Focusing on one of the goals of the Great Backyard Bird Count weekend my brother and I planned to take my daughter and his nephew (7 and 13, respectively) out to see the Short-eared Owl show at the Shawangunk Grasslands. We figured we'd swing by Blue Chip Farms in the hopes the Gyrfalcon was on hand. Driving along Hoagerburgh Rd. and seeing a red carpet worthy line of lenses pointing into a field was a good sign and the Gyrfalcon was quickly located. It preened and stretched for 20-30 minutes before relocating to the spruce along Old Fort Rd. It was great to be able to see it fly. What a bird. The dissemination of information of this bird has been on point and wonderful and thank you to the community at large and also to the friends who kept me posted while we were en route. A quick conversation with John Askildsen and Sandra Paci on site tipped us off to a Golden Eagle that was seen heading towards the grasslands shortly before we arrived.
We moved to the grasslands and before long had located 2 light morph and 1 dark morph Rough-legged Hawks as well as 2 Short-eared Owls which briefly coursed over the grasslands before disappearing towards Blue Chip. All the while I kept looking back towards the ridge line. After seeing a few Black Vultures I picked up a Golden Eagle flying WSW towards the ridge. After noticing this very large raptor gliding with wings in a dihedral I spent the first moments trying to turn it into a Turkey Vulture, but as soon as it banked and circled there was no mistaking it was an eagle. The tiny head projecting past the leading edge of the wings and the light band at the base of the tail were all points that worked towards the ID. The fire drill started as I handed off the scope to my brother and started running down the line of cars trying to get people on the bird. Things quieted down until eventually another Short-eared Owl flew in and perched roughly 100 yards from the parking lot. The kids were able to get great scope views and both were excited about it's "super-cool mask!" Discretion was the better part of valor at that point and we retreated to the warmth of the car and eventually, the city. All in all a rewarding day. To watch a kid look through a scope at a Gyrfalcon and say, "It's looking at me!!!" is pretty cool. When it's your own kid it's just awesome. Good birding, Sean Sime Brooklyn, 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/ --
