Saturday February 18th , Walkill River National Refuge, near Hamburg, NJ

Leader : Rob Bate

(NOTE: Venue was changed to Shawangunk Grasslands due to absence of Short-eared Owls at Walkill NWR)


The trip up to the Shawangunk Grasslands and Blue Chip Farm was a great success yesterday. It was but four of us, Edith, Janet Schumacher, Donna and myself, but we were all treated to great views of our sought after birds, Short-eared Owls, Rough-legged Hawks and Northern Harriers. We searched for the Cackling Goose but could not find it in the large flock of Canadas; a Snow Goose stood out like a white thumb though, evidently long resident with the larger flock.


The Roughies, both light and dark morphs, were perched up nicely when we got to the grassland and the Harriers were working the fields and surrounding areas. Finally around 4:30 the Short-eared Owls began to appear, first just one flying and later up to 5 flying at once. They perched up in easy scoping distance at times giving everyone lifetime views of the birds. A "Gray Ghost" Harrier also put in an appearance and at times there could be maybe twelve or so raptors in the air and perched up in view at the same time.


Evidently the reason why there were no owls at Wallkill NWR this year could be that the torrential rains in the spring and summer flooded all the fields drowning all the voles and mice; no food - no owls.

Shwangunk Grassland, Ulster, US-NY
Feb 18, 2012 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
19 species

Snow Goose 1
Canada Goose 500
Mute Swan 2
Mallard 8
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 25
Northern Harrier 8
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Rough-legged Hawk 4
Short-eared Owl 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 30
Black-capped Chickadee 1
American Robin 1
European Starling 100
Common Grackle 25
House Finch 5
House Sparrow 5

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Winter overnight weekend, February 11th-13th, 2012: Long Island's Mid-winter East End

Leader: Peter Dorosh

observers = Brooklyn Bird Club

Total cumulative walk distance: 10.23 miles


12 participants: Mary E, Sandy P, Monica B ,Bob O ,Lenore S , Donna E , Edith G , Chris E , Bob W, Dennis H , Mike Y

sites = Wertheim NWR, Smith's Point, Shinnecock region, Montauk region, Amangansett, Hook Pond, Orient Pt, Narrow River Road, Marion Causeway, Lake Marratooka, Iron Pier, EPCAL

Species list

Note: 20 species duck; 2 auks species,2 owls species, blue bold "good birds"


Common Loon

Red-throated Loon

Pied-billed Grebe

Horned Grebe

Red-necked Grebe Smiths Pt.

Northern Gannet

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Cormorant

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Great Egret Shinnecock

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture --5 f/o Orient Pt

Lesser Scaup --Eastport Seatuck Pond

Bufflehead

Gadwall

American Black Duck

Snow Goose --Orient Pt

Canada Goose

Ring-necked Duck --52 at Montauk's Tuthill Pond

Common Eider --mostly Montauk Pt.

Black Scoter various offshore sites

Common Goldeneye --Napeague harbor, Marion Causeway

American Wigeon

Long-tailed Duck

Greater Scaup

Red-breasted Merganser

White-winged Scoter --various offshore

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser Hook Pond, 4

Canvasback Lake Marratooka, Eastport Lake

Ruddy Duck

Northern Pintail --Shinnecock

Surf Scoter --various offshore

Mute Swan

Mallard

Red-tailed Hawk

Northern Harrier --Smiths Pt Fire Island

American Kestrel Riverhead Sods

American Coot

Black-bellied Plover --Napeague Pt

Sanderling

Dunlin

Ruddy Turnstone

Great Black-backed Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

Lesser Black--backed Gull --Napeague, Lazy Pt

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Iceland Gull --Iron Pier, Jamestown

Common Murre --Offshore Hook Pond

Razorbill --Smith's Pt

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Snowy Owl

Eastern Screech Owl --heard, Amagansett

Belted Kingfisher

Downy Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

American Crow

Blue Jay

Horned Lark-- EPCAL

Tufted Titmouse

Black-capped Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch

Carolina Wren

American Robin

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling

Yellow-rumped Warbler

White-throated Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow --Shinnecock

Northern Cardinal

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle

Eastern Meadowlark --EPCAL

House Finch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Wild Turkey--8 in tree along rte 27, 25+ Further Lane home front yard


82 species

other : Harbor Seal

Trip Photos

ICELAND GULL--photos by Chris Elliot

(click on pic to enlarge)

Photos from Sandy Paci : Black Scoters ,Bonaparte's Gull,LT Arctic Duck, Common Loon