[nysbirds-l] Liberty Loop Trail, Wallkill River NWR confirmed breeders including cranes in NJ
Hi all, Spent from 5pm to 9:30pm looking for rails and trying to see what the cranes were up to. No luck on the Soras or Kings (if they are still breeding here), but did have a Virginia briefly call during the day. I wonder if the rails there start calling at 10pm like they do in CT? I wonder because I certainly didn't hear them before I left. The cranes do seem to be on a nest since I saw the female acting as though she was on one but it was hard to see the nest behind the plants. She was acting like she was turning eggs and then she sat down. The male was by himself about 300-400ft away. I guess that would be confirmed breeding then. I observed the male for most of the afternoon and evening and he never ventured near the nest site nor did the female come off the nest site. Interesting. Also seen as confirmed even though just south in NJ were two families of Mallards, two Canada Geese families, two Pied-billed Grebe families and two Wood Duck families. Many pairs of Common Gallinules were also seen as well as a Least Bittern. After dark I had a Big Brown Bat and Hoary Bat (a new species for me). Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist 20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4780 www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Liberty Loop Trail, Wallkill River NWR
I spent the day today at Wallkill River NWR and started early at the Liberty Loop Trail. I hadn't been there at this time of year in a long time, probably not since I was doing inventories there in the early 2000's. I was pleased to see how many cool birds were now breeding there that I didn't find in the early 2000's. I had several Least Bitterns, at least 3 families of Pied-billed Grebes, several American Coots including one family, and at least three pairs of Common Gallinules including one family with 7 or 8 chicks. Also some regular breeders with families: two or three Wood Duck females with their many ducklings and a Mute Swan pair with five cygnets. There were also several Green Herons in the area which I assume were nesting too. Very cool to see these rare and not so rare breeders with families at the refuge. They really have done a wonderful job there. I just hope the grassland birds that were nesting at LLT moved to other grasslands in the refuge since it's mostly wetland now. Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist 20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4629 www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
