Monday, June 29, 2009

Birding Ward Pound Ridge...

On Sunday, I connected with the Queens County Bird Club on a trip to Ward Pound Ridge in Westchester NY. I got there around 7:45 AM and on the drive in picked up several birds including Indigo Bunting. We began our walk down reservation road and picked up several birds including Barn Swallow, Eastern Bluebird, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow and one of my target birds in a Blue Grosbeak. This bird which was a female had fellow birder Ian Resnick and I flummoxed when we first saw it in the distance as our first thought was that it was a female Indigo Bunting. However, as we got closer, we noticed the rufous wing-bars and called it. Our call was supported by Eric Miller another birder who had a scope with him and got a close up looks. Interestingly, we observed a male Indigo Bunting chasing this female Grosbeak. Courting behavior perhaps? We continued, birding Reservation and Michigan roads as well as some off trails picking up several birds, butterflies, odes and Frogs. At the end of the day as some of us took shelter from the sun around the picnic tables adjacent to the parking lot on Michigan road, we observed Rat Snakes mating in a tree. It was pretty cool to watch them intertwining themselves, all the while taking care not to fall from the tree. I left the group around 5:00 and headed back to Queens. It was a very good outing and the Queens County bird club members were very nice and very knowledgeable. I am sure I will be going birding with them in the future. Tags: ,
Total Birds seen: 38
  1. American Goldfinch
  2. American Robin
  3. Baltimore Oriole
  4. Barn Swallow
  5. Black-capped Chickadee
  6. Blue Grosbeak
  7. Blue Winged Warbler
  8. Broad Winged Hawk
  9. Brown Creeper
  10. Brown Thrasher
  11. Chimney Swift
  12. Chipping Sparrow
  13. Common Grackle
  14. Downy Woodpecker
  15. Eastern Bluebird
  16. Eastern Phoebe
  17. Eastern wood Pee-wee
  18. Field Sparrow
  19. Great Crested Flycatcher
  20. Hermit Thrush
  21. Indigo Bunting
  22. Mourning Dove
  23. Northern Cardinal
  24. Northern Flicker
  25. Ovenbird
  26. Prairie Warbler
  27. Red-eyed Vireo
  28. Red-winged Blackbird
  29. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
  30. Scarlet Tanager
  31. Tree Swallow
  32. Tufted Titmouse
  33. Turkey Vulture
  34. White-breasted Nuthatch
  35. Wood Thrush
  36. Worm Eating Warbler
  37. Yellow-throated Vireo
  38. House Sparrow
Total Butterflies seen: 6
  1. Eastern Tailed Blue
  2. Appalachian Brown
  3. Wood Satyr
  4. Southern Cloudywing
  5. Great Spangled Fritillary
  6. European Skipper
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