Day 140: May 19th – Break-a-Hundred

Sunny, mild and calm winds….in a word, “Perfect”

Daybreak at the Bashakill

        Once a year the Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club hosts a competition between teams comprised of groups of 2 – 6 members in which each team attempts to find and identify at least 100 species of birds in a 24 hours period. 

       We began our 24 hours out in the town of Warwick at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge on Oil City Road.  Our team consisted of 4 members as well as a visiting “guest” from Cape May who used to be an Orange County resident and still knows the birding hotspots of the county well.  Promptly at 4:00 PM, we began our list with a fine specimen of a Solitary sandpiper.  While generally not the most common bird in Orange County, today they were here in good numbers and it did not take a great deal of effort on our part to check this one off.

       After adding a few more shore birds to our list and checking the grasslands across the street for more species such as sparrows and hawks, we moved over to the Right side of the preserve and walked along the western edge of the main impoundment.  From here, we were able to add a considerable number of new species to our growing total.  Among these were the Northern waterthrush, Spotted sandpiper, Yellow warbler, Warbling vireo, Least sandpipers, and the russet colored Orchard oriole.

Orchard oriole

       We finished the day with other fields, marshes and wooded areas, adding such species as the Virginia rail, Marsh wren, and Wood ducks.  Finally, we wound up or first day with a stop along Mine Road after dark.  This location is always (yes, always!) reliable for two otherwise hard-to-get species.....the Whip-poor-will and the Woodcock.  The climax of the day was adding the Eastern screech owl to the list before taking a few hours off for R and R.

       The next day we were out on site by 4:00 AM and watch the sun rise over the Bashakill swamp (see photo above).  We listened for our target species and scored with the American bittern.  It was difficult to hear anything over the cacophony of the Bullfrogs' chorus which pretty much drowned out any other sounds of the night.  It would be quiet for a short period of time and then one frog would begin his bellowing call...."jug arum, jug arum, jug arum...." soon to be joined by hundreds of other bullfrogs.  Once the sun began to peek over the horizon, the frogs began to quiet down and it became easier to hear the faint delicate calls of the warblers.  We spent a couple of hours at the "Bash" as it is affectionately known before heading west out towards the border of Orange and Sullivan counties.  In an area near the Rio Reservoir, we bird a narrow roadway which winds along the edge of a rather steep precipice.  Here we found Ravens, the melodious Winter wren, Juncos (so common in winter, but not so much in spring), and a few more warblers.  

       Coming back east, we stopped at Port Orange Road where we were able to score with the Acadian flycatcher, Prairie, and Chestnut-sided warblers.

Prairie warbler, Port Orange Road

Chestnut-sided warbler, Port Orange Road

       After several more hours of scouring the Orange County countryside, the magic hour of 4:00 PM was approaching.  We returned to Mine Road where last night we had the Orange County rarity Kentucky warbler, Veery and several more warblers.  We added this little House were which looked as if it were also ready to call it a day.

        By day's end, we had tallied a total of 116 different species in our travels of the County.  Later, at the "countdown dinner" we were to find that only one team had surpassed out totals.  The results were overall slightly lower than those recorded last year, but all in all, it was a great day with great friends and great places to visit.  Oh yeah......Great birds as well!  I think I'll sleep well tonight!