Sharon and I are off and running once again as we start to compile the 2011 Year List. We won't be here for much of the winter, so we figured we'd better get out and get some of our visitors from the north while they and we were still around. A listing from the NY List-serve noted that there were several flocks of Common redpolls in the Sullivan County area, and so, we hopped into the RAV4 and set out sights on these handsome winter finches. We've been very fortunate lately in scoring on the "chases" we've set out on. And today was no different. As if we had set up an appointment with the Redpolls, they were exactly as had been described in the posting. It was another case of the GPS saying, "Arriving at your destination" and us looking up at the hoped for birds. The flock we encountered numbered around 30 birds and they flew to the trees most closely situated along the roadside. Without getting out of the car, we were able to get fine looks and nice photos. I even had the chance to try out the new video recording feature on the Nikon D300s that Santa brought me on Christmas day!
Having been so successful so soon on our trip out to Neversink, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather of the day and head south to Mongaup and the Rio Reservoir to see if we could add Bald eagles to the year list. Again, without much effort we rang up 9 fine specimens in a short amount of time. Indeed, we spent much more time riding out to the sites than we did actually birding today, but it was a great day and a perfect day to be out in the field. We can only hope that the rest of this year will be so productive.
Bald eagle - Rio Reservoir
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