard, OR 4/4/16. This one is the female, the pale eye gives it away.~
All birders know that one of the best things about traveling to a new area for the first time is the possibility of seeing some new birds. It is very exciting knowing that at any turn you may see a bird for your first time ever. This is true even when birding is not your primary objective, as was the case for me last weekend when Tricia and I flew to Portland, Oregon to attend her cousin Rob’s wedding. It was a great weekend and it was awesome to get to know Rob’s wife Monica a little bit better and to meet her family. The wedding itself was beautiful and the food was just incredible. But most importantly, I picked up 14 life birds and 2 new sub-species over the long weekend.
I got out two times specifically to do some birding – I went to Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge one morning with Tricia and her brother Kevin and then I got up early one morning and went to Summerlake Park, which is an eBird hotspot and only a few minutes from the hotel. Tualitin River NWR was a super birding spot that has a nice trail to walk. I added 4 life birds and one new sub-species during our walk: Anna’s Hummingbird, Western Scrub-jay, Orange-crowned Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow and the sub-species Pacific Cackling Goose. Unfortunately we were there midday which made for harsh lighting and not many of my photos turned out well. The next morning, I got out early to Summerlake Park and added BUSHTIT and Bewick’s Wren to my life list, and conditions for photos were much better.
The day after the wedding, Tricia, Kevin, and I drove out to the coast to go to the beach and take a hike. It was my first time ever at the Pacific Ocean, and the Cannon Beach with the gorgeous Haystack Rock was a dramatic introduction to it. The day ended up being very bird-centric (can you imagine?!?), and for not planning it, it was incredible how many great birds we had that day. It started off at Cannon Beach, where we quickly noticed that there were puffins flying around Haystack Rock – they were TUFTED PUFFINS! I spent some time on the beach while Tricia and Kevin toured the town and I added Pelagic Cormorant, Black Oystercatcher, Western Gull, and Glaucous-winged Gull. Afterwards, we headed to Oswald West State Park and took a long, amazing hike out to Cape Falcon. We had many Pacific Wrens on our walk, but for me the bird of the hike was certainly the pair of WRENTITS I found skulking around in the underbrush just off the trail.
I really did not want to leave Oregon. It was so gorgeous out there; I was struck at how lush it was and at how many huge evergreen trees there are. It was a really great extended weekend for many reasons and good birding was certainly one.
~A TUFTED PUFFIN flies alongside Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~Pretty heavy crop here. Tufted Puffin in flight at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~This was definitely one of my favorite birds of the trip – a Wrentit skulks around in the underbrush during our hike to Cape Falcon at Oswald West State Park, 4/5/16. It was pretty dark on the trail, especially where these birds were found; this photo was shot at ISO 8000!~~My first life bird of the trip – a Spotted Towhee in the parking lot of our hotel in Tigard, OR 4/2/16.~~I think Orange-crowned Warblers are pretty common where we were. This one was at Cape Falcon on the coast of Oregon, 4/5/16.~~This is the male Bushtit, Summerlake Park in Tigard, OR 4/4/16. Notice the dark eyes.~~Oregon Dark-eyed Junco at Crescent Grove Cemetery and Mausoleum, which was located across the street from our hotel, 4/3/16.~~Bewick’s Wren at Summerlake Park , 4/4/16.~~Golden-crowned Sparrows at Tualitin River NWR, 4/3/16. We were at the refuge at midday, which made for some harsh lighting and tough photos.~~I have this as a Glaucous-winged Gull at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~I like this shot. Black Oystercatcher flies over the waves at Cannon Beach, 4/5/16.~~I’m pretty sure this is a Pacific Cackling Goose. And I’m also pretty sure I saw this sub-species for the first time on this trip; I think the Cackling Geese (rarities!) we get in our area are typically Richardson’s. This was shot at Summerlake Park, 4/4/16.~~Western Gull at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast, 4/5/16.~
New Life Birds:
Pelagic Cormorant
Black Oystercatcher
Tufted Puffin
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Anna’s Hummingbird
Western Scrub-jay
Bushtit
Bewick’s Wren
Pacific Wren
Wrentit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Golden-crowned Sparrow
~UPLAND SANDPIPER in the Black Dirt Region, 2/39/16.~
I was cruising through the Black Dirt Region this afternoon, really just sort of doing some half-hearted birding but mostly hoping for Lapland Longspurs, when I heard an Eastern Meadowlark call. I stopped the car and located one and then another meadowlark… only the second bird was not a meadowlark but an UPLAND SANDPIPER! I put the word out and I was eventually joined by Karen Miller, Maria Loukeris, Linda Scrima, and Bruce Nott, who all got good scope views of the bird. Meanwhile, the more I watched the bird, the less sure I was becoming of my initial ID, mostly because the bird was bobbing its tail often, a behavior that I didn’t know Upland Sandpipers exhibited. I spoke with Rob Stone and he found a video online showing bobbing behavior. When Karen got home, she referenced her National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, which read: “It often bobs the rear portion of its body…”. I’ve included a video of the bird at the bottom of this post. According to eBird bar charts, we are not likely to see UPSAs in Orange County until May, so this is really an early bird.
~One more shot of the UPSA, Black Dirt Region 3/29/16.~
~Beautiful duck! We had loads of Northern Pintails at Savannah Mucklands at Montezuma NWR, 3/26/16.~
I headed out Saturday morning with my brother-in-law Bill, and for the first time ever, I was disappointed by Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. But only a little bit. The problem is that Easter was so early this year that it was the first time I’ve been to the refuge in March. And Wildlife Drive doesn’t open until April 1st. Here it was, probably the nicest day of the year in Seneca County, and arguably the best part of the refuge was closed. Which didn’t make a bit of sense to me, and you can ask Bill, I was not in good humor about it. So, we birded from the visitor’s center viewing platform and then the rest of the refuge and we ended up having a pretty darn good day. The number one highlight of the day was undoubtedly getting Bill’s lifer SANDHILL CRANES. Not only did we finally get lucky with them, we found them only about 30 yards off the road! We got incredible looks at these big, beautiful birds. We also had three rarities on the day, all early birds for Seneca County: LESSER YELLOWLEGS (2), GREATER YELLOWLEGS (6), and GLOSSY IBIS (2). Huge thanks to Mark Fitzsimmons (who I had met while going for the Barrow’s Goldeneye in Ulster County earlier in the month). Bill and I ran into him at the visitor’s center; he was birding the refuge with his daughter and they gave us the heads-up on both the GRYE and the GLIB. We ended up with 44 species on the day and I wonder how many more we might have added if we had gotten to bird Wildlife Drive.
~I love these birds, and I was really happy for Bill to finally see them. Sandhill Cranes at Montezuma NWR, 2/126/16.~
On Easter Sunday I had no plans to do any birding. Tricia and I took a walk with Bill’s oldest daughter Mackenzie through the neighborhood with their two dogs. It was early afternoon, around 2:00, when as we followed the path through a wooded area I heard a BARRED OWL calling. I didn’t believe it at first. We backtracked a little bit and luckily, I was able to locate the bird pretty quickly. We called Bill and Tricia’s sister Caroline and they met us out there. They brought my camera for me so I was able to get some shots, and Bill, Carol, and Mackenzie got their lifer Barred Owl! It was actually a pretty good walk, because prior to that, I had already seen 2 adult Cooper’s Hawks, a young Bald Eagle, and a slew of songbirds.
I wanted to mention that I finally updated the Species Photos 2016 page last week; I’ve increased the number of species photos from 34 to 62. And after posting this, I will increase it by two more when I add the Sandhill Cranes and the Northern Pintail photos. And lastly, I reached a modest milestone this weekend, getting my 100th subscriber to the blog; that made me happy for sure.
~An adult Red-headed Woodpecker at Fancher Davidge Park, 3/24/16.~
I received a text from Karen Miller while I was at work today; she and Bruce Nott had relocated two RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS (one adult and one juvenile) at Fancher Davidge Park in Middletown, New York. The birds were originally located by Gef Chumard, who birds the park on a regular basis. I talked to Karen on my way home and she provided details, which helped me find the park and the spot pretty easily. I parked and headed down the Nature Observation Trail, which leads to a rather large and beautiful swamp. I was there for about twenty minutes, I hadn’t had any luck, when Gef showed up. He showed me a tree where he had seen one of the birds on a couple of occasions, and while we were talking I located the juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker on a distant dead tree. Gef had someplace to be, so he left me to it. I eventually located the adult as well, and managed to get some ID photos of both birds. It was great fun to bird in a new spot, and the place was loaded with birds (I had 29 species for the afternoon).
Huge thanks to Karen for the heads up, and congratulations to Gef on a great find!
~A juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker at Fancher Davidge Park, 3/24/16. According to the Crossley ID Guide, the juvenile “molts through the winter so that by spring it is similar to adult, but often slightly duller…” ~
~Another highlight of the afternoon – a Brown Creeper which avoided having its photo taken as much as it could. Fancher Davidge Park, 2/24/16~
QUICK POST: Late Saturday afternoon and into the evening, I enjoyed photographing these gorgeous falcons alongside Kyle Dudgeon, Linda Scrima, and Maria Loukeris. Clear skies provided nice light, which allowed for much better photo opportunities than last weekend. It is challenging and super exciting to photograph these birds; it’s really incredible to see how fast they fly and of course very interesting to watch their behavior. The birds continue to mate, and they share their meals (we’ve seen both the male and female come back after successfully hunting, eat half of the prey and then pass the remainder off to their partner).
~One of at least 5 Fox Sparrows at the Nature Trail at the Bashakill, 3/19/16.~
Kyle Dudgeon and I got an early start and spent the morning and early afternoon birding at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area. I was sort of stumped on where to bird for the day, and when Kyle suggested the Bash, I jumped at the opportunity – it had been ages since I’d been there. We had a really fun and productive outing as we checked out several of the Bashakill’s hotspots. Our best stop of the morning was definitely the Nature Trail, where from the viewing platform saw the two adult Bald Eagles share a brief flight and then watched a single Red-shouldered Hawk flyover. It got really good on our walk back to the car when we had a nice flurry of activity that included several Purple Finches and at least five Fox Sparrows! Photos were backlit and tough, but it was really exciting to see both species.
~Wow! My first Purple Finch in ages! Nature Trail at the Bashakill, 3/19/16.~
Another good stop was at the Deli Fields. The birding was a little slow (although we did see an additional 3 Fox Sparrows), but we ran into Scotty Baldinger, who I hadn’t seen in a while. I introduce him to Kyle and it was really good to shoot the breeze and catch up with Scotty.
It was a great day, it was awesome to get back out to the Bash, and we ended the day with a total of 37 species. I’ve included our species list below.
~White-breasted Nuthatch at the Deli Fields, 3/19/16.~~Two adult Bald Eagles take a quick spin above the nest at the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area, 3/19/16.~ ~One of the very many Song Sparrow we had at the Bashakill WMA today, 3/19/16.~ ~It was so awesome to see this adult Red-shouldered Hawk. This photo doesn’t do it justice, we got a really good look at this bird. Bashakill, 3/1916.~
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Wilson’s Snipe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
~A single Bonaparte’s Gull with 4 Ring-billed Gulls in the foreground at Wickham Lake, 3/15/16.~
QUICK POST: Huge thanks to Bruce Nott who texted me to let me know he had located a BONAPARTE’S GULL at Wickham Lake earlier today while I was at work. I ran for the bird after I got out and luckily it was still around, floating in the distance among a large group of Ring-billed Gulls.
~While I was trying to photograph the BOGU, I heard a call that I hadn’t heard before. I looked around and saw that it was from a female Bufflehead. I had photographed her with a male a little bit earlier, but when she called the male was nowhere to be seen. Moments later the male flew in and settled right next to the female. Wickham Lake, 3/15/16.~
~A male Peregrine Falcon shoots by at a rapid pace, Orange County NY, 3/13/16.~
I met up with Kyle Dudgeon this morning to try to photograph Peregrine Falcons. The lighting was tough, so with the exception of a few photos such as the one at the top of this post, we ended up having more success shooting video with the iPhone through my spotting scope. We ended up with what I think is some remarkable footage; I’ve included three short clips in this post. The first one shows the birds mating, which was incredible to see live and Kyle and I were flipping out:
The male left the area for a short while, successfully hunted, and then came back with prey. In this video he eats a portion of the prey and then takes off to share the remainder with the female:
and finally, here is a very short clip of the female finishing up preening and taking flight, flying out of view and then cutting right in front of the scope again.
~This is the best I could do! Barrow’s Goldeneye at Glasco Mini Park in Ulster County, NY 3/12/16.~
After some uneventful early morning local birding, I drove up to Glasco, New York in Ulster Count to meet up with Linda Scrima and Maria Loukeris. We were going for the BARROW’S GOLDENEYE which had been reported at Glasco Mini Park in recent days. We located the bird fairly quickly far out in the Hudson River; it was keeping company with several Common Goldeneyes and a single scaup, which I’m pretty sure was a Greater Scaup. The birds were really quite distant, and additionally it was tough to get good looks because the water was quite choppy and the birds were diving regularly. But, we were patient and eventually we all got good looks in the scope and even managed to take some documentary photos, which was no small feat. One of us would look in the scope and call out when and where the Barrow’s surfaced while the others clicked away, hoping for the best. In spite of the distance and maybe because of the challenge of trying to get good looks, I really enjoyed going for this bird. The Barrow’s Goldeneye was life bird number 345 for me and my 259th New York State bird.
Linda and Maria continued north to do some Adirondack birding and I headed over to the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge to meet up with Kyle Dudgeon to try our luck with Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls. Unfortunately, it was a slow afternoon and the then the owls got up on the late side so we did not do very well with photos at all. Still, it was nice just to be out, especially for Kyle who has been away at school since January.
~Northern Harrier with a FULL crop, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 3/12/16.~~A super grainy shot of a Short-eared Owl in flight. Quite a difference from last weekend! Shawangunk Grasslands, 3/12/16.~~The only thing good about backlit Buffleheads is glowing pink feet! Glenmere Lake, 3/12/16.~~I really enjoyed watching these Buffleheads – six males were vying for the attentions of a single female. They put on a show! Glenmere Lake, 3/12/16.~
