Today, I drove up to Doodletown to do some birding and met up with the
Queens County Bird Club. I got to the location around 7:15 AM, which was good time, as I wanted to get an early start. Doodletown, used to be a town of Stony Point Rockland County, New York. It was purchased by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission during the 1960s and is now part of Bear Mountain State Park. It has become a popular destination for hikers, birdwatchers, botanists, and local historians. While Ian Resnick and Arie Gilbert the leaders of the walk waited for their club members and others, I began the trek up the hill with another birder. We quickly located a couple of key birds, a male Cerulean warbler, Hooded warbler, and a Blackburnian warbler. Wow! Was all I could think of…if this was the start what else might be in store.
On Lemmon Road, we heard the Kentucky Warbler as soon as we started up the road and found other birders looking for the bird. No one really got to see the bird, but we heard it quite well. Reluctantly, we moved on; around the water tank/tower we had nice looks at a cooperative Blue-winged Warbler. On the way back down, Lemmon Road, some of us including myself had a brief glimpse of a Pileated Woodpecker, which is always a thrill to find. We visited some of the other trails and found one of the neatest find of the day in a Timber Rattlesnake. After a short lunch break, we headed back to our vehicles and drove first to Iona Island Marsh and then to Mine Road. At Iona we had looks at a Green Heron and another or the same Pileated Woodpecker. Over at Mine Road, we found another target bird in Golden Winged Warbler. Later on we picked up Cliff Swallow and Prairie Warbler around Katonah Reservoir. Around 4:30 PM, I called it a day and headed back to Queens NY. It was a good day of birding with several highlights. One of my most interesting observation was first listening and then in surprise watching a Cerulean Warbler sing a Hooded Warbler song. As if birding is not hard enough, that episode makes it harder to bird by ear. Total birds seen:
62 - One Timber Rattlesnake, 3 Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies and a Tiger Beetle.
- American Crow
- American Goldfinch
- American Redstart
- American Robin
- Baltimore Oriole
- Barn Swallow
- Black Vulture
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Blackpoll Warbler
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Blue Jay
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Blue-winged Warbler
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Canada Warbler
- Cedar Waxwing
- Cerulean Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Chipping Sparrow
- Chimney Swift
- Cliff Swallow
- Common Yellowthroat
- Cooper's Hawk
- Eastern Phoebe
- Eastern Towhee
- Eastern Wood-Pewee
- Fish Crow
- Gray Catbird
- Great Crested Flycatcher
- Hooded Warbler
- Indigo Bunting
- Kentucky Warbler (Heard)
- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Magnolia Warbler
- Mallard
- Mourning Dove
- Northern Cardinal
- Northern Parula
- Northern Rough-necked Swallow
- Ovenbird
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Prairie Warbler
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Scarlet Tanager
- Swamp Sparrow
- Tree Swallow
- Tufted Titmouse
- Turkey Vulture
- Warbling Vireo
- White-eyed Vireo
- Wood Thrush
- Worm Eating Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Yellow-throated Vireo
Today, I drove up to Doodletown to do some birding and met up with the Queens County Bird Club. I got to the location around 7:15 AM, which was good time, as I wanted to get an early start. Doodletown, used to be a town of Stony Point Rockland County, New York. It was purchased by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission during the 1960s and is now part of Bear Mountain State Park. It has become a popular destination for hikers, birdwatchers, botanists, and local historians. While Ian Resnick and Arie Gilbert the leaders of the walk waited for their club members and others, I began the trek up the hill with another birder. We quickly located a couple of key birds, a male Cerulean warbler, Hooded warbler, and a Blackburnian warbler. Wow! Was all I could think of…if this was the start what else might be in store. 
On Lemmon Road, we heard the Kentucky Warbler as soon as we started up the road and found other birders looking for the bird. No one really got to see the bird, but we heard it quite well. Reluctantly, we moved on; around the water tank/tower we had nice looks at a cooperative Blue-winged Warbler. On the way back down, Lemmon Road, some of us including myself had a brief glimpse of a Pileated Woodpecker, which is always a thrill to find. We visited some of the other trails and found one of the neatest find of the day in a Timber Rattlesnake. After a short lunch break, we headed back to our vehicles and drove first to Iona Island Marsh and then to Mine Road. At Iona we had looks at a Green Heron and another or the same Pileated Woodpecker. Over at Mine Road, we found another target bird in Golden Winged Warbler. Later on we picked up Cliff Swallow and Prairie Warbler around Katonah Reservoir. Around 4:30 PM, I called it a day and headed back to Queens NY. It was a good day of birding with several highlights. One of my most interesting observation was first listening and then in surprise watching a Cerulean Warbler sing a Hooded Warbler song. As if birding is not hard enough, that episode makes it harder to bird by ear. Total birds seen: 62 - One Timber Rattlesnake, 3 Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies and a Tiger Beetle.
Wow, great list for a day. Doodletown looks like a great place to go. and a rattler too, yikes
ReplyDeleteThank you! Doodletown is a great place. I may visit again soon; I would have loved to get a photograph of the Pileated and I might have if it were not for the traffic. The rattler was special...beautiful and dangerous.
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