QUICK POST: I was not out there to witness it myself, but the Gyrfalcon continues in Ulster County. It was relocated in the same area as yesterday early this afternoon and apparently many birders (100+?) were present to see the bird. Does this mean the bird might stick around for a while? We shall see…either way, it’s very exciting and congrats to all who got to see the bird!
WOW – GYRFALCON!!!
I had slow start to the day birding-wise. I joined Ken Witkowski and we headed up to the town of Hancock in Delaware County, NY. We were participating in a Golden Eagle Survey and due to the weather most likely (we had snow showers on and off), we had a very slow day with very few raptors and no Golden Eagles. It was still a great morning; Ken is very knowledgeable and super interesting to talk to.
I got back to Goshen just before 2:30 and immediately headed up to Ulster County to try for the Gyrfalcon that had been located by Karen Maloy Brady the day before (huge thanks Karen!). On the way I spoke with John Haas to see how the morning had gone – apparently there were plenty of birders out looking for the falcon, but the search had been unsuccessful. I wondered if it was worth the trip up there, but then I figured the worst thing that could happen would be that I didn’t locate the bird and then headed over to the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR to go for the Short-eared Owls. So, I decided to try for it and boy am I glad I did. There is a saying that it’s better to be lucky than good. Well, boy did I get lucky. As I was nearing Bates Lane (which is where the bird had been seen the day before), I noticed a perched bird in a tall evergreen tree. I stopped and took a quick look through my binoculars and nearly had a heart attack – it was the GYRFALCON! I took some quick photos and then put the word out; I was praying that the bird would stay put for others to see. The falcon had other ideas and after some time flew from its perch, heading north and over a little hill where I lost sight of the bird. Less than a minute later Curt McDermott showed up and I explained the situation. Curt relocated the bird inside of 5 minutes just north of where I was on Old Fort Road, and it was on a fresh kill! Many birders arrived (I would guess between 40 and 50) and got to see this beautiful creature. The falcon finished its meal, and then returned to its perch on the evergreen, then to a telephone pole on Old Fort Road where it stayed for a good while. Just after 5:00 the bird was flushed by a Red-tailed Hawk and headed north.
The Gyrfalcon was life bird #317 for me. What an exciting afternoon of birding, one I will never forget. And what a magnificent bird – really and truly remarkable.
Sussex County Painted Bunting 2/6/15
QUICK POST: I bolted out of work to run for the PAINTED BUNTING that had been reported in Sussex County, New Jersey. Since it was Friday, the traffic was miserable and I got to Andover a little on the late side (I didn’t think I would ever get there!). I located the bird with the help of Denis, the only other birder present. It was his first time seeing the bird in New Jersey, and for me it was life bird #316. And what a beautiful bird at that, really it’s hard to believe this bird unless you see it. The bird only came to the feeder one time while I was there, but he spent a good amount of time there before finding a nearby perch. I wish the light had been better for photos, but that’s the way it goes some times. What a super bird and a very nice way to end the week. Thanks to Linda Scrima, Maria Loukeris, and Marianne Ofenloch for the heads up about the bird and for the details on how to locate him.
Gray Ghost on a Cold Night
I made out to the viewing platform at Wallkill River NWR Liberty Marsh this evening and it was COLD night! There were not many birds flying close, but I got lucky with the one bird that came close enough for photos – a male Northern Harrier or “Gray Ghost”. This was the only bird I took photos of tonight, but there were several hunting Northern Harriers, two distant Rough-legged Hawks, and at least one Red-tailed Hawk while I was there. It was not quite dark when I left, honestly I just was getting too cold to stay out, and the Short-eared Owls were not yet up.
A Cute Couple
Yesterday evening I was on Missionland Road, searching for the nearly two dozen Lapland Longspurs seen there earlier in the day by both Rob Stone and Ken McDermott (21 and 19 respectively), when I received a call from Ken. There were two Short-eared Owls perched together north of Oil City Road at Liberty Marsh. I headed over and the birds were still on their perch. It was a distant look and this photo is heavily cropped, but still pretty darn cute. Thanks to Ken for the call and hopefully I will get back out to try for the LALOs on another evening this week.
I went to the Newburgh Waterfront this evening to try for gulls; I had a report from Curt McDermott on Sunday of a Glaucous Gull. Gulls were plentiful, but I unfortunately was unable to locate anything other than Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Great Black-backed Gulls. I did have three Bald Eagles on the ice floes – two adults and one immature.
Black Dirt Sunday and Weekend Catch Up
I spent an enjoyable morning birding in the black dirt; I spent just over three hours hitting many of the usual spots. Notable observations included fewer Canada Geese than I have had in recent days, I’m not sure where all the geese were hiding out. Also, on Missionland Road, where there were hundreds of Horned Larks earlier this week, I did not have one lark. I did manage to relocate 4 Lapland Longspurs in small flock of mixed sparrows. And, on Onion Avenue in New Hampton I had my first American Robins of the year:
It was a good morning with a total of 32 species identified:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Mourning Dove
Short-eared Owl
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Merlin
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Lapland Longspur
American Tree Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
In the News!
I made it into the Sunday Times Herald-Record today in Wayne’s World, a column written by nature writer Wayne Hall. If you would like to check it out, click HERE.
Longspurs and Larks
I tried over the past couple of days to get some better shots of the Lapland Longspurs on Missionland Road. Yesterday the light was perfect and the birds were on the road but I had no luck with photos. . This afternoon the light was good, and although the birds did not come in as close as I would like, I did manage to get some better shots. I had 4 LALOs in a small flock of Horned Larks. Also present today was a nice flock of American Goldfinches, many Savannah Sparrows and American Tree Sparrows, and a single Song Sparrow. The Horned Lark photos were taken on Tuesday when I first saw the LALOs.
LAPLAND LONGSPURS!
QUICK POST: This afternoon, just after 3:00, I had 6 LAPLAND LONGSPURS on Missionland Road. I had just finished looking through hundreds of Horned Larks hoping for longspurs or buntings but without success. I have photos which contain all six birds, but unfortunately none came out very well, so here is a decent shot with four of the six. Nice birds to see, that’s for sure.
Grasslands Raptors, 1/25/15
While the Eastern Meadowlarks were the highlight for me this past Sunday morning, I also did relatively well with raptors. Especially since I was out for only two and a half hours. One interesting observation I made was that since it was a windy morning with the wind coming from the west, most of my shots ended up being at least partially backlit. It seems to me that, at least when it comes to Northern Harriers, these birds tend to hunt while flying into the wind. With a west wind, that means most of the time when I had a bird flying towards the blind it had the sun at its back.
Here is a list of raptors that I had for the morning, and I should mention that when I got back to my car, Ralph let me know that about a dozen Short-eared Owls got up for about twenty minutes – not too far from the parking area. I never saw them since I have my back to the parking area when I’m in the north blind.
Black Vulture 7
Northern Harrier 5
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Rough-legged Hawk 4
American Kestrel 1
