{"id":4509,"date":"2015-05-30T16:52:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T20:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=4509"},"modified":"2015-05-30T16:52:46","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T20:52:46","slug":"shawangunk-grasslands-nwr-53015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=4509","title":{"rendered":"Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15"},"content":{"rendered":"

*Click on photos to enlarge.*<\/p>\n

\"~\"<\/a>
~Male Bobolink perched at the Shawangunk Grasslands, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I got up really early this morning and headed over the the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge<\/a>. It was a little bit overcast as I arrived at just around 6:30, but it quickly cleared up and turned into a gorgeous morning. I parked my car out by the road in an effort to see as many species as possible, it can be quite birdy on the road into the refuge. It was towards the end of that road that I had my first Brown Thrasher of the year. As I entered the refuge, I could immediately hear one of my target birds, the Grasshopper Sparrow. I really like this bird for some reason, it is certainly not the most attractive bird, but I love its behavior and its call as well. I walked the Red Trail out to the furthest blind and then back; I saw 3 and heard an additional 3 Grasshopper Sparrows which seems\u00a0like\u00a0more than I had in that area last year at this time.<\/p>\n

\"~\"<\/a>
~It was a frustrating day photographing Grasshopper Sparrows, I had ample opportunity to do better than this, but it was not to be today; lots of out of focus shots. GRSP at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bobolinks were numerous and very busy calling and flying over. Meadowlarks were heard more than seen, but I did see ten or so, some perched and some in flight in the distance. Killdeer could be heard and seen on occasion and I saw three American Kestrels. One pleasant surprise was a female Northern Harrier that flew close to me; she had a Red-winged Blackbird in hot pursuit.<\/p>\n

\"~\"<\/a>
~I was not planning on this! NOHA at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"~\"<\/a>
~A flying, calling Bobolink. Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"~\"<\/a>
~I love the legs on this female Bobolink. Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My only disappointment of the day is that I struck out with the Upland Sandpipers. I stopped by Blue Chip Farms after leaving the refuge and then I also tried the airport in Montgomery, but it was not to be. At the grasslands, I accumulated what I think is a respectable species list for the morning, with 35 species being seen or heard:<\/p>\n

\"~Calling<\/a>
~Calling Bobolink at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canada Goose
\nWild Turkey
\nBlack Vulture
\nTurkey Vulture
\nNorthern Harrier<\/strong>
\nKilldeer
\nRed-bellied Woodpecker
\nAmerican Kestrel
\nWillow Flycatcher
\nGreat Crested Flycatcher
\nYellow-throated Vireo
\nAmerican Crow
\nPurple Martin
\nTree Swallow
\nBarn Swallow
\nCarolina Wren
\nWood Thrush
\nAmerican Robin
\nGray Catbird
\nBrown Thrasher<\/strong>
\nEuropean Starling
\nCommon Yellowthroat
\nYellow Warbler
\nSavannah Sparrow
\nGrasshopper Sparrow<\/strong>
\nNorthern Cardinal
\nIndigo Bunting
\nBobolink
\nEastern Meadowlark
\nCommon Grackle
\nBaltimore Oriole
\nAmerican Goldfinch
\nHouse Sparrow<\/p>\n

\"~\"<\/a>
~I wanted to include this shot because you can see the yellow on the Grasshopper Sparrow’s wing. Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"~\"<\/a>
~I love this shot! Northern Harrier being harassed by a Red-winged Blackbird at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"~A<\/a>
~A nice look at a male Bobolink, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"~\"<\/a>
~Brown Thrasher, just off the road into the refuge, 5\/30\/15.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"~\"<\/a>
~I went to Wallkill, NY to get Bank Swallows (no photos!), but this Red-tailed Hawk flew over with an Eastern Kingbird giving chase.~\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*Click on photos to enlarge.* I got up really early this morning and headed over the the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge. It was a little bit overcast as I arrived at just around 6:30, but it quickly cleared up and turned into a gorgeous morning. I parked my car out by the road in … Continue reading “Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 5\/30\/15”<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,21,20,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photos","category-shawangunk-grasslands-nwr","category-ulster-county","category-wallkillwildlife"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i3kT-1aJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4509","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=4509"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4528,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4509\/revisions\/4528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}