June 16th
– 29th
It’s been a typical June for
us as we have been traveling to and fro from one graduation party to another
and then down to our grandson’s baseball tourney in Virginia. In spite of the hurried atmosphere and
the tight schedule, we still manage to get a few looks at the local scenery and
wildlife.
The gulls were constantly
jockeying for position and for “prime real estate” as they flew in to the
crowds with jaws agape and pharynxes ablaze. Even if there was plenty of open space nearby, it seemed
that the small amount of territory occupied by only a few gulls was the place
most desired by those just joining the scene.
The most surprising
sight to me later in the day was the appearance of a well bedecked BC
Night-heron. I most often find
these birds tucked away in the mangroves of Florida or the overhanging boughs
in areas like Brigantine NWR, and so when I saw this lone bird standing on the
shore of the Long Island Sound, I really thought I had something. When I checked e-bird to see if anyone
else had reported this gem, I found that the area is considered a “Hot spot” for
these herons. Truth of the matter
is, that one birder reported 46 of the Black-crowns in the same area only days
earlier. When you don’t bird and
area very often, everything is new and exciting, so I’ll lick my wounds and be
happy with the sighting and the photos.
Later in the week, Sharon and
I took a trip north to see if we could add the elusive Grasshopper sparrow and
the Upland sandpiper to the “Year-list”.
Our best venue for both these birds seemed to be the Shawangunk
Grasslands NWR in the northernmost parts of our county. Pulling into the preserve at the
hottest time of day was not what I had originally planned, but that’s how it
worked out, so that’s what we did.
From the parking area in the middle of the old airfield, we saw little and
figured it was going to be one of those really sparse days resulting from
mid-day highs of almost 90 degrees.
Nonetheless, I started out walking through the grasslands and almost
immediately heard the insect-like song of the Grasshopper sparrow. There were at least two (later to
become 5) which were close to the trail and without a great deal of effort, I
was able to grab a couple of shots as they flew among the grasses.
These birds were later joined
by quite a few Bobolinks which were even more out in the open, but kept their
distance out in the field and offered little more than “documentation quality”
shots. Killdeer were also on site
and showed evidence of breeding as did the Bobos. To be honest, it was quite a show for such a “wrong” time of
day.
 |
| Bobolink with nesting material |
Our final venture proved to be
almost devoid of birds other than the “common” ones like song sparrows, Tufted
titmice, a ton of Robins, and the not-so-common Eastern wood pewees. The opportunity to hike around this new
venue for us, the Alum Springs Park in Fredericksburg, Virginia, made up for
the dearth of birds, however, and in spite of the short time we had to visit,
we now know that it is a place we must come back to in the future (perhaps on
our way back from Florida).
At the end of this upcoming
week, we will begin an eight day adventure birding the North Dakota region with
a group of 8 birders from the New Jersey Audubon Society. Covering prime birding locales in ND,
Wyoming and South Dakota should provide us with some pretty rich material for
the upcoming blogs. So please
visit us again during the next two weeks!
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