Thursday: a nice little foray into Staten Island netted Eurasian Wigeon at Tottenville Train Station - this bird had been reported last year and is likely the same individual that sometimes was seen at Perth Amboy waterfront last winter. This time I was far luckier than my Perth Amboy forays and actually saw it in a small flock of American Wigeons. Then the maint target for the day: Cave Swallows at Cemetery of the Resurrection adjacent to Mount Loretto. This flock had been upwards of 60 birds a week earlier but between 8 and 20 still persisted when I was there, visiting the pond to hawk insects. The number is ambiguous because I wasn't sure if I saw the same flock 3x or three different flocks. A single Tree Swallow was present and also fly-by Pine Siskin and Purple Finch. Then back into NJ with a visit to Roselle where finding the Greater White-fronted Goose and Cackling Geese wasn't especially hard at Warinanco Park.
Friday: back into NYC in Central Park, where there was no Brant on the Reservoir, no Rufous Hummingbird at the Conservatory Garden, a single Barred Owl in the usual location and a few Fox Sparrows in the Ramble but not a great deal else. Noteworthy was so many Tufted Titmice it almost constituted a plague.
Saturday: despite strong winds following the passage of a cold front I went out to Barnegat Inlet hoping for a little coastal finch movement - to no avail. However in challenging conditions I found a late Brown Pelican flying up the inlet, a Royal Tern amongst the Forster's Terns and a larger Bonaparte's Gull flock, and the usual Harlequins. The rest of the sea duck count was very low, with only two Long-tailed Ducks and 20 Black Scoters. Down at Brigantine div. of Forsythe NWR where the violence that Hurricane Sandy had done to the wildlife drive (closed even to walking) was quite evident, I did snag a Cave Swallow over the open section of drive toward the gull tower. Otherwise things were quite distant (abundant waterfowl) or keeping their head down in the strong wind.
Sunday: failing yet again to find Crossbills in NYC - this time in Prospect Park - I did manage to find a single Rusty Blackbird, and a couple of Pine Siskins at the Breeze Hill feeders.
Showing posts with label Eurasian Wigeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eurasian Wigeon. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
NYC rarities
Saturday morning saw a pre-dawn sprint to Jamaica Bay with the singular purpose of seeing the male Barrow's Goldeneye on the West Pond. Often enough at this time of year the West Pond is a sheet of ice, but given the nature of the winter there wasn't any ice anywhere. Instead there was a large flock of diving ducks roosting on the pond: primarily Red-breasted Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks and Goldeneyes with not a great deal of diversity (very low scaup numbers, no Canvasback, very few dabbling ducks). The Barrow's was pretty easy to find - at the front edge of the large Goldeneye flock in good light. Distant, so no photos. Goldeneyes started leaving the West Pond at 7:15am, noticeably noisy in flight because of the whistle of their primaries. With 100+ Goldeneyes roosting, finding the Barrows out in the bay itself would have been a big problem. The Goldeneyes were making mating displays (including the Barrows) which was generally true of most ducks that weren't already paired up. Also present were a few Snow Geese, again often absent in Feb as they head further south in response to freezes.
Once satiated by views of Barrow's, I went west to Breezy Point where I did not find any Snowy Owls (and neither did the birder that I met). I spent time scoping the Atlantic - nothing novel except a large flock of Long-tailed Duck and close fly-by Great Cormorant in breeding plumage. On the beach I spent some time photographing Sanderlings.
Finally I came back north across the bridge on Flatbush Ave to Floyd Bennett Field in search of three species: Northern Shrike (for NYC list), Red-necked Grebe (for year list) and Eurasian Wigeon (for year list). I struck out on the Eurasian Wigeon at the first attempt, but found eight Red-necked Grebes on a single scan from Archery Road. Surely a high count for me. Good luck continued when a group of Brooklyn/Manhattan birders showed me the elusive Northern Shrike. The Shrike rewarded some additional patience by hunting along the edge of the runway in plain sight, given some record shot photos that show the residual brown barring of an immature - without the benefit of photos it basically has the coloration of an adult. Finally a return trip to Archery Road gave me straightforward views of the Eurasian Wigeon male, a species that had eluded me at Perth Amboy so far this year. With waterfowl starting to make a move north, the obvious question is how longer most of these birds will stick around.
Having had a pretty successful morning I then proceeded to have a futile afternoon in NJ: not finding any trails into Great Piece Meadows for Rusty Blackbirds (apparently access is informal); failing to find the Northern Shrike at Boonton; not seeing any white-winged gulls at the boat launch in Edison where the species were Herring/Ring-billed Gulls and Mallard. Hard to complain about that, given the successful morning.
Once satiated by views of Barrow's, I went west to Breezy Point where I did not find any Snowy Owls (and neither did the birder that I met). I spent time scoping the Atlantic - nothing novel except a large flock of Long-tailed Duck and close fly-by Great Cormorant in breeding plumage. On the beach I spent some time photographing Sanderlings.
Finally I came back north across the bridge on Flatbush Ave to Floyd Bennett Field in search of three species: Northern Shrike (for NYC list), Red-necked Grebe (for year list) and Eurasian Wigeon (for year list). I struck out on the Eurasian Wigeon at the first attempt, but found eight Red-necked Grebes on a single scan from Archery Road. Surely a high count for me. Good luck continued when a group of Brooklyn/Manhattan birders showed me the elusive Northern Shrike. The Shrike rewarded some additional patience by hunting along the edge of the runway in plain sight, given some record shot photos that show the residual brown barring of an immature - without the benefit of photos it basically has the coloration of an adult. Finally a return trip to Archery Road gave me straightforward views of the Eurasian Wigeon male, a species that had eluded me at Perth Amboy so far this year. With waterfowl starting to make a move north, the obvious question is how longer most of these birds will stick around.
Having had a pretty successful morning I then proceeded to have a futile afternoon in NJ: not finding any trails into Great Piece Meadows for Rusty Blackbirds (apparently access is informal); failing to find the Northern Shrike at Boonton; not seeing any white-winged gulls at the boat launch in Edison where the species were Herring/Ring-billed Gulls and Mallard. Hard to complain about that, given the successful morning.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Eurasian Wigeon, Feb 20th
After balking at harsh conditions at Barnegat Inlet at dawn, I went down to Brigantine/Forsythe NWR as a second option.
Waterfowl numbers are building here and the essentially ice-free freshwater impoundment was loaded with birds like Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, a surprisingly large flock of Canvasback, and a few Gadwall and American Wigeon mixed in with some Tundra Swans. While scanning the Wigeons one male turned it's head and reflected the sun with a dramatic chestnut - a male Eurasian Wigeon. I found it even with binoculars but a scope confirmed the identity. The Snow Goose flock at Brig seems to be growing, although it's always hard to estimate numbers as they may be broken up into multiple flocks. However the re-appearance of Snow Geese at Jamaica Bay suggests that they are on a northbound drift with the warming weather. (Unlike Brant, which essentially leave the NYC area en masse and fly non-stop to breeding territories, Snow Geese stage at multiple locations).
Back at Barnegat Inlet in only slightly less hostile weather I came up with an 'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow on the rocks.
Waterfowl numbers are building here and the essentially ice-free freshwater impoundment was loaded with birds like Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, a surprisingly large flock of Canvasback, and a few Gadwall and American Wigeon mixed in with some Tundra Swans. While scanning the Wigeons one male turned it's head and reflected the sun with a dramatic chestnut - a male Eurasian Wigeon. I found it even with binoculars but a scope confirmed the identity. The Snow Goose flock at Brig seems to be growing, although it's always hard to estimate numbers as they may be broken up into multiple flocks. However the re-appearance of Snow Geese at Jamaica Bay suggests that they are on a northbound drift with the warming weather. (Unlike Brant, which essentially leave the NYC area en masse and fly non-stop to breeding territories, Snow Geese stage at multiple locations).
Back at Barnegat Inlet in only slightly less hostile weather I came up with an 'Ipswich' Savannah Sparrow on the rocks.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
March 14th and 15th
Spring migration was in evidence courtesy of probably my least favorite bird - the Brown-headed Cowbird. On Saturday I had three fly over me at Barnegat Inlet, two males singing at Wells Mills County Park; on Sunday there were both males and females in the blackbird flock at Plainsboro Preserve.
At Barnegat on Saturday the best birds were two Red-necked Grebes and two Great Cormorants, with a mixed Surf and Black Scoter flock in the inlet and the usual suspects including large numbers of Long-tailed Ducks and my first Ruddy Turnstones of the year. I also did my best to trash my left knee while rock-hopping along the jetty with the camera gear. In the bay, viewed from local streets in Surf City, there were additionally American Oystercatcher (newly arrived in numbers throughout the region), three White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Horned Grebe.
At Wells Mills County Park the feeder birds were present including a still healthy number of Pine Siskins.
And then because a little sun was peeking through the clouds I went to Wreck Pond in Spring Lake (nothing of interest), Lake Como (Redhead, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup), and Silver Lake in Belmar (Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon, Am. Black Duck, Ruddy Duck and a lot of Brant).
On Sunday, nursing the damaged knee, I limited myself to three local spots: Plainsboro Preserve (American Tree Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, but no Tree Swallows), Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve (quiet, Eastern Bluebird), Negri-Nepote Grasslands (Northern Pintail, Song Sparrow).
Update 3/21: making much the same trip the following weekend I finally saw a few Purple Sandpipers at Barnegat, the "paired" Red-necked Grebes were still there, but there were no other surprises. Nine White-winged Crossbills were at Brigantine NWR along with the first Osprey of the season for me and a Northern Bobwhite in the grassland area - apparently a rare bird at Brigantine with only a few calling males left. The bird I saw was probably a female.
At Barnegat on Saturday the best birds were two Red-necked Grebes and two Great Cormorants, with a mixed Surf and Black Scoter flock in the inlet and the usual suspects including large numbers of Long-tailed Ducks and my first Ruddy Turnstones of the year. I also did my best to trash my left knee while rock-hopping along the jetty with the camera gear. In the bay, viewed from local streets in Surf City, there were additionally American Oystercatcher (newly arrived in numbers throughout the region), three White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Horned Grebe.
At Wells Mills County Park the feeder birds were present including a still healthy number of Pine Siskins.
And then because a little sun was peeking through the clouds I went to Wreck Pond in Spring Lake (nothing of interest), Lake Como (Redhead, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup), and Silver Lake in Belmar (Eurasian Wigeon, American Wigeon, Am. Black Duck, Ruddy Duck and a lot of Brant).
On Sunday, nursing the damaged knee, I limited myself to three local spots: Plainsboro Preserve (American Tree Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, but no Tree Swallows), Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve (quiet, Eastern Bluebird), Negri-Nepote Grasslands (Northern Pintail, Song Sparrow).
Update 3/21: making much the same trip the following weekend I finally saw a few Purple Sandpipers at Barnegat, the "paired" Red-necked Grebes were still there, but there were no other surprises. Nine White-winged Crossbills were at Brigantine NWR along with the first Osprey of the season for me and a Northern Bobwhite in the grassland area - apparently a rare bird at Brigantine with only a few calling males left. The bird I saw was probably a female.
Monday, March 2, 2009
North shore again, March 1st
Despite still recovering from an epic bout of food poisoning, I spent a little time at the North Shore on Sunday ahead of the cold snap. At Wreck Pond I found a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in with the gull flock. At Silver Lake in Belmar I finally found the Eurasian Wigeon mixed in with the American Wigeon and Brant flock there. Lake Como had some diving ducks but was mostly closed for a parade, so I had no luck searching for Redhead.
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