given the snowy weather, i decided to take the day off from work. i felt some birding was in order, so i went up through n.dutchess county, to the towns of ancram and copake in columbia county,ny.
the results are as follows:
first, in my town of millbrook, dutchess county, i found two eagles 'cavorting', likely both balds, but only one could be identified to species-adult bald. the other broke off and headed out of sight before i could raise my glasses.
as i headed throught the town of north east, aka 'millerton', dutchess county, i happened on a flock of about 120 horned larks, which also had 3-4 snow buntings and 2 lapland longspurs in attendance as well. these birds were in a feed lot on an angus farm in the back country.
i then headed north into columbia county, focusing on the open farm lands of the towns of ancram and copake, which abut the 3,000 plus foot taconc range to the east, straddling the ny/mass border in the harlem valley/rte 22.
the countryside there is really wonderful-vast open farm fields for hay, corn and grazing, as far as the eye can see, until one's gaze hits the imposing taconic mtn range. it was here on columbia county rte 8, just south of the village of ancramdale, that i found the first golden eagle of the day. it was an immature, headed SW.
after working a lot of farms for birds and turning up little for my efforts (hey with two feet of snow on the ground and -12 night time temps-what else do you want ?), i headed back south towards Dutchess County. I took Rte 82 south into Dutchess (town of pine plains) where i found an open creek which hosted a relatively large group of waterfowl, of course primarily mallards and canada geese, plus 5 female c. mergs, 4 black duck and 4 drake pintail !
since my luck was running high, i decided to 'shoot for the moon' and go to stissing mtn, pine plains, on the way home in search of the golden eagles, which i haven't seen in several years, despite searching numerous times each winter. well, what do you know, i scanned down the ridge, through the whipping wind and snow squalls-two golden eagles ! ravens 'croaked' overhead too. that's it...
all the best,
JPA
John Askildsen
Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York
