May 29 - Rare visitor to Sterling Forest

Birders from the Orange County, NY's  "Mearns Bird Club" spread the word on Saturday that a rare bird was being seen at the Sterling Forest Visitor Center, which is located in Tuxedo Park, NY.   This spot is just over 30 minutes from my house in Northern NJ, so I decided to make a stop here on my way home from work. 
The avian visitors are a pair of Mississippi Kites, a species that can be seen annually in the second half of  May here in the north when their migration overshoots their typical breeding range of the Carolinas. Usually these sightings are in the southern part of New Jersey and last for just a few days.  So to have these birds appear this far north, and as a pair was quite unusual.

Photo/Video Credits: Bill Elrick of  NYNJ Birding Guide



 Here is a short video to help bring this experience to life for you !
 

April 7 - South Amboy waterfront

Out today with the regulars of Andy, Jen, and Bill.  Our destination was the waterfront in South Amboy for Gulls.  Here we scoured the hundreds of Bonaparte's Gulls in search of the reported Little Gull(s).  After high tide passed we finally had fine views of this uncommon Spring migrant.
It had been 5 years since I had seen this species, and my first that was in nearly-full adult plumage.

click to enlarge


Credit: Tommy Boyle

Other gulls seen were Rinug-Billed, Laughing, and of course the Herring and Greater-Blacked Backed.
Several brilliant plumaged Northern Gannets were fishing in the bay, along with a Great Cormorant, Double-Crested Cormorants, Brant, and Osprey.  On the shore were some Boat-Tailed Grackles and a few Killdeer.

Later I stopped on Clinton Road and located a Louisiana Waterthrush on breeding territory & spent a nice calm half-hour watching this bird.

March 7 - The Mega Rarity

I skipped out on work today and with Bill E. took the almost 4-hour drive up to western New York State's  Lewis County. Our target was the recently discovered rarity known as the Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch.
This montane bird is found in the west/southwest in states like Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The bird we were after is only the 2nd or 3rd-ever record for NY State !

click on the images to enlarge

For great images of the bird, see Corey Finger's shots.

And you can view the local television station's report

Afterwards we headed over to Ferd's Bog but did not come up with any of the boreal specialties of this area. We did see countless Pine Siskins, some Red-Breasted Nuthatches, Golden-Crowned Kinglets, Brown Creeprs, and Black-Capped Chickadees.

March 4 - Orange County birding

Out with Bill E. today to bird the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas.  Our first target was the Barnacle Goose, which is only the second ever time this bird has been seen in Orange County.  Bill found this bird immediately and we enjoyed watching it for a bit.

click to enlarge

We also birded at Oil City Road's viewing platform, and here finally we re-located the Northern Shrike that has been here for a month or more.

At nearby Indian Road, we had a dark morph Rough-Legged Hawk, a pair of Horned Larks, and a Kestrel.

March 3 - Meadowlands Owl

On this past Thursday evening of March 1, I went to Mahwah's Halifax Park after work to enjoy the American Woodcock courting display flights as they get ready to find mates & nest.

On Saturday the 3rd, I made a brief stop in the area of the Meadowlands Richard DeKorte Park for the Long-eared Owl that has been seen there over the past month or more.  After a brief search I was able to find the owl perched in a tree. It was nice to see this bird again, after having seen it in Texas last November.

February 26 - Rarities in Connecticut

I was out today with Andy & Jennifer as we ventured back to the Nutmeg State for some rarities.  First up was the Pink-Footed Goose.  Although we did not see the bird at the recent spots, we did come across in at nearby Greenpackers Pond and had nice views of the bird from across this small pond.

Afterwards we headed south toward te coast, first stopping at Konold's Pond.  Here we located the reported Trumpeter Swans, and had some other good birds in Ravens, Ring-Necked Ducks, Bald Eagles.

We continued to the coast stopping in Southport, where we quickly found the Eurasian Wigeon.  The journey continued with a very brief stop at Sherwood Isle Park for the reported Snow Goose, which too was found quickly.

Our last stop was at Stanmford's Cove Island Park (home of November's 2010 Fork-Tailed Flycatcher) and were able to locate the Dickcissel that had been seen there.

February 18-20 - Cape Ann/Gloucester

For President's Weekend my wife & I went up to northeastern Massachusetts for a visit to Cape Ann. This island is composed of the towns of Gloucester & Rockport.  Unfortunately the prevailing winds were from the West & North, which are the wrong directions to bring in seabirds close to shore.  Nevertheless there were good birds to be seen, and in greater numbers than I would see closer to home.

The rarest bird I saw has to be the Spotted Towhee that has been reported for some time now in Rockport.
Other good birds seen were a couple dozen Red-Necked Grebes, a pair of male King Eiders, a male Barrow's Goldeneye, several Black Guillemots & a handful of Iceland Gulls.

I also enjoyed seeing over 100 of the beautiful Harlequin Ducks, Common Eider of which there were too many to count, a few Razorbills, Purple Sandpipers, and some Great Cormorants.

Here's one Common Eider showing off his green neck patch

February 11 - Harris's Sparrow again

I went out to Cabela's in Hamburg, PA with my wife today and was able to squeeze in a quick side-trip to see the Harris's Sparrow again.  Once again luck was good, as we saw the bird within about 10 minutes of arriving.

February 4 - Sullivan & Ulster County specialties

White-winged Crossbills

Rough-Legged Hawks

Short-Eared Owls

January 29 - Montmouth County

Western Tanager