Hi All,
The following is an excerpt from an e-mail to another birder who inquired
about locations for gull viewing from Newburgh, Orange County. I thought
others may find the info of use.
Numbers
of Gulls are certainly determined by the amount of ice. When there is
no ice, there are only a few hundred gulls within viewing range of
Newburgh (Orange County) or Beacon (Dutchess County). It is best when there is
a substantial amount of
ice on the river. Yesterday it
was about 70% covered with flowing ice. Much like the Eagles, the
Gulls ride the flows downriver then fly back up when they reach the
Cornwall area. As a note, Weather temp, is not a good indicator of flow
ice on the river. There are sometimes warmer days
that have more ice than cold ones, possibly due to ice melt from areas
above. Historically, it is best after 3PM, as the gulls spend most of
the day at the dumps at the prison along 84 in Dutchess County, where
the gulls are well hidden. The river viewing
areas are from Front Street in Newburgh, in the area of Torches
Restaurant then moving South along Front Street. The second area is at
the bottom of Renwick Street, which is South of Front Street by maybe a
half mile or so. At Renwick Street, cross the train
tracks then turn right to where the sign points toward "Newburgh Crew
Team" or something close to that. You will be about 100 feet south of
the City of Newburgh Sewage Treatment Plant. There are picnic tables
there that you can sit on under a pavillion that
allows for hours of comfortable scanning. If the flow is such that all
the ice is on the east side of the river, then crossing the bridge and
trying the Beacon waterfront at the Beacon Train Station, can be better.
Beacons ice does melt last
and when all ice is gone from the river, the
small bays in Beacon can be very productive, as they often still contain
some ice. I provided a link to a good map which shows the Newburgh
Waterfront well. In the event that the link is too long, I simply
Googled "Map of City of Newburgh. Hope this helps.
Good Birding ,
Curt McDermott
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=map+of+city+of+Newburgh+NY&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89dd2bf1836bd927:0xf745d68dec3c106e,Newburgh,+NY&gl=us&sa=X&ei=M_4cUb3wC8m20QH64YCYAg&ved=0CDAQ8gEwAA
6:53 AM
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