Who would think that bad weather could equal really great birds? When birds are migrating through and run into poor migrating weather (storm, front), they will drop out of the sky, typically in good numbers, to the most convenient habitat that suits them. This is known as fallout. Serious birders will actually go out in the rain and look for these birds because many times, something rare is sure to show up.
On Wednesday morning it started with an early report of some Long-tailed Ducks and Bonaparte’s Gulls. It was before work, so I went out to find these birds with success. I had 27 Bonaparte’s Gulls and later in the day over 80 were counted in the same location. As the day went on, the reports started coming in quick from birders who were off from work — more Long-tailed Ducks (20+ in one location and 40+ in another), Red-necked Grebes in four different locations, Horned Grebes showing up in high numbers, Four Great Egrets foraging together in a local pond, Caspian Terns in two locations — it was too much to resist not taking a long lunch for these great reports! I went out and quickly found some of the birds with a friend, but did not have time to take photos or get all of the birds.
Four Great Egrets stop to rest for one evening
The next morning, I headed out with another friend to see if we could get the high number of Long-tailed Ducks. They were no longer around, but I did see two Caspian Terns, which I did not get the previous day.
Caspian Terns
We continued to get poor weather so many of the birds stuck around for the weekend. Bufflehead were in high numbers at every location.
Bufflehead Pair at Dorchester Park
Bufflehead at Lisle Park
For the first time, I saw Horned Grebes in every possible plumage — winter, transitional and full on breeding plumage. I was happy to finally get photos of them too!
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebes
Both birds were often together…
Horned Grebe and Bufflehead
The big Grebe news, however, were the Red-necked Grebes. It is rare in our area to see a single one – I had at least NINE in one location with great scope views (not so great camera views…)
Red-necked Grebes with other waterfowl in Whitney Point
Today, we also found a Common Tern actively fishing around a lake. Another great rarity.
Common Tern in Whitney Point
And, of course, our more usual waterfowl were also around.
Pied Billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal
It was not just about waterfowl. I also believe we had a Kinglet fallout. Ruby- and especially Golden-crowned Kinglets were everywhere. At one point I was surrounded by at least 50 birds dripping from the trees. There was a Kinglet on every branch that I looked at. I failed at getting a decent photo of a Golden-crowned since they are so fast but I did manage to get a Ruby-crowned at one point.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
This weekend also brought my first Warblers of the year! I had Pine Warblers, Palm Warblers (in multiple locations) and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Other great highlights included another rarity for our area, a Vesper Sparrow who has been hanging around with some of our more common Sparrows and many first-of-year birds. We also did a Woodcock walk and enjoyed a male in good enough light to follow his aerial display.
Vesper Sparrow (far left) among Savannah Sparrows, a Junco and American Tree Sparrow.
I also had my best looks at singing Rusty Blackbirds – close enough to see how they got their name.
Rusty Blackbird
It was a great birding weekend and I am sad that it is over. I will write about my more local yard and creek birds in another post later in the week. This next week will bring more new migrants… I can’t wait to see who shows up!
Last Summer, I went to Italy to visit family. I have been there before, but not as a birder. I used Birding Pal to find a local birder who may be able to take me around. Thankfully, I found a very kind birder and also met a couple other local friends of his. Since it was the middle of summer, we went looking for water birds. He took me around Castel Volturno, Riserva Oasi Dei Varicon and other areas to the north of Naples.
The first birds we saw were all Sandpipers – Common, Wood, Green – all of which look very similar to me! The most exciting early sighting was a Grey Heron. I was very happy to see the Eurasian counterpart to the American bird that I love so much!
Grey Heron with Eurasian Coots and Black-headed Gulls
The next location was full of Black-winged Stilts, Yellow-legged Gulls, Mediterranean Gulls, Little Egret and Moorhens. I also caught glimpses of a Eurasian Oystercatcher, Gull-billed Tern, Little Tern. I did manage some [bad] photos of some of the birds.
Black-winged Stilts
Eurasian Oystercatcher with Mediterranean Gulls and Black-winged Stilt up front
Yellow-legged Gulls with Black-winged Stilts
Common Moorhens
We stopped at a beautiful spot, Riserva Oasi Dei Varicon, which brought us many more great waterbirds. Here, we saw Redshank and Greenshank, Kentish Plover, Little-ringed Plover, Little Stint, Shelducks, Garganey, Ferruginous Duck, Little Grebe and Sandwich Terns.
Sandwich Terns
Shelduck
Redshank and Greenshank
While driving around, I got better looks at some of the birds and saw many others that I did not get photos of suck as a Eurasian Kestrel, Crested Lark, Turtle Doves, Magpies and Night-heron. Some that I did get photos of are below.
Little Egret
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret with Cattle
Zitting Cisticola
We were staying in Sant Agata were I saw mostly common birds like the Italian Sparrow, Blackbirds, Eurasian Collared Dove and Hooded Crows.
Italian Sparrow
Eurasian Collared Dove
We took a tour to Pompeii and the Vesuvius and saw some other common birds such as swifts, Hooded Crows, Jackdaws and Magpies. The bird I was hoping to see, the Hoopoe, was no where to be seen even though they are known to breed in Pompeii.
Hooded Crow
Jackdaws
Common Swift
Alpine Swift
And on our way back home from that tour, we saw a beautiful Serin above the streets.
Serin (wild Canary)
Other birds were spotted around family’s property including Spotted Flycatchers and, one that I was very happy to see, the European Robin.
Spotted Flycatcher family
European Robin
We took a trip to Trieste to see cousins and were surprised with some good birds in the gardens. Even though these are common birds, I was very happy to see them! They were very attracted to the plum trees which made it easy for me to see them.
Eurasian Jay with a plum
Eurasian Jay
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Blackbird Fledgling
We also saw many colorful Chaffinches while out in the area.
Chaffinch
We made a last minute stop to Isola della Cona, South of Malfalcone. This reserve gave me the best surprise of the entire trip – a bird who was on my must see list that I did not think I would see – the European Bee-eater!
European Bee-eaters
The reserve itself was full of Camarague horses and Cattle Egrets who would hang out nearby.
Camarague Horse with Cattle Egret, Lapwing, Wagtail and Duck
Cattle Egret
Other great birds at this location included Northern Lapwings and White Wagtails. I never did have to go chasing any of the Lapwings who showed up on the east coast of the US since I already saw them here!
Northern Lapwing
White Wagtail
The reserve was also full of many birds I already saw, plus some new waterfowl.
Black-winged Stilt
Northern Shoveler
Mixed Ducks
Graylag Geese
Common Snipe
Black-headed Gull in winter plumage
Common Sandpiper
The sun was strong and heat made for poor far-away photos, but I am happy that I at least got these memory photos. The last good bird here was another common one that I was happy to see – the European Goldfinch.
European Goldfinches
Overall, I saw over 50 life birds, and even though I didn’t get to see a Hoopoe as I had wished, I really enjoyed the birds I did see!
This past weekend was the tease of March – spring-like weather that gives us false hope that spring is near. I suppose it is near for many, but not for me in my area of upstate New York! I will not be seeing spring weather again until late April, aside from a few similar days here and there like I just experienced. I tried to fit birds into a very busy weekend with some success. On Saturday, I watched my friends fly their Red-tailed Hawk, Rusty.
Rusty the Red-tailed Hawk
Zack, Jenn and Rusty
He is a very handsome Hawk, but unfortunately looks won’t get him live food and he was not very into hunting that day. Could be that he wanted to enjoy the great weather too! He was eventually fed from his lure instead.
Rusty eating from his lure
Yes, that is a foot hanging out of his mouth. And he made a big mess when he gulped down a huge piece of the chick.
Rusty the Red-tailed Hawk
On Sunday, I went out to put up some nesting boxes around my yard. I could hear geese overhead, so I looked up.
Goose Migration
The skies were full of migrating geese! Thousands of Canada Geese passed by as well as Snow Geese. It was hard to keep my eyes off the sky! I also saw many Blackbirds and Gulls passing through, quickly riding the winds. There were other individual birds flying by who were going to quick for me to identify. They are also very high up for me in the valley.
Mixed Goose Flock, with Canadas and Snow
My resident Red-tailed Hawks were out gathering nesting material.
Resident Red-tailed Hawk
There were so many geese in the sky that I accidentally got this photo too.
Red-tailed Hawk with Geese in the background
I took a nice walk down my trails to see if I could find anything interesting. Birds were singing high in the trees, but none were low enough to photograph. I did find some other non-living things of interest: the Pileated Woodpeckers have been busy this winter.
Evidence of my resident Pileated Woodpeckers
Someone is digging up the holes that foxes used a couple of summers ago. Chances are that this is from groundhogs, but I can hope that my foxes are returning, can’t I???
Fresh Fox or Groundhog digging
The very last sighting I had on my trails was a good one! I finally found one of the feeders that the bears stole last time they raided my yard. It was still frozen into the ground, so I will recover it when the ground has thawed.
The feeder that bears stole in the Fall
Back at the feeders, I caught one of my Red-breasted Nuthatches holding on in the winds. He’s not very shy, so he stayed put as I went by.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Not a bad weekend for birds. Spring is on its way!
I took off from work today to go birding locally. The original plans were to go up to Cayuga lake, mostly to see Short-eared Owls in the area in the evening, but the weather made us stay local. We decided that, even with not-so-cooperative weather, we were going to try to get 50 species of birds in Broome County, New York. This is tough to do in here in the winter, however, managed to get 55 species! This is only two less than the number of species that I have seen in my county for the entire year! It brings my grand total to 70. Not bad for someone who does not get to get out much and pretty good for my area.
The biggest highlight was our very first bird. We heard that Red Crossbills were showing up at a feeder so that was our first stop. When we got there, we saw tons of Redpolls and I eventually spotted the Crossbills in a tree. Life Bird!!!
The feeders were close to the house and the owners were nice enough to allow us to park in their driveway when they left. This allowed us to get closer to the feeders.
Red Crossbills at a feeder
Red Crossbill at a feeder
Some of the Crossbills would also forage on the ground, along with the Redpolls.
Red Crossbill foraging on the ground
I did not get the photo of a male that I would have liked, but this female was cooperative!
Female Red Crossbill
Other great birds included a migrating Golden Eagle, multiple Bald Eagles, a Northern Shrike, Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, our first returned Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles along with numerous waterfowl such as Northern Pintails, Ring-necked Ducks, Great and Lesser Scaup, American Wigeons, a Coot, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Pied Billed and Horned Grebes and Bufflehead.
In early December, I went on a field trip around Cayuga Lake with my local birding club. The one thing that I really wanted to see were snow geese in high numbers. I’ve never witnessed the so called “Snow Goose spectacle” before
While looking at various duck species at North Mill Pond, we started to hear geese flying over head. Thousands of them started to fly west over us toward the lake. We headed further up and saw even more Snow Geese over the lake.
Snow Goose Spectacle
Then we hit the jackpot.
Snow Goose Spectacle
And they kept growing.
Snow Goose Spectacle
And more and more geese were constantly coming in.
We conservatively estimated twenty thousand geese total.
Snow Goose Spectacle
Within this group were many beautiful Blue Morphs.
Blue Morph Snow Geese
And then a boat disturbed them and they took off.
I had to stop the video short because I’ve always wanted a photo where the entire frame was full of flying geese! A true Snow Goose blizzard at last!!
Snow Goose Spectacle
Next time, I will bring two cameras – one for photos and the other for video!!
This afternoon, some friends and I joined the Cayuga Bird Club on the field trip to find Short-eared Owls in Ovid, New York. We gathered while it was still light out to search the fields for roosting owls and ran into field birds along the way. I’ve been wanting to get decent photos of Horned Larks for a while now and had my chance today to shoot them right from my car. I am pleased enough with these photos, but of course I always want better.
Horned Lark
Horned Lark
Horned Lark
Horned Lark
We also came across a large flock of Snow Buntings who would repeat the same thing over and over – they would all perch on a wire above the field…
Snow Buntings landing on a Wire
Snow Buntings on a Wire
Snow Buntings on a Wire
… and slowly drip down onto the field; then flush up and repeat.
Snow Buntings
This was my first time seeing Snow Buntings on a wire, so it was a real treat!
Onto the Owl search, as dusk approached and passed, we camped at a spot that the Short-eareds have been spotted in recently. Just as we were losing hope, I spotted a bird flying! Only one other birder got on the probable Owl and we never were able to confirm that it was our target bird, since it was distant and eventually disappeared below the tree line. We described how it was flying while we had it in our binoculars and it could very well have been our bird. Maybe next time we can be more certain and more people can see it…
Today, two friends and I drove around the east shore of Cayuga lake in search of waterfowl – in particular an Eared Grebe and Tufted Duck. We had an exact location for the Grebe thanks to a local birder but we knew the Tufted Duck would be a challenge since it is mixed somewhere within the rafts of Aythya species around the lake.
We started at Allan H. Treman State Marine Park where the Grebe has been seen and were greated by a large raft of Redheads and other Aythya species. They were flushed up by the geese, but ended up landing right back where they came from, minus the skittish geese. We could not locate a Tufted Duck in this fairly close flock. (eBird Checklist)
Raft of Redheads and other Aythya sp.
Aythya flock
As soon as we set up our scopes, maybe ten yards in from the shore, we were surprised with beautiful looks at the very active Eared Grebe.
Eared Grebe
… who tried really hard to fit in with the Ruddy Ducks.
Eared Grebe with Ruddy Ducks
After spending over an hour with icicles for hands and feet, we headed farther north and saw more of the same types of rafts along with the usual Gulls. Our next real gem of a spot was on the northern end of the lake in Mud Lock. We had better looks at some of the duck species that we saw all along the lake. (eBird Checklist)
Gadwall
Ring-necked Duck
A nice surprise at this spot was having all three species of Swans – and being able to compare Trumpeter vs Tundra in one scope view.
Mute Swan
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swans
We started off with a bang (and a life bird for me) but never did locate the Tufted Duck. Maybe next time…
