The New 2012 Daily Blog

Golden eagle over Bear Mountain, NY

     Five years ago in 2006, I began a project in which I vowed to create a journal in which I would capture at least one nature photo per day for the entire year. (No fair going to the archives for a new photo....each must be taken on the day it is posted!)  On New Year's eve, 365 days later, I photographed and printed out my final entry.  Well, I'm ready to repeat the challenge of a photo a day with a new twist...I'll plan to post each and every entry for the entire year on my blog.  The new format will allow me to capture and post digital movies as well as stills.   I know from the last attempt that there will always be the possibility for an occasional roadblocks that get thrown into the path, but I'll do my best to capture an image for that day.  Hope you'll join me on the journey which will include such already scheduled venues as the Florida keys, Wyoming, and even farther away from home, Australia and New Zealand.  Hope to see you on January 1st.  Have a great holiday.
                                           

Winter in the Dacks

Whiteface Mountain

     Sharon and I are lucky enough to be attending our grandson's hockey tournament here in Lake Placid this weekend. It's been great as the weather has been chilly but without an abundance of the white stuff, our team is playing in the finals tomorrow morning, and we've been able to sneak away between games and hit nearby places in the Adirondacks that we love to bird . So far, we've visited Bigelow Bog, Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain. Even though we only get away for an hour or so each time, it's been enough to bag two new year birds and an elusive lifer for me, the Boreal chickadee.

Boreal chickadee

      There were several Boreals at Bigelow Bog sprinkled in among a larger flock of Black-capped chickadees which were all in resplendent fresh Black, white and gray plumage.

Black-capped chickadee

      Siskins were found along the road up to the gatehouse at the entrance to Whiteface Mountain drive.  We had searched the other areas pretty thoroughly with no results until we found this pair.

Pine siskins

      The Red-breasted nuthatch has been a nemesis for us this year. We had the white-breasted and the Brown-headed, but I really was beginning to believe that we'd go the entire year without this bird.  Fortunately, the first edge of bog and coniferous forest that we checked produced the nasal note of this red-breasted and eventually fine views.

Red-breasted nuthatch

      What a great weekend all the way around! We head back to Orange County tomorrow after the tournament finals and hopefully a gold medal for the boys.  Basically, we were all winners this December weekend.

Cape Ann, MA

Brace's Cove, Gloucester

     One of the signs that the holiday season is quickly approaching is the trip to Cape Ann in Massachusetts to see the wintering birds along the Atlantic coastline. Our targets for this annual outing include loons, alcids, wintering seaducks like Long-tails, eiders and Red-breasted mergansers, and THE bird we all head north for, the Harlequin duck. Our main quarters for weekend are in Gloucester, a beautiful seaport steeped in a tradition of commercial fishing and sailing. Visitors flock to this year-round resort just to bask in the embiance of the rugged coastline. The headlands serve to afford us birders with an outstanding vantage point from which we can survey the protected waters of the harbors.

Common eider

       Northern gannets plunge into the frigid waters from high above while the Common eiders swim in small groups closer in to the beaches. This is definitely a location where spotting scopes are a necessity as many of our quarry prefer to remin farther out from the shore. It's a challenge to distinguish between the Red-throated loons and the Red-necked grebes as they bob in and out of view while riding the surf. I often find myself excitedly training my glass on a potential Black guillemot (not so black in winter!) only to discover that in fact it is another of the myriad of buoys marking the locations of the lobster pots scattered upon the harbor floor. While the lobsters are foraging in the depths, the seals choose to take advantage of the unusually warm temperatures and are seen sunbathing on the rock outcrops peeking up above the surface of the water.

Harbor seals

      In the 2 1/2 days we spent skirting up and down the coast, we managed to see most of what we came north for. Highlights along the rocky shoreline included Horned grebes, many Common eiders, Common and Red-throated loons, all three species of scoters, the Black guillemots, Long-tailed ducks, and of course the most strikingly handsome of the entire group, the Harlequin.

Harlequin duck

      Further inland we were treated to pleasing looks at a lone Snow bunting at close range, and a field of Canada geese sharing their turf with a half dozen Snow geese with a couple of Blue morphs. Best of all, one handsome Barnacle goose was situated squarely in the midst of the crowd.

Barnacle goose among Canada geese

      And so, as we headed back to SE New York, we were pleased to have been able to add a number of new birds to our "year lists" and in the process to have unofficially begun the 2011 holiday season.

South Carolina Birding

Huntington Beach State Park

     We've made our annual trip down to Myrtle Beach to spend a couple of weeks birding and golfing with our friends from the New York "north country".  Each year, we join around a dozen folks....some who love to play golf, some who love to bird, some who love the beach and some who just love this part of the country.  Sharon and I usually come down a few days early and get some serious birding in at Huntington Beach State Park, one of the finest refuges in the state.  We found things much as we had hoped for with the reported Roseate spoonbill and Wood storks still on site.

Wood stork

Roseate spoonbill

       We also found a good number of waders and shore birds which took advantage of the extensive mud flats exposed during this new moon low tide.  Never saw the tide this low in Huntington Beach and we certainly had great numbers and varieties of the birds.....Baird's, Black-bellied and Golden plovers, Sem-palmated sandpipers and plovers, Spotted sandpipers, Dunlins, Dowitchers, Least and Western sandpipers, and more.   We were somewhat surprised to find a good-sized flock of avocets working in concert to scour the floor of the shallow fresh water impoundment.

     Plenty of herons (Great blue, Great egret, Tri-colored, and Snowy) as well as many Clapper rails which were heard, but only one seen.

Snowy egret

      We added a year-bird while visiting Brookgreen Gardens which are located across Route 17 from Huntington Beach.  Part of the gardens is a small but well maintained zoo.  As we were walking through the gardens, a fellow birder told us that he had come across a Barred owl tucked away in the forest near the Alligator pen.  We've often had good luck birding in zoos and today was no exception.  When we arrived at the gators, Sharon located the owl as described.  Nice opportunity to find the bird!

Barred owl

     Regarding songbirds, we found that the male Painted buntings had headed south, but there were still a few females around.  A beautiful Yellow-throated vireo as well as Yellow-rumped, Black and white, Northern parulas, Palm and other warblers were present but somewhat tough to find.   One of our most memorable sightings was late in the day while we were watching at least 200 dunlin all busily probing the mudflats.  Suddenly, they vacated the area with explosive activity.  We figured something had triggered this sudden movement and sure enough, a Peregrine falcon came soaring through the area about 3 feet above the water.  Not sure how he made out regarding his attempts to find an early dinner, but he certainly was making a gallant effort at doing so.  We still have a few more days here along the shore and we will add to our list for sure.  Great friends, great weather, great golf courses with a concern for keeping it "green", and great birds.  What more can we ask for?

Block Island

     Earlier this month, Sharon, friend Joe and I all had the pleasure of visiting Block Island, RI with Connecticut Audubon.  The island has a great reputation for birding during the fall migration and like the other islands we have birded, a lot depends upon the prevailing winds.  We left with our guides and fellow travelers from Port Judith on the last day of September and almost immediately had our first Common eider of the year.  The rest of the ferry ride over to the island was fairly tame with mostly cormorants and Herring gulls in view.  The forecast for the weekend was mostly cloudy with periods of showers and chilly temps.  The weathermen could not have called it further from the truth.  We had great sunny skies and warm temps in the 70's throughout most of the weekend.  Unfortunately, the winds were not what we had hoped for with fairly steady breezes coming up from the south.  Nonetheless, the birds were still plentiful even if we did miss the hoped-for "fallouts" of migrating warblers.  To describe the term "plentiful" as used here, I can only mention that at one point I had Cape May, Parula, and Blackburnian warblers all in the same bins view at the same time.

Yellow warbler    

       No complaints from this birder or any of the others in this regard.  One of our highlights of the trip was a reported Nighthawk called in from one of the other Audubon groups on the island.  Block Island is only 12 miles or so long, so when a report comes in, it's only a matter of minutes before we can be on site and in hot pursuit of the bird.  That being said, Nighthawks are masters of evasion and tend to "hide in plain sight".  The bird was doing what Nighthawks do during the mid-day hours......sleeping on the limb of a tree and blending in almost perfectly.

Common nighthawk

       Unless the bird moves, it will most often go undetected.  The bird is generally not be in any hurry to vacate his sleeping quarters during the daylight hours, and therefore we expected he should be pretty much in the location reported for an extended time.   Well, our directions to the bird were quite specific and we did eventually find the bird after more than a hour's search.

Nelson's sparrow

     Another target bird was either (or both) of the "sharp tail" sparrows.  Guide Andy knew of an area where the birds have been seen in the past and so we made a concerted effort to try and locate one of the birds.  Sure enough, after some serious searching, a Nelson's sparrow was located and we all had excellent albeit a bit distant looks.  Later in the trip the Saltmarsh was also found....two more year birds!

Yellow-billed cuckoo

     The final tally for our trip was a little over a hundred species with a nice Yellow-billed cuckoo, a number of raptors, and the warblers being the finest sightings beyond the Nighthawk.  Our leaders, Andy, Joe, and Priscila, provided us with expert sightings in a beautiful setting and we will surely return with the hopes of even better wind conditions.  Can't imagine it getting much better than what we had on this weekend!

Cape May, The Fall Migration

Sharp-shinned hawk

      Cape May, NJ is without question one of the premier birding hotspots on the east coast.  In the fall, hawks by the thousands fly overhead in an attempt to stay over dry land for as long as possible on their journey south.  Warlbers are also funneled down to this point of land which is the final dry spot before venturing out across Delaware Bay.  The birds will spend some time here, fattening up a bit and waiting for the perfect northwest winds to help carry them across the bay.  Even though the winds were not perfect on this beautiful warm fall weekend, the birds were still plentiful.  Warblers, vireos, raptors, thrashers, creepers, ducks of many varieties and more were all to be had for those who had do nothing more than look around.

Yellow-throated vireo

      We were up on each day before the sun rose in an attempt to get the birds when they first become energized after spending the night in the protection of the foliage.  When the sun rises and begins to warm the vegetation, the insects become more active.  When the bugs get going, so do the birds which feed upon them.  Warblers and sparrow can be found flitting along the ground, at mid-level of the trees, and up into the highest levels of the canopy.  In summer, the show usually quiets down as the morning wears on, but here in fall, the activity just keeps going as the birds seize the opportunity to get a free meal in preparation for the continuation of their journey to Central and South America.

Cape May warbler

     Our best spottings of the weekend were some birds who have traveled further than normally would be expected.  A fine Brown booby, a bird normally found around the extreme southern tip of Florida past the keys.  For whatever reason, this bird has found New Jersey and for the time being is quite content to spend some time with the other tourists.  The bird has been here for over two months now and nobody knows when the bird will head back down south.  For now, it makes for some rare viewing for us northern birders.

Brown booby

    A Cackling goose also showed up this weekend.  This smaller version of the Canada goose is distinguished from its larger relatives by size and by a small stubby bill.  Again, this is not a goose common to our area.

Cackling goose in front of larger Canada goose

     And finally, to add to the 115+ species we found at Cape May this weekend, a female Eurasian wigeon from the Old World has made a showing.  While these birds are now known to nest in North America, they do make an occasional appearance here in the US and today, we are privileged to be able to watch here swim among here American counterparts, the American wigeons.  All in all, the Cape has produced what she promised....three days of wonderful birding in wonderful warm October weather.

Hurricane Irene August 2011

     This is probably old news by now, but for those of you who have not seen the video footage of Hurricane Irene I took and especially for those of you who are from or are at least familiar with the Highland Falls area, this one's for you.  It has been several weeks now since Irene paid us an visit and we certainly felt her wrath.  The county is still reeling from the "shock and awe" and areas like the black dirt farms of Orange County will be feeling the financial repercussions for some time to come.  We just aren't accustomed to weather phenomena like this in SE New York.  So....that being said, take a look at Irene's fury here in Highland Falls earlier this month.

Hawks over Bear Mountain

     The fall is a season of rejuvenation for birders.  After the doldrums of summer, the migrants begin their trek south and the birders dust off their binoculars and scopes and head back into the field.  The warblers come through in large numbers but are obscured by the foliage still clinging to the trees and by their suits of camouflage, trading in their brightly colored plumages of the breeding season for a much more discreet and safe drab wardrobe.  So you really have to work hard to get the warblers.

Red-tailed hawk

 Hawks on the other hand are easy and spectacular pickings at this time of year.  Moving through the Hudson Valley in massive droves, they are a sight to be held by birders and non-birders alike.  We often find ourselves up on the top of Bear Mountain, joining a small group of dedicated "counters" who man their posts each day to count, identify and report the movement of these wonderful raptors through the valley.  The show starts slowly in the beginning of September with a few Sharp-shinned hawks, some ospreys, a Bald eagle or two and some vultures moving through.  Soon, however, in mid-September and as if on cue, the big show begins....the migration of the Broadwings.  For us on Bear Mt., the winds of choice are from the southeast, and such winds were the prevailing forces yesterday.  As we watched and counted the occasional Bald eagle, osprey, and Red-tail, a stray Broadwing would fly overhead....a sign of things to come.  Suddenly, one of our number called out "Here comes a Broadwing....there's another, another!"

Boadwing hawk

Broadwing kettle

     Suddenly, the sky was darkened by the thick could of Broadwings directly overhead. The "kettles", formed a swirling mass as they caught the updrafts of warm air rising over the mountain.  It's a sight you don't see every day, but in mid-September, it's a sight you can be reasonably sure will pop up if you are just ever so patient.  And it is a sight well worth the wait!  And so, today, it's back up to the mountain to see what this day will bring.

The Black Dirt Farms

Golden plovers

     The onion fields and sod farms of the Pine Island area of Orange County are always an interesting and productive area to bird, regardless of season.  But this past month was a real bonanza for birders and a real bust for the farmers.  Hurricane Irene delivered a knockout punch to the owners of the Black-dirt farms as the waters of the Wallkill rose and spilled over its banks, flooding some of the fields with up to 12 feet of water.  The waters of the Wallkill are the lifeline for the farmers, but the river gives and the river takes away.  In the midst of all the heartbreak for the area, we were blessed with an incredible influx of shorebirds which came in to feast on the worms which were forced to the top of the soil by the saturating rains and floodwaters.  Baird's sandpipers,
      White-rumped sandpipers, Sanderlings, Buff-breasted sandpipers, Golden plovers, Semi-palmated plovers and Killdeer by the hundreds made an appearance.  The show lasted for about a week and then as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone.  The waters of the Wallkill finally receded and the devastation of the crops was made evident.  Onions were strewn across the roads, pumpkins lay rotting on the soggy soil, and what were green fields of gorgeous sod were brown with the silt deposited by the flooding river.  No water, no worms, no birds.

White-rumped sandpiper

Lesser yellowlegs

      In a matter of a day or so, the show for us birders came to a close.  We reveled in the incredible display of migrating shorebirds, but for sure, we would give it all up in a heartbeat to have saved the farms.  Nature can be kind, but she can be a tyrant.

Pumpkins lost to the flood

Croton Train Station Wheatear

Northern wheatear

     This story begins over 2 years ago when my wife Sharon and I drove out to CT in search of a reported Northern wheatear, normally a Eurasian bird.  After traveling for more than 2 hours, we arrived on-site and met another "chaser" who had seen the bird earlier.  We waited patiently for over 3 hours with no luck.  The wheatear is generally a bird of barren lands and likes to be around gravel piles.  Well, the gravel pile here in CT was huge and I imagine extremely inviting if you were a wheatear.  In my infinite wisdom, I decided to move away from where the bird had been sighted in the past and walked to the back side of the pile.  There, I waited expectantly for about 15 minutes with no luck.  When I returned to the vehicle, Sharon informed me that the bird had just been there in plain sight, but flew as I rounded the pile en route back to the car.  In short, no wheatear for me on that day.

       Fast forward 2 years and for whatever reason another wheatear decides to visit NYS.  This time, the bird is only 20 minutes away at Croton Train Station.  I got the call on Tuesday evening, but it was too late to get down there by then.  So, on Wednesday, we sped on down and almost immediately were put on the bird by folks who had arrived earlier.  Good things come to those who wait.  Several other Mearns Bird Club people arrived and we all enjoyed seeing this NY rarity.  While relishing the wheatear, we also got nice views of an immature bald eagle, a Common tern, and a merlin....not birds we see every day on the Hudson.  The weather was overcast and misty, but we hardly noticed.  Just another great day in the field and "just another" North American life-bird

Merlin

Pre-Irene Brigantine

Black-bellied plovers

     When we visited Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge last week, we had no idea what was lurking around the corner.  Our visit was on a warm, sunny, calm day where the worst inconvenience was the presence of green flies.  Even those little tyrants were a minimal nuisance as we worked our way around the wildlife drive.  The plan was to head out to the back side of the refuge as soon as we arrived to take advantage of the sun's eastern position in the morning sky.  Lighting is at a premium in the morning and you want to seize the moment when the soft light is at your back.  On the way out, however, we ran into some welcome  "roadblocks"....namely a fine Clapper rail running across a mudflat out in plain sight and three juvenile Yellow-crowned night herons out foraging the flats.  We carefully examined each heron in an attempt to determine whether or not these were indeed Yellow-crowns and not the much more common Black-crowned variety.  Careful examination through the scopes and later looks at the photographs proved our initial assessment that they were in fact the more prized Yellow-crowns.  The dark thick bills, the tiny spots along the wing edges and the large orange eyes.   A nice find....

Juvenile Yellow-crowned night heron

     Along the back side of the refuge, we found a good number of Black-bellied plovers many still in breeding plumage.  All in all, our total was 51 species for the day.  Several days later, the area was buried in a torrent of water as Hurricane Irene came ashore.  Mother Nature has a way of taking care of her own, however, and the recent reports are that the refuge survived quite nicely and is back in operation, less than 3 days after the deluge.  It seems that nature has a more resilient way of dealing with these natural disasters than do we humans!

Short-billed dowitcher

Semi-palmated plover video

Root/Ames, NY

      My birding friend Joe and  I took a day trip up north to the area of Root and Ames, NY in Montgomery County where the NY rarity the Mississippi kite has been a local resident for the past three years.  Reports of a Henslow's sparrow and a number of Upland sandpipers thrown into the mix made the temptation of traveling 3 hours north too good to pass up.  We were not disappointed in the least.  Maybe it was the fact that we were making the trip on lucky 7/11, but we scored quickly on all three targets.  The Henslow's was located as promised by Peter Schoenberger's posting on the NY list-serve.....immediately across from mailbox 221 on MacPhail Rd in Ames (Montgomery County).

Henslow's sparrow

       The bird was singing and was perched at first low down in a Queen Anne's Lace, but later few up into the top of a stand of wild parsnip at close range.  There he presented us with great looks at a bird which happened to be a "lifer" for both of us.

 From here, we moved down to West Ames Road, following a tip from fellow birding club member Greg Prelich.  At the end of the road are a series of horse paddocks and fields.  In one of the larger fields, we first noted what were looking for....an Upland sandpiper.  We were thrilled to then see another, and another, and....before we were done counting, we had 17 of the birds in clear sight!

Upland sandpiper

     Two down and one to go.  We still needed the Mississippi kite to round out the trifecta.  Sharon and I had seen the bird two years ago when it first appeared in Root.  I knew the general area and we headed over to the junction of Donato and Mapletown Roads.  As we turned onto Donato, we saw what we throught was the kite perched on a utility pole, but it quickly flew as we approached.  We parked the vehicle and begin to search in the skies above the field across from the car as we ate our lunch.  Within minutes, an adult male Mississippi kite flew into view.

Adult male Mississippi kite

     It was only a matter of time before a second kite, what we believe to be a first-summer juvenile, flew onto the scene and afforded us more good looks and photo ops.  We had three targets in mind when we left this morning on a three hour car ride to the farm fields of central New York State.  We nailed all three in quick succession....quite a day's birding for a hot 90 degree summer day.  How can this summer's birding get any better than this?

Ferd's Bog

     Nestled in the heart of the Adirondacks, just outside of Racquette Lake in the hamlet of Inlet, lies one of the pure gems of the mountains......Ferd's Bog.  Birders from all over the northeast make the bog their primary focus as they search the Dacks for boreal species.  We still need the Black-backed and Three-toed woodpeckers as well as the Boreal chickadee.  Today, I make the 2 hour journey from our friends' home in South Colton to visit the bog for the first time.....another check on the "bucket list".....in the hopes of getting some other checks on the "other" list.  It's a four mile drive along dirt roads into the trail head, but them only .3 miles down a rough washed-out trail to the "boardwalk" out onto the bog.  As I enter the trail, I meet up with a couple of birders from down home in Orange County.  They inform me that they have had the Boreal chickadee as well as the Black-backed woodpecker down at the bog.

      I quickly bid them adieu and scramble excitedly down the trail.  En route, I hear a Nashville warbler singing high in the canopy, but the woodpecker is still further along, so I'll try to photograph this fine songster after dealing with the Black-back.  Down on the boardwalk, I encounter another lone birder, and I hear the words that all birders chasing a lifer dread...."Gee, she was here all morning, but she left about 5 minutes ago and I haven't heard or seen her since".   Well, patience is a virtue and it pays off as the bird finally returns to a bare snag adjacent to the boardwalk.

Black-backed woodpecker

      I quickly snap off a few shots, but the bird is in no hurry to leave and I can photograph her at my leisure.  She continues to drum loudly on the dead tree and eventually we think we know why.  A male (her mate?) flies in overhead and past us, landing in a stand of conifers on the far side of the bog.  We're hoping that her tapping will bring the male back to the same tree to give us an opportunity to photograph him, but as luck would have it, it is she who flies off for the rendezvous.  The female does in fact return later, but the male was not seen again.  But, I have a new life-bird and even if the lighting is a bit overcast, the view is fairly close and clear.

Black-capped chickadee

     A chickadee flies into the tree right next to the location of the woodpecker, but I can easily see that this the "wrong" chickadee, a Black-capped.  I neither hear nor see the Boreal I was hoping for.  Lincoln's and Swamp sparrows are in abundance as are White-throats.  I grab a few shots of the Swamp sparrow and move back into the forest to see if the Nashville is still present.  He is and although he stays up high in the trees, the open forest at the edge of the bog affords me a clear view of the warbler.  Another "Year bird" for that list.
  

Nashville warbler

       The skies begin to clear and the warmth of the sun is most appreciated.  Unfortunately, I have a long drive back to our lodgings up closer to the Canadian border and must begin my trek back up to the parking area.  As I approach the lot,  a call of "Quick-three beers" resonates through the forest....a first-of-the-year Olive-sided flycatcher.  Even if there were no new birds for any list, this trip would have been more than worth-while.  The Adirondacks are a magical place and Ferd's Bog is truly the epitome of why we come to the mountains.

Ferd's Bog