{"id":9032,"date":"2019-03-02T18:29:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T23:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=9032"},"modified":"2019-03-02T18:31:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T23:31:16","slug":"snowy-morning-at-shawangunk-grasslands-nwr-03-02-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=9032","title":{"rendered":"Snowy Morning at the Grasslands, 03\/02\/19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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~Northern Harrier hunting in the snow at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 03\/02\/19.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I arrived at Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge just after sunrise this morning. I was happy – a steady snow was falling, it was cold but not uncomfortably so, and I was the only one there. I walked the trails for a little while; I heard coyotes off in the distance. As the sun started to rise, I noticed a few of the Northern Harriers had started to fly, so I headed into the “Bobolink” blind and waited. But, the snow seemed to keep the harriers from flying like they have been recently, and it was songbirds that stole the show for me. I had several American Tree Sparrows just off to my right; every once in a while one would perch up on a bush. A Savannah Sparrow flew in front of the blind, perched briefly and then disappeared into the grasses. A trio of Northern Flickers spent some time in the tree directly in front of the blind, before flying south and finding another tree out in the middle of the grasslands. Then I heard a call I was hoping to hear all morning – Eastern Meadowlarks! A group of nine had landed in the ‘flicker tree’ and were gently calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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~One of 9 Eastern Meadowlarks in one tree, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 03\/02\/19.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I then walked the trails for a while, covering a good portion of the north end of the refuge. The snow eventually stopped and the refuge had a different feel, much brighter and warmer. The harriers remained relatively sparse on my walk although I did see a distant “Gray Ghost” flying over near Galeville Park. An Eastern Bluebird perched in a tree right alongside the trail. Four Black Vultures circled directly overhead. When I arrived back near the parking area, I ran into one of my favorite people: Ralph Tabor. We caught up for a while and enjoyed the birds at the feeder station. A Brown Creeper made its way up a tree just to the right of the feeders; I’m pretty sure it’s the first one I’ve ever had in Ulster County. Ralph then spotted a Short-eared Owl in the distance, being harassed by some American Crows. As I walked back towards my car, the crows flushed a second Shorty and I was able to get some photos before both owls settled down again. It was great morning of birding; it far exceeded my expectations when I headed out this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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~It’s been ages since I’ve gotten any Short-eared Owl photos; Shorty in flight at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 03\/02\/19.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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~This might be the bird of the day for me – BROWN CREEPER at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 03\/02\/19.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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~One of 4 Black Vultures I saw overhead as I walked the trails at Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 03\/02\/19.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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~Short-eared Owl, Shawangunk Grasslands NWR, 03\/02\/19.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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~Eastern Bluebird at the Grasslands, 03\/02\/19.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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~I ran into this Red-tailed Hawk on the way home, I think it was in Wallkill NY, 03\/02\/19.~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I arrived at Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge just after sunrise this morning. I was happy – a steady snow was falling, it was cold but not uncomfortably so, and I was the only one there. I walked the trails for a little while; I heard coyotes off in the distance. As the sun started … Continue reading “Snowy Morning at the Grasslands, 03\/02\/19”<\/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":[12,21,18,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raptors","category-shawangunk-grasslands-nwr","category-songbirds","category-ulster-county"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i3kT-2lG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9032","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=9032"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9045,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9032\/revisions\/9045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}