Rare Tufted Duck - A First for Nassau County LI...

A Tufted Duck was found by Gary Strauss on Tuesday January 4th, at Cold Spring Harbor LI.  I got word from birder and friend Jean Loscalzo, but I was unable to get out in the field to make the confirmation.  I did manage to get to the location much later in the afternoon, but dipped on the bird by getting to the location too late, as it was getting dark.  That, coupled with finding out from other birders that it had relocated to an inaccessible location was not a winning formula.  Undaunted, I decided I would try again the next day if it was seen.  Sure enough, my friend Debbie Martin, whom had I had seen at the location on Tuesday and had also dipped on the bird, got the Tufted Duck early Wednesday morning and immediately sent out an alert.  Again, I had to bide my time as I could not make the run until the afternoon.  Even though, posts towards the afternoon had not come through on the wire before I started my run, I decided to give it a shot and was successful.  I enjoyed views with Eric Miller of the Queens County Bird Club.  According to birder Dave Klauber, it is a first for Nassau County and the Northshore of Long Island.  Below is a digiscoped shot of the Tufted Duck.

The Tufted Duck is...well the one with the "Tuft"

Tags: Birding, Tufted Duck, Cold Spring Harbor Long Island

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Wordless Wednesday...

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A year in review - Top Ten Birding Moments of 2010...

It was a terrific year of birding.  I enjoyed meeting many birders for the first time, adding new life birds, but most importantly, continuing the learning process by spending countless hours in the field studying birds.  So without further ado, I will list what I deem to be my top 10 birding moments for 2010.

1. The Wilson's Plover that I found at Jones Beach on May 8th.  Best of all about finding this bird was being able to share it with others.  Click on the link to read the full report.

2. My first birding trip to the Adirondacks, where I picked up several lifers, including crippling looks at a Northern Hawk Owl.  Huge thanks to Joe Guinta for making this trip happen. Click on the link for additional photos of the Hawk Owl.

3. My second trip back to the Adirondacks, with dear friends, Pat Lindsay, Shai Mitra and Joan Quinlan.  On this trip, I earned the trifecta bragging rights after picking up in order, Tufted Duck, Ivory Gull and Northern Hawk Owl all on the same day.  Two out the three were lifers and seeing them with Shai, Pat and Joan made it even more special.  I am truly grateful for the kindness of Shai and Pat who invited me along.

4. An invitation to the Massachusetts  Super Bowl of Birding led to a high octane weekend of birding.  It was pretty amazing that 5 guys, some who had never met before were able to work so well with each other with little sleep.  We did not do too shabby either in the competition and our host arranged for us to see a pretty neat bird - a Chaffinch, one of the best kept secrets in MA.  There is a rumor that this team might be back, so keep an eye out for the Bloggerhead Kingbirds.

5. My first Pelagic and a good one it was with the weather not being too bad.  I had gorgeous looks at Black-legged Kittiwakes and Northern Gannets.


 

6. My life Mourning Warbler, not one, but two in one day and I was able to get off a quick shot that captured this elusive bird.  This was all thanks to Tom Burke's persistence.

 7. Birding the Delmarva Peninsula with Shai Mitra, Patricia Lindsay and Gerta Fritz.  Not many life birds on this trip (1 or 2...I think), but I had an amazing time with friends.  Best of all, was meeting up with friend Andrew Ballideli.  We had quite the celebration, but stayed focused enough to get in lots of good birding.

 8. The Black-bellied Whistling Duck at Jamaica Bay.  Enjoyed stellar views of this bird on the shores of the West Pond trail at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.  As luck would have it, I also re-found and was the last to see this bird on August 2nd.

9. My life Franklin Gull was a long shot chase, but successful thanks to the generosity of Ken and Sue Fuestel and Gerta Fritz who stayed with the bird until I got to the location.  Once again the kindness of Pat Lindsay was appreciated who called to let me know of the bird (she had found it).

10. There are many other highlights that could have made this list.  For example the Common Ground Dove at Captree or the Hermit Warbler at Sunken Meadow.  However, this last entry is a must for this list because it was a memorable time filled with lifers and non-stop birding.  My trip to Arizona with my friend Jeff Ritter.  I have linked to a Wordless Wednesday submission to emphasize the point.  No words needed!

No lofty goals for 2011, just to get better at birding.  Do more on the conservation side and spend more time studying Shorebirds and Gulls.  Maybe do some more Butterflying.

I am truly grateful for the many kindness from naturalists, birders and photographers that I have met in the short time I am birding.  A special thank you to Shai Mitra, Patricia Lindsay, Tom Burke, Gail Benson, Joe Guinta, Joan Quinlan, Gerta Fritz and Lloyd Spitalnik for all your encouragement, tips and support. To all my readers, thank you and I hope you keep coming back.  I'll do my best to keep you entertained :)  Best wishes for a very healthy 2011 filled with birds!

Tags: Birding, Top-ten birding moments, Year End Review

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Today's Photo - Dark Phase Rough-legged Hawk...

This, is one of those species we could expect not to see if development takes place at the Floyd Bennett Field Grasslands.  The only remaining grasslands of its size in Brooklyn NY.

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Wordless Wednesday...Backyard Birds Rock!!

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Captree Christmas Bird Count LI...

Shane helping out Shai and Pat at the Captree Compilation Dinner

Following the Montauk CBC, the next day, December 19th, it was another early rise for the Captree Christmas Bird Count. As part of my assignment, I had to get to the Seatuck National Wildlife Refuge on LI for a couple of target birds. By 6:35 a.m. I had picked up both, Virginia Rail and Eastern Screech Owls. As a bonus, I added a Great Horned Owl and a Black Crowned-night Heron.  After picking up the target birds, I met up with the folks who were going to bird in our assigned territory. My partner for the day happened to be, Joan Quinlan, you may remember Joan from previous birding escapades.  I was happy that Joan and I were teaming up because we had birded before and that was a plus.  Before meeting with Joan, a few us took the trail at Scully's and birded the loop that took us out to one section of the marsh.  We picked up a few birds, with the best being a Belted Kingfisher.  Once back at the visitor's center at Scully, we checked out the feeders, picking up a few additional birds then we convened with the team and reviewed assignments.

The entire group then walked over to the Seatuck National Wildlife Refuge also known as Seatuck Estates and split up into two groups.  My group consisted of Joan, Steve Terr and I.  We got right to it, doing our ground and pound going off trail and poking around anywhere we thought birds could be found.  Steve was kept quite busy jotting notes as Joan and I began rattling off species as fast as we spotted them.  Joan and I continued pounding the area with Steve becoming concerned about us not meeting back with the group, which puzzled Joan and I since no time table was set when we split.  There was no way Joan and I was going to blow through this area without giving it a good work over and that is what we did.  By then, Steve was getting phone calls from the other half of the team who apparently had arrived at the place where were supposed to reconvene and had not seen us.  We ignored Steve's pleas (sorry old chap), to meet with the rest of the team, continuing to bird the area and as a result got some good birds.  The finds, seemed to encourage Steve who by now had realized there was no curbing Joan and I, so he just tagged along.  We finally left the area with some excellent birds, including what turned out to be the best bird of the count, an Ovenbird, which I found tucked away in a brush pile under a Holly Tree.  Brown Thrasher, Field Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Swamp Sparrow, Golden Crowned-Kinglets and Wilson's Snipe were some of the other good birds found at that location.  After leaving Seatuck NWR, we met up with the rest of the team back at Scully's.

After briefly comparing notes with the rest of the team, Joan and I decided that we were going to split from the group and hit the East Islip Marina before heading over to the Arboretum.  Kathy Krause from the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, who had shown up to participate, decided to join us and so off we went in search of birds.  After a quick restroom stop, we began to immediately rack up birds for our count, picking up many new species for the day.  I was in the midst of getting Joan on an Eastern Towhee (our first of the day) when the rest of the team contacted us.  They were going to join us at the Arboretum.  We waited for their arrival and again split up the group.

Joan and I broke off leaving the rest of the team to decide if they were going to go as a group of 7 or divide into smaller groups.  We birded the lakeside adding many new day birds including Common Merganser, American Wigeon, Swamp Sparrow, Tree Sparrows, Winter Wren, Marsh Wren, Carolina Wrens, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Hermit Thrush.  We spent a couple of hours combing the area, then hit a few small ponds on the way back to Scully.  When we got to Scully, the rest of the team were already there and getting ready to leave. We took their count numbers and then Joan and I got together to review our species count before attending the compilation.  Our group ended with a total of 59 species.  Of the 59, we had 4 saves (see my post on Montauk that explains what is a save) that included the Ovenbird.  Overall, the Captree Christmas Count ended with 119 species.  Even though I was working on back to back CBC's, I had managed all of our assignments. It was a terrific day of birding that wrapped up, with a very nice compilation dinner.  Hopefully, I get to do this again next year. P.S. to my readers, sorry I have no photos of the birds seen. When doing a whirlwind run of birding I avoid the camera so as not to slow down the team.

Tags: Birding, Christmas Bird Count, Captree Long Island

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Today's Photo - Cooper's Hawk with a catch...

Cooper's Hawk with a catch.  Can you guess what it is?

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