More NYC Owls

I got back late from Ithaca and then got up early to meet Paul Keim and his friend Carol to go look for owls in Pelham Bay Park. I posted about Paul's owl trip to Croton Point in December, and was looking forward to doing more owling with him. Paul is an owl expert, and is great at finding these hardest-to-find birds. Our first stop was an old tree that has hosted a pair of Great Horned Owls for a number of years...these birds mate for life, and this is their nesting season. The female was sitting where Paul expected her, probably with eggs. She watched us with an unwavering stare for the few minutes that we spent there, and we kept a careful distance to avoid disturbing her. It's always exciting to see an owl, both because they are rarely seen and because they seem so different from other birds. I felt lucky to have someone like Paul willing to show them to me.

We moved on to another area (yes, I'm being intentionally vague...it's understood with birders that you don't reveal an owl's location, since they are easily disturbed), and Paul met up with another local birder who pointed out several Saw Whet Owls...all in all there were four in this spot, and we saw two. Whereas the Great Horned Owls are big, impressive and intimidating, the Saw Whets are tiny and would almost seem cute except for their purposeful talons and hooked beak. We spent some time working though more pine trees, looking for owl sign, and found yet another Saw Whet. Owlers look for "whitewash", which is owl poop, and for pellets, which are regurgitated, undigestible parts of the owl's prey. Here we saw lots of whitewash on the branches of a pine, and right above it was another owl, not three feet from us. This is another amazing quailty of owls, their ability to completely camoflauge themselves, so that you can be looking almost directly at them an not see them. We actually jumped back we were so close to this one. We took a few photos and then moved on to leave the bird to rest.

Our last spot was another pine grove in a mucky area, and we spent half an hour working through it. There were definitely signs of owl here, but we couldn't spot the birds. We were on our way out when I happened to look back and caught the flash of a bird in flight...an owl! We backtracked to where we'd just been looking, and two Long-Eared Owls flushed out and flew past us. They seemed huge, even though they aren't as big as the Great Horned, and it was incredible that they could navigate through the dense branches of the pine grove with such speed and agility. They perched off about fifty feet from us and we got some good looks as they got good looks of us. In the car it was just a short drive before we were back in the middle of New York City.

The Elusive Loon

From Long Island I drove straight up to Ithaca to look again for the Pacific Loon. Another rarity for New York, this bird has returned to Cayuga Lake each winter for several years now. I'd already tried twice for this bird when I went up to see the Ross's Gull, but I was hopeful the third time would be the charm. That said, this is not an easy bird to see. Cayuga is the largest of the Finger Lakes, and the loon seems to move around quite a bit. Also, loons are diving birds, and when the bird is feeding it's underwater more often than not. I watched a Common Loon on the lake dive and stay under for at least two minutes, to reappear many hundreds of yards away from where I first saw it. That means that you might be looking at the exact spot where the bird is, but if it's underwater you can still miss it. Cruising slowly up along the shoreline searching for the bird, it feels a little like looking for the Loch Ness Monster.

So that's what I did...I drove very slowly along the shoreline, stopping in spots, using bare eyes and binoculars, looking for the bird. For two days. And altough I saw a number of Common Loons, I never saw the Pacific. There were other birds to see, of course. On the north end of Cayuga there was a group of thousands of Redheads, several hundred Ring Necked Ducks, and over a hundred Tundra Swans (much easier to photograph than the Hook Pond swans). There was even a screech owl in a nesting box near the lake. The highlight of the trip happened as I was driving up the east side of the lake...I saw a large flock of geese approaching as I drove up route 90. They came closer and I saw that it was well over one thousand snow geese, cruising up along the lake edge in a loose formation. At some point we intersected, and for at least a minute or two I had the geese flying right above me...at 45 miles an hour, the birds were still passing me! I took some don't-try-this-at-home shots through my sunroof as I drove, and then the birds finally veered off and flew out over the lake. It left me laughing out loud.

Long Island Owls

The last few days have been "clean-up" for me, meaning looking for birds that aren't real rarities but that I'd like to get out of the way. First stop was Connetequot State Park on Long Island for a reported group of Pine Siskins. Like many of the spots I've visited in the last month, I realized that I'd been to this park before I started birding: Connetequot has a fly-fishing only trout stream that you can fish on, and I'd done that years ago. A place can seem completely changed when you approach it with a different intention, or new knowledge. I'd visited Niagra Falls, for example, when I was photographing tourist spots, and Niagara can be seen as a ticky-tacky place. My last couple of visits, though, have been to the Niagara Falls that is known by birders as a mecca for gulls in the winter...probably the best gull-watching spot in North America. Prospect Park, which for nearly 15 years it was place to walk my dog or have a picnic, has been transformed into a group of spots like Lamppost 249 or Rick's Place or the Killing Field, each a different bird habitat. It makes me wonder what else I don't know, that might change how I see places again.

Philosphical discussions aside, I got down to birding and with some help from the park workers found the spot where the siskins had been feeding. Sure enough, up in the trees above the feeders, there was a group of 20 or so Pine Siskins perched and preening. The light was not flattering, but I managed a few photos and moved on. I was hoping to get all the way to Montauk to look for Red Crossbill again, but never got that far. I worked Dune Road and found the Boat-Tailed Grackles again, and got some better photos of a Common Loon diving in Shinnecock Inlet. I also got a few slightly better shots of the Tundra Swans on Hook Pond. Part of "clean up" for me is also getting better shots of birds I've already seen this year.

I ended the day at Calverton at the old airport there. This is one of the only (if not the only) spots to see Short-Eared Owl and Grasshopper Sparrow on Long Island. After poking around I wound up in the parking lot by the airstrips there, and sure enough there were four Short-Eared Owls perched out on posts by the fields. Short-Eareds are wonderful to watch, especially for the fact that they often hunt in the day, so you can get great looks of them cruising grassland areas before dusk. These birds did not dissapoint, and soon were gliding over the grasses for voles and mice. Their prey scampers under the matted grasses and are hard to see, but they can't hide from the incredible hearing of the owls, who will interrupt a graceful glide with a sudden swoop down to the ground, to emerge with a rodent in their talons. There were a couple of other people there, and we also go to see possible breeding behavior in the birds...two owls would soar up into the air and then flutter around ear other, almost locking talons, and fall back towards the grasses. This is around the breeding season for these birds, and I'm told that it's not unlikely that this was a courtship behavior.

All the more infuriating then, to have the town of Calverton hellbent on destroying this rare grassland. (Click here for a Newsday article). The current plan is to bulldoze the entire place to put in a 37-story indoor ski slope. I'm no expert, but to me the plan smacks of the "Monorail" episode of the Simpsons from years ago, where a huckster convinces the town of Springfield that it needs a monorail and drains them dry. The plans are set, but these owls may put a wrench in the process...Short-Eared Owls are endangered in New York State, and this is a well-known habitat for them. There has to be an environmental review, now, and there's a possibility that the owls will stop the development. I'm praying that it will be so...I can't imagine something less valuable than an indoor ski slope, or more valuable that one of these rare grasslands, and these beautiful birds.

Pelagic Trip

I did my first pelagic trip of the year yesterday; it was run by Paul Guris of See Life Paulagics (www.paulagics.com) Pelagic birds are birds that spend almost all of their life over water. They live on the ocean and come to land only to breed, often in some remote spot in the Arctic or on a desolate island somewhere. The best (and sometimes the only) way to see these birds is to get on a boat and cruise offshore.

The trip left from Freeport, Long Island at 6:15am, and there was a sizeable group of people that were willing to get up that early and stand outside on a boat in February. The day was about as perfect as it could be for the time of year -- almost glassy smooth seas and warm (-ish) weather, or at least temperatures that made it bearable to stand outside with a parka on.

We cruised out of Jones Beach inlet as the sun rose, and many of us were out there birding as soon as we could make out shapes on the water. Like in many forms of birding, the more eyes you have looking for birds the better, and it's especially true when you're scanning the vast ocean for a tiny dark bird. Within half an hour of leaving the dock we spotted our first pelagic birds, a small group of Razorbills. From there we periodically found Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, more Razorbill, Northern Fulmar and Kittiwake. Once out a little further, we started chumming off the back of the boat (note to self: roll up sleeve before reaching in chum bucket to toss stinky fish to gulls), and got a fair sized group of gulls following the boat. Among the normal Herring and Greater Black Backed we also had a couple of Glaucous and Iceland Gulls, as well as Lesser Black Backed. We also had some marine mammals -- great views of Fin Whale (the second largest whale, after the Blue), and various dolphins. In addition to these photos, I've posted more here.

Overall it was about as good a day as I could expected. The boat was great (even a galley!), we saw lots of great birds, and it wasn't sleeting. By the time we pulled back into port at 6pm I was ready to go lie down on the sofa and pass out (missed the Superbowl...sounded like a great game). When I woke up this morning, I could have easily gone back out on the water...I can see why people love these trips!

Ross's Gull

Sunday started as a "clean-up" day for me and turned into a 2-day birdathon that left my head spinning. I started out looking for Monk Parakeets, a "gimmee" for local birding. These birds are sometimes called Quaker Parakeets and are sold in pet stores, and these Monks were escapes from that trade. They found a way to survive the New York winters, and now have an established wild population in Brooklyn. They've built their nests in a few spots around the borough, but the largest and easiest to see is the nests on top of the main entrance to the Greenwood Cemetary. When I asked the lady working at the cemetary entrance where the Parakeets were, she just smiled wearily and pointed up...that poor woman. Unlike the Pine Grosbeaks, which are parrot-like but fairly silent, these are actual parakeets, and they make a racket. On the spires of the entryway there are several large communal nests, and the birds are both in the nests and feeding nearby. I followed my ears to one noisy flock feeding in a nearby tree and snapped a few shots before moving on to Point Lookout.

I've been looking on and off a Red-Necked Grebe for the past week or two, and Point Lookout is a good place to find them. This is the kind of bird that's not really a rarity, but just uncommon, and not something you want to have to chase. Luckily I ran into Seth Ausubel, and he pointed out a bird in the channel...sure enough, a Red-Necked Grebe. This was the second bird Seth had pointed me to this year, the other being the rare Barrow's Goldeneye on the North Shore of Long Island in Oyster Bay. I headed there next--although I'd seen the bird, it was too distant to photograph, and I wanted to get a photo for my 2008 Gallery. On the way I stopped in Massapequa and got photos of another bird I'd seen but not shot, the Long Billed Dowitcher. Also spotted a Greater Yellowlegs in the same pond, and apparently there was a Common Teal there, too, but I missed it.

The Goldeneyes were much closer this time, off the point of Center Island, and I was able to get a few decent shots of the Barrows. It was about 4:30 now and the light was fading, so I started back to Brooklyn. On my way I checked my email and got a start when I saw a Pacific Loon and Eared Grebe were both seen on Cayuga Lake, above Ithaca. These are both rare birds and worth a chase, so it looked like my day wasn't over after all. I grabbed a few things at home and headed upstate. Now it was about 9pm and I was nearing Ithaca, and I checked my email again. Ross's Gull in Niagara! This is one of the rarest occurences on the East Coast, and a very exciting bird to have nearby. So I just kept driving, and got into Niagara around 1am. At 6:30 the next morning I was at Goat Island with Jim Pawlicki, a great local birder who was also excited to look for this beautiful little gull. We worked the area above the falls for about 2 hours, scanning through the thousands of gulls that regularly congregate here in the winter. We were walking back towards the parking lot when Jim spotted a small gull flying nearby and alone...it was the Ross's! I immediately started shooting, and got a few flyby shots before we chased the bird upstream. We watched it fly with some Bonapartes gulls for a few minutes, and then lost it again. Jim called all the locals, and within 20 minutes there were about a dozen of us trying to refind the bird. Just as I was about to leave, someone spotted it sitting on the ice, and we all got really nice looks at it through our scopes. It's so satisfying to find a bird and then really get to study it, as opposed to some quick flyover. And it was really very lucky to have seen this one...there were lot of ways that I could have missed it. I didn't have my passport with me, and I had Monkey in the car, so if it had turned up somewhere on the Canadian side that I couldn't see, them I would have missed it. Also, if it had been on the Canadian side and visible, I would have gotten to see it, but not to count it as a New York bird! So all in all a very successful chase. I headed back to Ithaca and never did see the Pacific Loon or Eared Grebe, but went home satisfied nonetheless.

Two Days of Rarities

If there's one thing that I've heard about Big Years, it's that you have to chase rarities.  That means that if someone sees a rare bird anywhere in the state, you have to drop everything and go try to see it. That's exactly what happened on Tuesday around lunchtime, when I checked my emails.  Several posts had come up on the birding list servers that a Slaty Backed Gull had turned up in Ithaca, at a composting area near Cornell University.  Gulls are often seen scavenging around dumps and composting areas, and this one had traveled from somewhere in Asia to do just that.  Slaty Backs are one of the rarest gulls to be seen on the East Coast, so this was a great bird to see.  I considered trying to get to Ithaca by dark, but it was already noon and it's about a 4 1/2 hour drive, so instead I finished up some business and left that evening.  The next morning at 6:30 I was at Stewart Park, on the southern end of Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.  The gulls in the area like to sleep here, and then move out to the compost area to feed during the day.  I spent a little time maneuvering to see the gulls, but then found the Slaty Back almost immediately.  It has a darker back than the common Herring or Ring Billed Gulls, but not as dark as the Greater Black Backed gulls that were also present.  Gulls can be especially hard to ID, and rare gulls don't always stand out in a crowd, but this one certainly did.  I watched it lounge around on the ice for about and hour, and then watched it fly off.  I went over to the compost area and there it was, squabbling with the other gulls for bits of food, and then resting on a nearby hillside.  It was a lot of driving, but a very straight forward chase, and a terrific addition to my list!

I got back Wednesday night, and before going to bed I checked the lists again.  This time the postings were even more remarkable:  Scott's Oriole in Union Square Park!  This is a first bird for NY State...normally it resides in the Southwest and Mexico.   My heart was racing as I set my alarm for 5:30am... the next morning I picked up Peter Dorosh, top birder from Prospect Park, and we drove in to look for the bird.  At around 7 the sky was lightening, and a number of birders from all over the city began to show up.  The bird was seen within moments, and we watched as it flitted around the commuters, ate with the pigeons, perched on park benches, and ate a slice of orange we threw to it.  It's a beautiful bird, and I encourage anyone with an interest to go and see it...it may be the only time you ever do!  

A Goose of a Different Color

I went out to Staten Island this morning to look for the Red-Necked Grebe that had been reported there a few days ago.  Apparently, the information was a little too old, and the bird was absent.   I'm learning this lesson over and over: bird information is extremely perishable, and the sooner you can get to the bird the better chance you have.    While I was at the reservoir I did re-find the Greater White Fronted Goose that I'd seen on the 4th.  What a difference!  Whereas last time I was shooting through a chain-link fence at dawn, and getting just passable photos, this time I was able to see the bird from the other side of the lake in good light, and got much better shots.  Here's one old and one new.   

Back South

The past two days I've been working my way down to Brooklyn.  In Oswego I picked up a Glaucous Gull...you can see the size difference from the Iceland Gull and the stout, pink beak with black tip.  I tried Montezuma NWR again for Tundra Swan and Ross's Goose, but again the birds were too far out to get a good look at.    Once again relying on other great birders to help me out, I spoke to Matt Young, an experienced birder in the Finger Lakes area.  He gave me some good tips on where to look for Crossbills, the last winter finches I need for my list.  I spent one afternoon looking, before staying overnight in a local town.   No Crossbills, but I saw at least four Rough Legged Hawks, and two big groups of Turkey (80 plus birds each).   On my way back for dinner, I looked up and saw hundreds of crows streaming overhead.  They were roosting in the nearby trees...seeing all those black birds flying in the near dark seemed otherworldly, and I find it comforting to think that there is this big world outside going on all the time, whether I see it or not.  

The next morning I continued walking and slowly driving ba

ck roads in the area, but didn't have any luck, depite Matt's excellent help.  Crossbills are tricky because they have somewhat nomadic tendencies, and although you can go where they might be (they feed on pine cones), that doesn't mean you'll see them.  

My last stop of the trip was in New Paltz.  I had emailed Christine Guarino, who had reported Red Headed Woodpecker in the area.   Red-Heads were much more common as recently as five years ago, but have been in serious decline, and now they take some effort to see.  Just as I drove up to New Paltz, wondering exactly where to find the bird, Christine called me and offered to come out and point them out.   It's just another example of the amazing generosity that I've seen from birders all over the state.  

While I was waiting I got some shots of a kettle of Black Vulture that were soaring overhead...Christine says they are local residents.  She drove up and showed me where to scan for the woodpecker, and withing a couple of minutes I'd picked out a distant bird with a bright red head and white tail...bingo!  Christine confirmed it, although it flew off before I got a photos (ANOTHER bird I need to go back to get a good shot of).  We drove down the road and scanned some Canada Geese for anything unusual, and then I headed back down the Thruway to Brooklyn, my first Northern trip of the year a definite success.  

Boreal Species Bonanza

Thanks to the great Northern birder Joan Collins, I had some excellent information today on where to find the Boreal species that I'd come to the Adirondacks for.  I followed her directions, and hiked around Bloomingdale Bog from sunrise until about 11:30, and found just about all the birds I was looking for.  These included Boreal Chickadee, Gray Jay, Ruffed Grouse and Black Backed Woodpecker.  The forest here is amazing in winter, like something out of Narnia.  It's almost totally silent, especially with the dampening effect of the snow.  I didn't need my snowshoes since I was on snowmobiling trails, and while I think snowmobiling is ridiculous (seriously, we don't have enough motorized vehicles in the road, that we need to tear around state forest?), I did appeciate having a packed down trail.  The birds here are well hidden, and a lot of looking for them is actually listening.  I'd walk a hundred feet, stop, listen, walk another hundred feet.  At first you don't think there could be anything living in these snow bound pines, but suddenly you hear a faint tapping, or a chip note, and following the sounds you find a group of chickadees high up in the boughs, or a single woodpecker working over one of the trunks.   The grouse are an exception, of course...twice I flushed one without ever seeing it, and got a quick look before it vanished again in the forest.   They were a little too quick to photograph, but Ruffed Grouse are very common in the Adirondacks, and I'm sure I'll get another opportunity in the year.  

Off the trails I walked back down one of the roads to my car, and found a great feeder wi

th Gray Jays picking up bread cubes that the owner had set out.  One jay spent a good minute picking up one cube at a time, then setting it down and checking another one, until it found the one it wanted and flew off into the trees to eat.  Red Breasted Nuthatch and more Black Capped Chickadees were in evidence, as was a single Common Redpoll.  

I got back to the car and drove over to Paul Smiths Visitor Center to look for Evening Grosbeak.  The setup there is pretty cosy for birdwatching...a nice sofa in the visitor center faces a big picture 

window with several feeders just outside, and the birds come right up to the window.  There's even a little speaker/microphone arrangement so you can hear the birds twittering without having to open a window!  Not bad on a 10 degree day.  There was a single Evening Grosbeak in with the other birds, and I got a lot of shots...here's one I like.

Finally, I headed up to Malone in search of the Gray Partridge.  This is probably the rare

st bird in the state, with a probable population under 100 (and maybe many fewer).    These birds were introduced in the thirties by the thousands and established breeding populations for the past 70 years, but recently have been in serious decline and are now in danger of being completely extirpated from the state.  The last major population was in Cape Vincent, but after talking to some local birders it seems that that population is gone, with the last sighting being at least 2, and probably 3 or 4, years ago.   There was a sighting, though, in Malone about 6 weeks ago, so I thought I'd give it a shot, and get a little more familiar with the area.  I drove the farmlands just south of Malone for the rest of the afternoon,  scanning the stubble fields and ditches for the birds, but no luck.  It won't be the last time I'm up looking, but for now I'm putting off the hunt until I get a little more information and time.

Into the Adirondacks

I moved my way North today, from Watertown to Cape Vincent, then Potsdam, and down into the Adirondacks in Newcomb.  There is a bird called the Grey Partridge which was introduced into New York as a game bird in the 30s.  These birds established breeding colonies and have lived as wild birds in the state ever since.  Lately, though, their population has declined drastically, and now there are only a handful of birds in the state.  This is a bird that I'd especially love to see for my Big Year, and my Bull's Guide (a record book of birds in NY) told me that Cape Vincent is the last stronghold for Partridge.  So this morning found me cruising through the snowy back roads of Cape Vincent, and beautiful penninsula towards the top of New York State, just across the border with Canada.  The area is lots of farmland leading down to a craggy coastline, and I can see why it's a popular summer vacation spot.  As I was driving up and down these back roads, windows down and heat blasting, I made a couple of calls to people that I thought might know something about the birds.  As the morning progressed, I talked to some very helpful birders who told me that the last time the Partridge was seen in Cape Vincent was between two and four years ago, and was now believed to be extirpated.  The only spot in the state that the bird has been seen recently, it turns out, is Malone, which is about 3 hours east of Cape Vincent.   Well, I really want to see this bird, so I made some calls and juggled some work stuff to extend my trip a couple of days to take a shot at it.   I'll be visiting Malone in a day or two and will, of course, keep you posted!

Meanwhile, I spotted a beautiful male Ring Necked Pheasant at a feeder, and found a Lapland Longspur in a flock of Horned Larks on the road.  

Also had a Rough Legged Hawk flyover.  The big highlight of the area, though, was the multi-thousand flock of Redheads right off the coast of Cape Vin

cent.  Here are two photos, one from a distance and one a little closer.

 

In Potsdam I stopped at Joan Collins house.  Joan has feeders and has been posting online about some amazing birds she's had this winter, including hundreds of Bohemian Waxwings and a couple of Hoary Redpolls.  There were just Common Redpolls at the feeders today, but Joan was very gracious and friendly, and we talked a bit about finding some of the area specialties, especially in the Adirondacks.  I guess today's theme is the importance of information...good info on a bird usually makes the difference between finding it and getting skunked.  Joan gave me plenty to work with, and I plan to take advantage tomorrow morning in Bloomingdale Bog.