{"id":2388,"date":"2014-02-22T21:32:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T02:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=2388"},"modified":"2014-02-22T21:39:58","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T02:39:58","slug":"ulster-early-orange-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=2388","title":{"rendered":"Ulster Early, Orange After"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Red-headed<\/a>
Red-headed Woodpecker, Ulster County NY, 2\/22\/14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I headed up north this morning to Ulster County just for a change of pace. It was a gorgeous morning, sunny and warming up nicely. I took the back roads and had an enjoyable ride, scanning for birds all the while. My first stop was for the Red-headed Woodpeckers. I hadn’t been up to see them in a while, and never in the winter. When I arrived, the only birds present were the steady stream of crows overhead. I was beginning to think I might strike out with the RHWOs, when I finally spotted one in my binoculars. Eventually the bird worked its way closer to me and I was able to get some decent photos. Besides the crows, I did not have another bird in that swamp this morning besides the single Red-headed Woodpecker.<\/p>\n

\"RHWO<\/a>
RHWO in Ulster County NY, 2\/22\/14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I<\/a>
I kept waiting to try to get flight photos of the bird. This is the best I could do. RHWO in Ulster County NY 2\/22\/14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I finally left the Red-headed Woodpecker behind and headed to my favorite birding spot in all of Ulster County – the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge. Although all the birds there were quite distant, I had an enjoyable stop there with 6 species: (6) Rough-legged Hawks, (4) Red-tailed Hawks, (1) Bald Eagle, several Turkey Vultures, a constant movement of American Crows going through, and (2) American Tree Sparrows.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On my way to the grasslands I happened upon this beauty of a Wild Turkey on the road. Ulster County NY, 2\/22\/14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My final Ulster County stop of the morning was at Lippincott Road in Wallkill. I was hoping for a new waterfowl species for the year, but it was not to be. It was still a good stop, highlighted by the presence of (15) Common Goldeneye, (5) Common Mergansers, and (2) Hooded Mergansers.<\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>
These Common Goldeneyes are very sensitive. As soon as my car slowed down they were moving out. This is the best shot I could muster through the trees. Lippincott Road, 2\/22\/14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I stopped home for a quick sandwich and then headed back out, this time in Orange County. I spent the afternoon into the evening hitting some of my usual spots and then finishing up at Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge to go for the Short-eared Owls (who came up late, a couple minutes after 6:00 and only four birds). Generally speaking the county seemed a bit quiet to me, and the birds I did see tended to be a bit distant. Here’s my list for the afternoon:<\/p>\n

Canada Goose
\nAmerican Black Duck
\nMallard<\/div>\n
Black Vulture<\/div>\n
Turkey Vulture
\nNorthern Harrier<\/div>\n
Red-tailed Hawk
\nRough-legged Hawk<\/div>\n
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)<\/div>\n
Mourning Dove<\/div>\n
Short-eared Owl<\/div>\n
Blue Jay<\/div>\n
American Crow<\/div>\n
Horned Lark<\/div>\n
European Starling
\nAmerican Robin<\/div>\n
American Tree Sparrow<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"Canada<\/a>
Canada Geese in an awesome sunset at Wallkill River NWR, 2\/22\/14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I headed up north this morning to Ulster County just for a change of pace. It was a gorgeous morning, sunny and warming up nicely. I took the back roads and had an enjoyable ride, scanning for birds all the while. My first stop was for the Red-headed Woodpeckers. I hadn’t been up to see … Continue reading “Ulster Early, Orange After”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i3kT-Cw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2388"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2398,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388\/revisions\/2398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}