At 8:45 this morning, I arrived at the house with the Western Tanager in Athens, Greene County. There I met Anthony Collerton and the two of us were invited inside to view the bird from the home owners dining room. The bird fed on the feeder near constantly the entire time I was there.
The home owners were spectacular and very gracious, however keep in mind that they do live in a "gated community", there is very little parking and not all of their neighbors may be as welcoming. Again the homeowners (Peter and Hope) asked that visitors please call before coming (518-844-8011). The feeders the bird is frequenting is not visible from the street. As the bird was feeding frequently photos were not hard to obtain, I've posted one photo here: http://flic.kr/p/dxynPE After I left, I hit Vosburgh's/4 Mile Point which was dead quiet (save for Deer Hunters), the Coxsackie Boat Launch, which had nothing but a few Ring-billed Gulls. The Coast Guard was doing something on the river, likely keeping things quiet. I next hit the Greene County IDA Grasslands by the Serta Factory off 9w. It too was very quiet, with American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-tailed Hawk and a Hairy Woodpecker. Just as I was leaving a group of COMMON REDPOLLS landed in the weeds right near the cul-du-sac, and I could hear many more going over head. About a dozen or so birds foraged very close to me, with one bird in particular getting to about 2 feet from me for some more photos. http://flic.kr/p/dxynSy http://flic.kr/p/dxyo1C >From there I did a sweep of the local water areas, the Coxsackie Reservoir >held the most variety with about 500 Canada Geese, 200 Ruddy Ducks, 75 Common >Mergansers, 12 Hooded Mergansers, 4 American Black Ducks and a few Mallards. Stanton Pond in Albany County was 90% frozen, but still held a handful of Canada Geese, American Black Duck, Gadwall and American Wigeon. The fields going into the Holt Preserve in Coeymans held about 500 American Crows and 40 Wild Turkey. >From there I still had more time, until it was time to pick up my wife... so I >rode around the back roads of New Baltimore, Greene County not finding more >than about 1 billion Dark-eyed Juncos (conservative estimate). However, I did find this nice adult Red-shouldered Hawk, a difficult bird to find in Region 8 and even more so in late fall/winter. http://flic.kr/p/dxynWJ For those visiting the Western Tanager, please post your sightings positive or negative - Thank you! Good Birding! Will Raup Albany, 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/ --
