The first day of winter 2009

Today, at 12:47 Eastern Standard Time, the sun reached its lowest point on the southern horizon marking the Winter Solstice….the first day of winter. Sharon and I had reports of a Barnacle goose being sighted during the Rockland County Christmas Count at Piermont, NY and headed south in search of this NY rarity. The first day of winter was well represented by near freezing temps and cold winds out of the north. This is of course augmented when you are standing out on a pier well into the Hudson River with little or no cover from the icy blast. The goose failed to appear, perhaps due to the weather which even a goose found unwelcoming. The only geese we did find were in a protected area further inland, and the Barnacle was not among them.
The river was dotted with small rafts of ducks, however….. Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, the omnipresent Mallards, and a nice collection of Ruddy ducks. Ruddies are noted for “laying back and chillin’ out” with their heads tucked down into the mantle of down. Our representatives of the Ruddy world were perfect examples of this behavior as seen in today’s chosen photograph. It seemed on the last day of Autumn and the first day of Winter that these birds said it all….get ready for a cold few months.

Another rarity

This is out of order chronologically, but I'll get back to Ireland reports as time allows. My birding friend Joe and I headed south to New York City and Queens to check out reports of a NY rarity, the Ash-throated flycatcher. The field guides show these birds to be found only in the south western US during the summer and only in the deep south along the coast in winter. Well, here he is....lost or otherwise hanging out in a not-so-luxurious vacant corner lot in Queens. After a two hour battle with traffic, we finally arrived on site and soon afterwards had our first distant but clear look at the bird. We waited for another hour or so, trying to get decent photos. We were joined by another local birder who had seen the bird previously, but likewise wanted to capture a better image than he had earlier. Two more birders joined us and showed us a second nearby site where they had spotted the flycatcher. We waited patiently for another half hour or so before the first birder came to us to say he had spotted the target back in the lot where we had started our quest. We quickly returned to that location and again waited patiently while nothing appeared . Finally, I suggested we call it a day and head back to the car. As we departed, there, on the fence line where the later two birders had suggest we look, was the bird....right out in the open in perfect light. The bird posed for us for an extended period of time as we shot numerous frames. The results are posted above....another life-bird sighted and photographed!