[nysbirds-l] Sullivan County -Great Birding
I have been touting South-southwest storms for years, and they didn't disappoint today. I got out very early and hit all the water spots first, knowing if the rain stopped things might pull out. Great birds were in many locations. I birded Kiamesha Lake, Morningside Park, Neversink Reservoir and Swan Lake. Later I finished up with warblers at the Bashakill. Each had its own nice assortment of birds. I called a few of my birding friends and they got out in spite of the weather and we all made out very well. Here is a list of the highlights by location. Kiamesha Lake: Red-necked Grebe Mourningside Park: BLACK TERN (1), Gadwall, Double-crested Cormorants Neversink Reservoir: Ring-billed Gulls (75-80), BONAPARTE'S GULL (7), BLACK TERN (1), Double-crested Cormorants, Bufflehead Swan Lake: Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Pied-billed Grebe, BONAPARTE'S GULL (1) Bashakill: BLACK TERN (1), 16 species of warbler highlighted by TENNESSEE, Nashville, CERULEAN and WORMEATING (the later two seen by Scott Baldinger) this brings to 23 the number of species of warblers seen in the last few days. Once I warm up and it hopefully stops raining, I'm heading back out. John Haas -- 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/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Sullivan County - Great Birding!
Having just returned from a three week trip to Arizona last evening, I couldn't wait to get out this morning to see some of the great stuff my friends have been getting the last five days or so. This morning was not what I was hoping for since I awoke to thunder and lighting and torrential rains. Finally it let up a little and I went out around 9:30 am. Yankee Lake still had lots of waterfowl, including Loons, Cormorants,Grebes, Ducks and Gulls. A few warblers were around as well. When I got to the Bashakill, the skies had opened again. It didn't stop the birds though. I added bird after bird and was trying to get a look at one of many Common Moorhens at 10:15 am when I spotted a brown bird in the marsh grass. It was hunkered down and looked small. I got my scope and quickly realized it was a heron. A brown heron? At the time it was difficult to see and it just didn't quite add up. It was looking directly away from me, but I finally got a good look at the face. It had an extremely long bill that was darkish, but yellow below and near the base. I was pretty sure I knew the ID and got Karen Mattern on the bird. I explained what I thought it was, but I needed a better look. Finally the rain stopped and the Heron stood up. A beautiful TRI-COLORED HERON!! The second record ever for Sullivan County. Arelene Borko then arrived to see the bird and I made many phone calls. The bird was showing well now and we waited for others to arrive. Scott Baldinger arrived next and also had great looks at the bird, we could even see the white plumes on the back of the head. Several others arrived at 12:15. As I greeted them, Scott yelled it was taking off. It flew directly away from us and the flight looks were not good. Curt McDermott followed it closely with a scope. It flew to the far end of the Bashakill and disappeared behind the island. Extensive searching failed to find it again. Many Warblers, Orioles, Vireos, Kingbirds etc were seen during the search. What a great day for early migration. John Haas -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Sullivan County Great Birding
Sullivan County's streak of great birding continued over the last week. Arlene Borko, Scott Baldinger, Lance Verderame and I had some really good birds. It all started last weekend when we had good flights of warblers, vireos and sparrows. Highlights included Lincoln's Sparrows and Swainson's Thrush at every regular hot spot at the Bash, and a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH found on the nature trail by Scott Baldinger. PHILADELPHIA VIREOS were found again, giving us the best year for this species I can ever remember, I have seen ten myself and had reports of many more than that. The next event was the storm on Monday. As we have come to expect these fall storms put down some good birds. This time, a Larid invasion occurred at Morningside Park. Many Ring-billed and Herring Gulls put down, but the best birds of the day were four COMMON TERNS in winter plumage. They fed continually all afternoon, catching some sort of fingerlings amongst the islands. Well-fed, they remained at dark, roosting on one of the islands. The continued unsettled weather was enhanced by the tropical low. The set up was perfect for a good fallout for us. This morning I headed out for Morningside Park again and was not disappointed. Many shore birds had put down overnight. I found three juvenile AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER among the many shore birds seen. When Scott Baldinger arrived I informed him that I had a decent flock of peeps, several of which I thought may be good for WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. The flock was flushed from a far island by a Bald Eagle and cooperated nicely by landing on mud flats much closer to us. The larger peeps were easy to pick out with their paler color, long primary projection and long bills. As they flushed again, we easily spotted White rumps in the flock. We spotted two in flight, but three on the ground. I also had our first Ruddy Ducks of the fall season. Here is a list of the shorebirds present at Morningside. American Golden-Plover - 3 Killdeer - 2 Lesser Yellowlegs - 1 Semi-palmated Sandpiper - 12 Least Sandpiper - 2 White-rumped Sandpiper - 3 Pectoral Sandpiper - 4 Many gulls and at least three Bald Eagles were all present as well. John Haas -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
