Well, Christmas holidays got the best of me, so it's been a while since my last posting. I'll try to catch up here with reports on a few trips which have been very productive. At the end of the year, we took a day trip up to the Adirondacks in search of a reported Northern Hawk owl. A life bird for both Sharon and me, we figured it was worth the 500 mile round trip to bag it....a bag it we did! We had set our GPS to the street where it was last seen, and as we finally approached our destination, there was the owl. Every so often, chasing pays off. We also "chased" a Red-headed woodpecker located at Stonykill Farm just north of Beacon, NY. This bird was only a half hour away, so the effort was much less, but nonetheless productive. After spotting the woodpecker, we travelled south and scoped Storm King Mountain from the eastern shore of the Hudson. We found what we were looking for there as well....a pair of beautiful Golden eagles. One great thing about this time of year....it's easy to pile up the list of "year-birds". Last but certainly not least were our Horned larks which were found about an hour away in Pine Bush, NY. All of these birds were reported to us via the RBA on the Internet and all produced positive results. This is certainly a great age in which to be birding with the web and digital imaging at our disposal. We are preparing to head out to Florida in a week or two and we'll keep you posted as to how we make out on our birding adventures there. I promise to make an effort to me a bit more timely in our reports.

Bosque del Apache

One of the highlights of our New Mexico birding adventure is to spend some time at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Reserve. The sight has large impoundments surrounded by desert and serves as an oasis for migrating and wintering birds. Among the largest numbers of visitors for the winter are included the Snow goose and the Greater and Lesser Sandhill cranes. These birds fly great distances to come to the relative warmth and safety of the Bosque and birders and nature photographers fly from even greater distances to view the assemblage. Our first exposure to the refuge was beyond our wildest expectations. Literally thousands of cranes and geese swam and waded through the shallow pools where they were afforded ample supplies of food as well as protection from many of their natural enemies. Their shear numbers and the fact that they were surrounded by water kept many of their predators at bay. One of these, the coyote, was seen by us on several occasions, but it was only away from the reserve in a dry desert canyon that we actually witnessed a kill by this carnivore. More about that in a later posting. For now, enjoy the photos of the cranes, the Snow goose along with the smaller Ross's goose and the lone coyote who hunted in vain while we watched.

Nine life-birds

It doesn't get much better than this. We expected to find some new life-birds on our trip to southcentral New Mexico, but 9 in one day? We travelled south about 1 1/2 hours from our motel in Socorro to the Perga Dam region. Our first stop was at Animas Creek Road, a small one lane road through scrub desert and an irrigated nursery. One life bird after another made an appearance starting with the cardinal-like Pyrrhuloxia and quickly followed by the "clownfaced" Acorn woodpecker. Say's phoebe, Brewer's sparrow, the White-winged dove (new for our North American list), Brewer's blackbird all made an appearance along this species-rich stretch of blacktop. Later at the Perga and Elephant butte dam areas, we added the Western and Clark's grebes and the Lesser goldfinch. Nine in one day! Definitely worth the time and effort to get to the "Land of Enchantment".

New Mexico - Day 2

Day 2 of our New Mexico birding trip finds us in the south-central part of the state at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Snow geese, Ross's geese, and Sandhill cranes arrive here in the thousands during late September and will winter here until they return north in early spring. The numbers of geese and cranes are almost too much to comprehend as the sights and sounds of their movements throughout the refuge are a constant stimulation to our senses. We spent the morning learning about some of the behaviors of the cranes which made the morning's observations all the more impressive. Bowing, crouching, and tail wagging are all warnings to other cranes not to invade another's space. If the warning goes unheeded, then the intruder is chased off with kicks and bites from the parent cranes. Birds are not the only inhabitant of the refuge as we quickly found out. A lone coyote, apparently indifferent to our presence, trotted up and over an imbankment and passed withing 25 yards of our birding troupe. Obviously, he had something more important than us on his mind. The evening hours were no less spectacular as we watched hundreds of cranes fly into the relative safety of a shallow pond near the refuge entrance. Tomorrow, we'll head further south for new habitat and new species .

We're off on a great birding trip to south-central New Mexico. Our guides are the experienced and well respected Don Freiday and Pete Bacinski from New Jersey Audubon. Sharon and I are hoping to amass a good number of life-birds on this trip as it is our first venture into New Mexico. Day 1 found us beginning outside Albuquerque at Tres Pistoles Canyon. Almost immediately, we began checking off new species. Curve-billed thrashers, Western bluebirds, and a Townsend's solitaire were all in great view. From here, we ventured up into the Sandia Mountains and Sandia Crest, an elevation of over 10,000 feet. Our target birds were the Rosy-finches, but a crowd on the decks near the feeders spoiled our chances at these birds. A nearby flyover of a Sharp-shinned hawk and nice close views of two more life-birds, the Mountain chickadee and the Steller's Jay, were more than ample compensation for the missed finches. We plan to return to the mountain later in the trip and perhaps our luck will be able to photographed the finches at that time. We ended the day with a trip to the Rio Grande Nature Center and had great views of wood ducks, ruddies, common and hooded mergs, and more. After a successful day like this, what more could we ask for? Now it's off to Socorro and an early visit to Basque del Apache tomorrow.

Back to the Bent

I have posted reports from one of our favorite birding locales, Bent of the River in South Britain, CT, several times before. The great thing about the Bent is that there is something new every time we go. A number of feeders right outside the observation deck at the Audubon Center affords us the opportunity to get nice and close to our subjects, and as they busy themselves taking advantage of the smorgasbord provided by the kind people at Audubon, they pay us little mind. Hence, photographs rank on the readily available end of the scale. Today's treat was several Fox sparrows foraging on the ground below one of the nearby feeders. These rufous beauties were a bit difficult to get off a clear shot of at first as they were concentrating their efforts below some thick brush. Patience paid off as it usually does, however, and one of the birds moved up into the open and gave us nice looks and nice shots. Special thanks to Audubon educator Jim Drennan who helped us identify the bird and stayed on to offer more advice for quite a while. Just one more reason to make this one of our premier "photo-op stops."

The North country

We're finishing our 2 week tour of northern New York, affectionately known to we New Yorkers as the "North country". The Adirondacks experience a climate in which the onset of winter generally occurs around Thanksgiving and lasts through April. This year, we got a head start with 10 inches of snow falling over the Lake Placid area on October 29th! While inconvenient as far as travel goes, we were already at our destination in Higley Flow on the Raquette River, and the new fallen snow made for a photographers paradise. The day after the heaviest snowfall, we were blessed with crystal clear deep azure skies and brilliant sun. The perfect winter wonderland day and it was not yet Halloween! Birds which had been scarce at the feeders were suddenly more than anxious to convene for an easy meal. The landscape made for photo ops which you just couldn't fail with. By the end of the week, warmer temperatures had all but erased this spectacular canvas. But the images are recorded by the digital camera for posterity and for me to share with you.

South Carolina

It's our last day in South Carolina and we are busy packing for the trip back to NY. We had another great day of birding south of our location. Our main destination was Pawley's Island and although we were told by the local owner of an Audubon shop there that there was really no good birding on the island, we found otherwise. A pod of dolphin had driven a school of mullet into a shallow cove just west of the north causeway and we were treated to a group of 6 ospreys and a Belted kingfisher working the surface of those waters. Hopefully the dolphins fared better than the ospreys, because after repeated dives by the fish-hawks, the apparent take of fish was less than dismal. The show was certainly worth the time and effort to get to the island, however, and we enjoyed witnessing the birds' athletic agility. Plenty of great egrets, snowies, tricolors, and a fine green heron were all visible with no need for the scope. Tomorrow, its back on the road with stops planned for the East Shore of Virginia NWR, Cape May, and Brigantine. Good birding to all.

South Carolina

We've been in South Carolina for a week now and have discovered some wonderful new birding sites. The first we explored, Huntington Beach State Park, is located in Murrell's Inlet, about 30 miles south of North Myrtle Beach. The tide was heading out and we patiently awaited low tide and for the exposure of the mud flats. As the flats emerged from beneath the bay's waters, they came alive with the sounds of Clapper (see image above) and Virginia rails. Shore birds such as Willets and Yellowlegs came in to sample the buffet as close to a hundred Wood storks watched from the surrounding trees. Back at the Visitors' Center, the feeder was playing host to several pairs of Painted buntings (right above), a "year bird" for us. Later, we travelled across Route 17 to the beautiful Brookgreen Gardens. A close encounter with a Red-shouldered hawk, Brown thrashers, Yellow warblers, Pine and Palm warblers among others made our day complete. We'll head back down this week, so "stay tuned" for more new birds from the southlands.

Fall is near

A morning at the Coastal Connecticut Audubon Center in Milford, CT proved that high numbers are not always the premier requisite for a good day of birding. The old saying of "quality, not quantity" was what today was all about. We had nice close looks at the local "peeps" - Least and semipalmated sandpipers, sanderlings, and Ruddy turnstones. Further out, but in nice viewing distance for the binoculars, were 4 American oystercatchers. Just being on the cobbled beach was worth the effort this morning as fall was in the air. You could feel and smell the coming changes as these birds were making their way to warmer climes for the winter. Back at the Center, a juvenile Yellow-crowned nightheron and an Eastern willet kept us entertained as we watched the two hunters work the flats. Ospreys flew overhead and an elusive clapper rail made an all-too-brief appearance. We rounded the day off with a trip to the Greenwich Audubon Center and a stopover at the Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch. A few Sharp-shinned hawks, a red-tail and a few migrating osprey sightings made for the perfect end to a fine day in the field.

After Hannah

The day after Tropical storm Hannah passed through, we traveled south to Jamaica Bay NWR in search of any birds which may have been carried north by the storm. By the time we arrived, however, the storm had long since left and the winds were zephyrs at best. The north end of the east pond was flooded from the heavy rains and with no mudflats exposed was not suitable for the waders. The south end, while a bit muddy, was much better and produced my life red-necked phalarope. At first, the bird was quite distant, but our group inched forward and the bird actually swam closer to us as we approached. Plenty of peeps, a nice shot of a Pectoral sandpiper, a bald eagle and a peregrine rounded out the day's production. Any time there is a life-bird involved, the trip has been worth the effort.

A Westchester gem

Every so often, a new site for birding comes to our attention. This week, we are visiting family in Eastchester. I got on the web and found a site nearby called the Marshlands Conservancy. Of all the locations in Westchester, this is truly a gem. The reserve has plenty of habitat to explore.....Forest, meadow, marshland and beaches are all present and all present their own assemblage of species. As we entered the forest, we immediately bumped into (almost literally) a fawn which was vocalizing a call I've never heard before in all my years in the woods. The young deer was calling to its mother for a feeding, according to the local naturalist. We later saw an adult (the mother?) skulking though the trees. Shortly afterwords, we heard a rustling high in the canopy and looked up to see a young racoon keeping watch over us. A small stream further along the trail was providing a number of goldfinches with bathing opportunities, and a molting Common yellowthroat was joining in. Even though we were here on one of the hottest days in summer and at the peak of the day, the birds were all around us....downies, flickers, Carolina wrens, robins, jays, cardinals, and on and on. We plan to return shortly to take advantage of the meadows and the marshes. This is a site which we will add to our favorites without question....a Westchester gem.

The Meadowlands

Sharon and I ventured southwards to New Jersey and the Meadowlands today. What an unexpected but delightful surprise! We had heard of the great habitat, but we were a bit wary of a "natural" environment that close to New York City. And yet, with the city skyline in the background, here was a wonderful place for shorebirds, migratory songbirds, raptors, gulls, terns, and on and on. The day we chose to first bird this oasis, the temperatures were in the low 90's and by the time we arrived it was close to mid-day. In spite of these adverse conditions, we found what we new would become a "regular" on our places to visit. I've long been trying to get a good close-up shot of a marsh wren, but they will constantly tease you.....calling and chortling within 10 feet of you , but remaining hidden in the reeds. Finally, while working out of one of the several photo blinds provided along the boardwalk, one of the wrens flitted to the top of the reeds and began to call. What an opportunity. Along with a number of peeps (mostly Least sandpipers) we had plenty of waterfowl. We know that as Fall approaches, the numbers of migrants will increase drastically, so we plan on revisiting the site in the not-so-distant future.