Ryan makes a good point about the owners. I asked permission to bird
the farm. They were very nice about it. I don't know if that applies
to an army of birders. I asked at the nursery that is located on
Pitcher La., that runs parallel to Rockefeller La .just north of the
fields.
Peter Schoenberger
On Oct 11, 2011, at 2:27 AM, Ryan MacLean wrote:
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
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