Today (Monday) I birded Greig Farm in Red Hook, Dutchess cty along with roughly 20 other birders in search of the previously reported Red Phalarope and probable Le Conte's Sparrow seen on Sunday. When I got there around 10 am neither of the birds had been located but a LAPLAND LONGSPUR had just been seen by John Askildsen and about ten other birders. A couple minutes later I saw the bird take off from one of the cultivated fields and vocalize several times. The fields were drenched with sparrows including numerous VESPER, GRASSHOPPER, WHITE-CROWNED and FIELD, countless Savannahs and Songs and 3 HORNED LARKS. After a thorough search of the stands of celery where the supposed Le Contes was seen on Sunday that didn't turn up the bird, we got word that the RED PHALAROPE was just seen flying across Rockefeller Lane vocalizing. Upon checking the flooded field area the bird had been seen in I eventually found the Phalarope feeding in the extensive puddles. While I wouldn't call the bird very approachable, it stayed at pretty close range and several birders managed to get many pictures. A WILSON'S SNIPE briefly flew into the same area before taking off and ducking down into a further field. After watching the Phalarope for about an hour, me and Maha Katnani decided to search the celery field one more time. On our way there we stopped briefly by a small open pond surrounded by cattails to look at a couple GREEN HERONS. But we were soon distracted by a small, buffy sparrow that popped up in the tall grass. Once it came back out, it revealed itself to be a NELSON'S SPARROW. Maha managed to get several blurry but definitive pics of the bird who perched up for us numerous times. Surprisingly this is the second Nelsons I've seen in Dutchess Cty, the first being at Southlands Horse Farm in Rhinebeck in Oct 2009. We did end up searching the celery stands which didn't yield anything new.
The location where most of these birds are being seen is accessible off of Rockefeller Lane in Red Hook NY. If you head North through the town of Red Hook on Route 9, make a left onto Rockefeller Lane. Pull off at the first major farm field on your right and walk into the fields. When you get to an intersecting dirt road in the middle of the field, look for a flooded area when the road goes on a downward slope. On one side there's a small pond that's fenced off and on the other side there's numerous flooded fields with a large white plastic pipe dividing the road from the fields. These fields are where we had the Phalarope. If you follow this road to the far right side of the farm fields, you'll get to the small pond area where the Nelsons was. The celery stands where the possible Le Contes was seen is to the right of this pond on the farthest right edge of the field. So far I don't think anyone has had any issues with people working out in the fields, but if any of you bird the area please still be cautious incase the owners of the farm are taken back by all these people with binoculars trudging through their crops. This area is definitely proving itself to be a major hotspot and I wouldn't be surprised if anything else unusual shows up in the coming weeks. If any of you want pictures of the Nelson's Sparrow (or the Phalarope) email Maha Katnani at: [email protected] Good luck to anyone who goes, Ryan MacLean Tivoli NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
