Day 333: November 29th – Horned larks

Sunny, light breeze, and 42 degrees

       The Black Dirt region of Orange County in New York State is one of the finer areas to bird during the winter months.  The rich soil is farmed pretty much throughout the year, and when the land has recently been turned over to prepare for new plantings, the fresh furrows provide many birds with a feast of grubs, worms, and insects.

       The areas are a magnet for Northern harriers, Red-tailed hawks, Rough-legged hawks, and Short-eared owls as well as many smaller birds like Snow buntings, Horned larks, and Northern pipits.  When melting snow or rainfall creates pooling on the fields, we can expect to find migrating shore birds and waders as well.

       Our prime reason for visiting the Black Dirt area of Florida, NY today was the report from one of our members of a Northern shrike being seen on the site yesterday.  These birds are rare visitors to the southeastern part of New York and anytime you can find one and hopefully photograph it, it is well worth the effort to get out try.

       Well, regarding the shrike, we struck out today.  We carefully explored the very locations where the bird was seen yesterday, but he may have moved to a different part of the fields or may have simply moved out of the area intirely.  Then again, he may have been right under our noses without showing himself.  Whatever……

 

      What we did find was a large flock of Horned larks.  While not being a rare bird, they are quite localized and unless you are in the right place at the right time may not ever see one.  Today, the fields were active with the feeding birds.  Sharon and I first watched the birds from a distance through the scope and then returned to watch them from the warmth of our parked RAV.  The birds began to move across the road to another field and in doing so, passed right over us.  In fact, several landed in the gravel pull off where we were sitting and gave us good looks and good shots.

       No shrike, but opportunities to get nice close-ups of Horned larks don’t come along every day, so once again….we’re happy to take what we get. 

Day 332: November 28th – Distant ducks

Partly sunny, brisk breezes, 38 degrees

       Ducks are definitely one of the main players during this time of the birding year as many of the ducks from the Arctic and sub-Arctic have come down to the “warm” climes of Southeastern New York to spend the winter.  Indeed, some will continue their trek south down to truly warm temperatures, but for many, as long as the water stays free from ice, they will hang on here and conserve energy.

       With a recent report of some nice wintering waterfowl on nearby Crest View Lake in New Windsor, we make the drive north to check on what’s to be seen.  When we finally found the lake, it was in fact being used by a good number of ducks.  As is generally the case, even though I parked far away and walked cautiously up the edge of the lake, the birds spooked.  Those that had been in reasonable photo range were now all the way at the other side of Crest View, and although easily seen and identified at 40X through the spotting scope, the 12X delivered by my telephoto lens was really no match. 

       Still, there was one duck out there I really wanted to photograph.  Not a lifer, not even a year-bird, but a bird not commonly seen on the ponds around here.  It was a Red-necked grebe, a bird which breeds on inland lakes in Canada and Alaska and winters along the coasts of North America.  Well, Crescent View Lake is not exactly the coast, so this was a good find.  Still, at this distance, it would prove a challenge.

 

       With the use of the tripod, and a little help from Photoshop to sharpen the image up a bit, I was able to get a good enough photo to be able to confirm the identification as the Red-necked grebe.  My birding friend Jeff had the bird in close yesterday afternoon, but that was then and this in now.  So, as usual, we’ll take what we get and be happy with that.

Day 331: November 27th – Sandy’s aftermath

A wintry mix with calm winds and temps in the mid 30s

       Sharon and I decided to brave the elements and drive south about 15 miles to Stony Point and the Hudson River.  We have often had fine sightings of wintering ducks in the bays and tributaries along this stretch of the majestic Hudson.  We were shocked by what was about to meet our eyes.

       While we were in Australia this past October, Hurricane Sandy, later to be known as “Super Storm Sandy” walloped the northeastern U.S. with a force unseen in these parts for many years….if ever.  We had no idea how severe it was until we blundered onto the scene of its full force this afternoon.  We’d seen the news broadcast in Australia describing how it was the storm of a century, but we had not seen any real evidence of the destruction around here until today.  That being said, I’ll let the photos do the talking.

A home along River Road in Stony Point….. 

And another…….

And two others……

       Along this entire stretch of riverside roadway, it is estimated that all but three homes will have to be razed.

       Other evidence of the storm’s fury included this pleasure-craft which ended up on the embankment adjacent to the guardrail along River Road.

       This was one of the spots where we always stopped to check on the eagles across the river and the ducks in the bay.  A small red cottage where several fellows from the marina would generally sit and sip their afternoon cocktails was gone…totally gone.  This is where the building was...

        In short, I’ve never seen total devastation like this along the banks of the Hudson.  Is it a sign of things yet to come, or was this an anomaly not be repeated in our lifetimes?  Let’s hope it’s the latter, but it is possible that all these storms are the byproduct of the changes that our climate is experiencing. Only time will tell.

Day 330: November 26th – Pleasant surprises

Mostly sunny, low 40s and a bit breezy

      There are “hot spots” for birders and then there are “cool spots”.  Most of the time, as luck would have it, those “hot spots” seem to be miles away.  It often takes a day or even spending a weekend or more to get to those locations where you know you will get “good” birds….those you don’t see everyday.

       The cool spots are very often the locations that are near you and while they will produce birds, they are often the same ole same ole birds…..House sparrows, Robins, Blue jays, Grackles, Crows, and so on.  But lately, I’m beginning to realize that if you look hard and often enough, well, you just never know.

      There is a little lake not too far from home called Roe Pond.  I’ve always considered it one of my “cool spots” for local birding.  I know what I’m going to find….Mallards, Canada geese, and more Mallards.  This past summer, however, I was fishing at the pond with two of my grandsons.  In the short amount of time we spent catching crab bait, we spotted a Great blue heron flying over and perching in a nearby tree and then found a Spotted sandpiper working the shoreline near our location.  Not too shabby for an area I don’t consider worth any extra effort to bird, even if it is 5 minutes from home. (Check the blog entry for August 16th, 2012)

       Today, we were tied up doing some volunteer work for our community group and had very little time to spend looking for birds.  It was getting late in the day and Sharon suggested that we stop by Roe Pond just to see if there was anything of interest.  I reluctantly agreed and we drove over to the park.  At first, there was nothing but the default Mallards and Canada geese.  As I glanced around with the naked eye, however, I noticed a much smaller bird swimming in amongst the geese and mallards.   My first thought was “grebe”, but I hesitated to make the call because the bird was distant and I had never, no never, seen a grebe on these waters before.  Sharon says, “Never say never” and once again was right on.  With close inspection, it was in fact a little Pied-billed grebe.  I worked my way around the pond until I was closer to the bird and as the mallards came swimming over to see if I had any handouts to offer, the grebe came in with them to give me several nice photo-ops. 

       And so, I guess that I just better spend a little more time checking on the “non-productive” body of water to see just what I’ve been missing.  Hey, you never know!  There might be some more pleasant surprises at Roe Pond in the future.

Day 329: November 25th – Lake Tiorati

Overcast, windy and 34 degrees

       After being lulled into a sense that it would be a mild winter last week, Mother Nature reminded us this morning that the cold season is almost upon us.  With an elevation of just over 1000 feet, Lake Tiorati is always a few degrees colder than down in the Hudson Valley.  In addition to that, the winds today were whipping off the lake, making the wind chill down below the 30 degree mark.

       After having seen some really great winter ducks over in Westchester County yesterday, I decided to check on Tiorati, a site known for harboring good numbers of waterfowl in the dead of winter as long as there is open water.  It is also one of the best places to get good looks at the leading edge of Bald Eagles which migrate down to southeastern New York each winter. 

       Well, today I pretty much struck out on both counts.  I scoured the entire area of the lake, driving all the way around in search of avian life.  Eventually, I did find several mallards resting in a quiet cove out of the wind.  After blowing off the mallards as “trash ducks” in yesterday’s blog, I had to bite the bullet and include them in this installment as the only game in town.

      A short drive down Seven Lakes Drive, I checked out both Lake Askoti and Lake Skannatati.  Both were similary devoid of waterfowl save for a pair of Canada geese along the side of the latter lake.

         Reports from our bird club’s trip out to several Orange County lakes proved more productive, so Sharon and I will make that journey later this week and see if we can match their totals.   Until then, we’ll write today off as a nice drive through some real pretty landscapes and call it a day.

Day 328: November 24th – Titicus Reservoir

Mostly sunny, mid 40s and windy

       On our way back home after spending the night in Connecticut, we took a cut-off from I-84 down to I-684.  It’s no shortcut, in fact it adds about 10 minutes onto the drive back home, but it leads us past some nice countryside including one of the New York reservoirs.  Titicus Reservoir is one of the City’s 12 and is located in Westchester County in the Town of North Salem.  As we first approached the body of water, the wind had churned it up pretty well and white-caps covered the surface. 

       A bit further along the way, however, we came across an embayment which was chock full of waterfowl.  I pulled over and began a short trek through the woods to get to the shoreline for a decent shot.  The storms of the recent past had laid down a labyrinth of large diameter trees and root systems to make the normally easy walk back into the woods a bit more taxing.  Once I got there, however, I was treated to the sight of at least a hundred geese, ducks and swans.

       For the most part, it was Mute swans and Canada geese.

Mute swan, Canada goose and Ruddies on Titicus Reservoir

Buffleheads

       But in amongst the swans and geese I found Buffleheads, at least one Pied-billed grebe, and quite a few Ruddy ducks.  It’s great to see that the ducks from the north are finally here in good numbers.  More targets for our daily photographic forays out into the field !

Day 327: November 23rd – Between Hockey Games

Sunny, high 50s and calm

   

       We were on the road as usual today, but not birding.  At least that was not our primary objective.  We were grandparenting…being hockey grandparents to be exact.  Our son’s three children aged 13 and under all play and it so happened that they all played on this very day.  Fortunately, the games were scheduled throughout the day.  Unfortunately, they were not all scheduled at the exact same place.  And so, we covered quite a bit of Connecticut.  We did manage to squeeze in a bit of birding between games, however.  It’s an addiction, what can I say?

       After the youngest, Marley, played here game, we tried out one of the local parks where we had never birded before.  It is a beautiful little pond surrounded by deciduous forest.  I heard flickers, Red-bellies, Downeys, and more, but they were all distant.  The only bird that would offer itself as a subject was a mallard, and well, mallards have graced the pages of this blog on more than a few occasions, and I determined that this would not be another installment featuring that duck.

      

       The next game was an hour and a half northeast of our present location later in the afternoon.  So, off we went.  We found a few farm fields near the arena and managed to locate a flock of European starlings.  Should have stuck with the mallard, you say? Well, the starlings have recently molted into their white-tipped plumage and it really is quite attractive.  So, today’s photo will feature this newly adorned bird.

       

       The bird was seen under the glow of a waxing gibbous moon which made it all the more attractive (I’m still convincing myself and my audience).  It was also not far from a lovely little park which had lots of great scenery but precious few birds.  Nonetheless, it was quite photogenic and thus blog worthy. 

       With the next game on schedule in short time, we had to scurry over to the arena after which we traveled another hour and twenty minutes to get to the third and final game.  Long day, but guess what.  All three played very well and all three games came up in the W column.  Worth every minute and every ounce of gas!

Day 326: November 22nd – The Thanksgiving Feast

Sunny, mid 50s and calm

       An ideal Thanksgiving Day as the weather could not have been nicer.  I’m cooking dinner for all my family who will be here later this afternoon.  In the meantime, I figured I better provide a feast for my other family as well, the songbirds which call the area around my house “home”.  For the first time since last winter, I filled all the feeders with the delights of a Thanksgiving dinner fitting for all my feathered friends….sunflower seeds, mixed seed, Cardinal mix, nuts, fruits, and suet.  I had something for every bird’s taste. 

        This was all the invitation the birds needed.  Early this morning, the throng started to pour in.  Before I had enough light to photograph them, the juncos and the White-throated sparrows arrived.  The Tufted titmice were next and at first, they just didn’t want to share.  A chickadee looked on as if with disapproval at the attitude of the bird on the right.

       Fortunately, as the morning wore on, the titmice learned how to share and partook of the meal in a warm and friendly fashion.

       Also in attendance were two species of woodpeckers…the Red-bellied which preferred the mixed seed……

and the Downey who went to his usual choice, the peanut flavored suet.

       The Blue jay seemed to take a liking to the Cardinal mix I had put out and basically kept returning to this feeding station.  The jays often like to torment the other smaller birds, but this one busied himself with the nuts and seeds here and didn’t bother the others today.

       Of course the uninvited guest also showed up, but with me on the scene with my tripod and camera in hand, the rodents seemed to be a little reluctant to join in…a real rarity around these feeders as I’m sure you all aware.

       It was interesting to watch the White-breasted nuthatch come in to the platform feeder on a regular schedule.  I imagine that the posts holding up the roof of the feeder provided the perfect perch for his preferred feeding position…head down.

       I must mention that the regulars who think they own the exclusive rights to all the feeders are the House sparrows, and as usual, they let all their relatives know that there was a fine meal to be had at the Bakers’ home.

       Well, in closing, I hope that all of the readers of this blog will have as enjoyable and filling a Thanksgiving feast as did the avian dwellers at my home.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 325: November 21st – Riverside calm

A beautiful mild, calm and sunny day in the mid 50s

       It’s interesting to observe how birds react to different weather conditions.  In times of an impending storm, it is not unusual to find birds of all species frantically feeding as if storing up in anticipation of adverse conditions.

       On such a gorgeous day, I took a short trip down along the Hudson to see what was cooking with our feathered friends this day before Thanksgiving.  With mild weather today and more of the same tomorrow, the birds were quiet….very quiet. 

       Reading human emotions into the actions of birds, one group of House sparrows seemed as if they were gathering together and just enjoying the company of one another.  Sharon mentioned that it was if the evergreen was decorated for Christmas with the mass of sparrows that were adorning the boughs.

       Several of the birds seemed to be drawn to each other in spite of the space available on the tree.  An occasional chip note and a few sparrows bouncing from limb to limb was about all the action found on this riverside tree.

       Not far from the sparrow tree, a male Northern cardinal was perched and again looked to be “hanging out”.  No female was in sight nor were any other males of his species. 

       Mockingbirds were around in good numbers and they too remained fairly subdued.  One mocker resting on a snag on the riverbank was displaced by the noise and movement of an oncoming freight train.

       Perhaps they know that tomorrow is a feast day and that they will be provided for by Mother Nature as well as good hearted humans who will spread out a fine repast for them.  

Day 324: November 20th – End of the Watch

Partly sunny, mid 40s, calm

Ecclesiastes 3:1

To everything there is a season, and

a time to every purpose under heaven

       We spent last weekend enjoying the bounty of the season of migration.  Arctic migrants such as crossbills, redpolls, eiders, a variety of ducks, and more were assembled at Cape Ann in Massachusetts as they followed their food source south. 

Broad-winged hawk from earlier

       Likewise, for the past three months, we have enjoyed watching the hawks and eagles from the north move through southeastern New York on their way to points south following the gravy train.  Sadly, most of the migrating hawks have made their move and today when Sharon and I visited the “HawkWatch” site on top of Bear Mountain, we saw empty skies and empty spaces where our “watchers” used to assemble.

Empty skies over Bear Mountain this afternoon

       Peering across the Hudson at Anthony’s Nose, there were no folks on their watch either.  The migration has slowed to a crawl and accordingly, the “Watch” has ground to a halt.  It’s all part of the yearly cycles of life.  “To everything there is a season…” and we have watched and have involved ourselves with the yearly journey the splendid hawks and eagles make each year.  Like clockwork,  you can count on the Broadwing hawks to begin to trickle through the Hudson Valley and past Bear Mountain in early September.  They’ll peak sometime around the third week of that month and then the numbers passing each day will diminish.  The Sharp-shinned hawks will be soon to follow, and later in the month, the Cooper’s hawks will start moving through.  In October, it’s the Merlins, the Peregrines, and an occasional Red-shouldered hawk.  In November, it’s time for the Golden eagles.  There are never as many of these magnificent birds to be counted as the other groups, but seeing just several of these during the early part of the month makes hanging on worth while.

       Finally, the Rough-legged hawks will move into the valley in mid-November and into the winter months.  Many will find enough food here in the form of voles and mice to remain here for the winter months before returning to their breeding grounds in the sub-Arctic and Arctic regions of North America.

       So, while we’ll miss many of these beautiful raptors and buteos for the rest of this year, new winter visitors will be making their presence known just as they have up north in Massachusetts.  Indeed, there is a “time to every purpose under heaven.”

Day 323: November 19th – Morgan Farm

Sunny, cool, and calm

       Back in the day, as the say, when I was teaching High School Environmental Science classes, I used to spend a good deal of time hiking with my classes through property owned by the federal government.  It is known as Morgan Farm, named for the Morgan horses that were raised and trained there rather than for any notable human named Morgan.  The site of a wonderful vernal pool, a mixed deciduous forest, and several ponds, it made for an ideal outdoor laboratory/study site for my classes.

       I received an e-mail memo from a former colleague and great friend who still teaches that same course that he had recently seen a couple of River otters on the largest pond at that site and thought I might be interested in taking a walk through the area to see if I might also spot them.  So, with camera in hand, I returned to my old “classroom” in the hopes of snapping a couple of shots of this sleek mammal to share with the readers of my blog.

      When I parked the car, grabbed my camera and scope, and walked over to the largest pond, I trained the field of view on the site Mike had suggested he had seen them earlier.  As if on cue, there was the otter.  It swam lazily along and suddenly dove.  When it emerged back at the surface, I could only thinking of a breaching whale.  The entire head exploded out of the water as the otter reached the surface, almost as if he were gasping for air.  I don’t believe any self-respecting otter would allow itself to become so depleted of oxygen in a shallow lake that it would burst to the surface in search of its first breath, but it sure looked that way.  Do otters have a sense of humor?  Do they play?  They certainly seem to with one another, but this otter was alone and if this was play, it was simply for his own pleasure and enjoyment.

       All this being said, I hope I’ve conjured up a respectable image in your mind’s eye, for all I have to offer here is reminiscent of those old photos of the Loch Ness Monster or the Yeti. The shot of the otter above was actually taken back in April in Florida.  Today,  at a distance of several hundred meters, the images show (with some creative mental imagery on your part) the back and head of the otter just before and during his dive.  I’ll take this as a challenge, however, and return in an attempt to capture some images that are a bit more “blog-worthy”.

       In the meantime, I did manage some nice shots of one of our most cooperative subjects and one of our most photogenic, the Mallard.  A small group of mixed males and females was swimming in what we used to call the “Lily Pond” and lived up to that reputation.  This will have to do until I return for the definitive otter shot.  Enjoy.

Day 322: November 18th – Gloucester and Rockport

A picture perfect fall day in New England

       Cold?  Definitely!  But the 30 degree temps that we awoke to quickly rose up into the 40s and the lack of any stiff winds made it quite nice.  We met this morning at the famous Gloucester Fisherman’s Monument also known as “Man at the Wheel”.  The statue stands as a testament to the lives and deaths of the many Gloucester fishermen who have lost their lives pursuing their livelihoods as commercial fishermen.  We’ve come to bird these beautiful and bountiful waters, but it’s hard not to imagine what these brave men endured over the ages. 

       Our first bird of the day is the Common eider, the bird I most often think of as the emblematic species of the New England coastal waters in winter.  The handsome males, young males, males in eclipse phase, and females are all present, but their distinctive wedge-shaped head and bills make identification of these birds and easy task.

       After spending some time scanning the waters with our scopes and bins, we head north to Andrew’s Point in the hopes of Black guillemot and the most elusive of the winter birds, the Dovekie, a diminutive auk that breeds on the islands of the high arctic.  Generally, these birds are found far out at sea, but the recent storms have brought good numbers in towards shore in the recent days.  Are we too late, or are some stragglers still around?  We’ll soon find out.  What we do find is a good number of the handsome Harlequins which we saw here on Friday as well as more eiders.

       After some time and some good sightings of Surf scoters, we come to the realization that the Dovekies have probably moved out and will elude us once again.  We move back towards Gloucester fisheries pier and then out to Newburyport and the Massachusetts Audubon Eastern Point Wildlife Refuge.  These last stops of the morning proved very productive in sightings of more eiders,

       Buffleheads,

       Red-breasted mergansers,

       Greater scaup, and the ultimate prize of the day, the Black guillemot.

       A final stop at Niles Pond produced several new species for the trip including the Ring-necked ducks, American coots, and great looks at a duck earlier spotted, the Long-tailed du6ck.

       In summery, by the time we bid one another adieu, we had tallied 66 species including many which were “life-birds” for several members of the group.  Others were birds which many of us had seen only once or twice before and in many cases birds were recorded which we had not seen in many years.  The long drive north to visit this historic and beautiful part of our country proved to be well worth the effort and time invested in coming to Cape Anne in search of winter migrants.  A special warm thanks to our group leaders Al and Barb Merritt who have led this tour for over 30 years.  Their expertise and knowledge of the area were well displayed on this remarkable field trip.