May 13, 2010 - Ulster County from Saugerties to Esopus Steve Chorvas and I did some scouting for the upcoming Ulster County big day Saturday, May 15. We started out at 3 AM and parted company at 3 PM. It was pretty cold in the morning with temps below freezing, but aside from that it was a nice calm day. Migrants were in short supply. We dipped on Whip poor will, maybe because it was cold and a new moon, or perhaps they are just getting harder and harder to find. We also dipped on Cerulean Warbler again. Highlights included a Broad-winged Hawk, which is always difficult to find on big day, and a Barred Owl hootenanny at 4:30 AM near the Ashokan Reservoir. We did manage to scrape up slightly over a hundred species but nothing too unusual. The Brant were flying over the river at the Saugerties Lighthouse at dusk, right on schedule.
Canada Goose 40 Brant 200 (FM) Mutant Swan 1 Wood Duck 2 Mallard 2 Common Merganser 4 Wild Turkey 2 Common Loon 3 Double-crested Cormorant 5 Great Blue Heron 2 Turkey Vulture 1 Osprey 1 Bald Eagle 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Broad-winged Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 Killdeer 2 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Solitary Sandpiper 2 Least Sandpiper 1 Ring-billed Gull 40 Herring Gull 1 Rock Pigeon 12 Mourning Dove 10 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 (SC) Barred Owl 5 Chimney Swift 4 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 2 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 2 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Least Flycatcher 1 Eastern Phoebe 3 Great Crested Flycatcher 5 Eastern Kingbird 5 Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Blue-headed Vireo 2 Warbling Vireo 5 Red-eyed Vireo 3 Blue Jay 5 American Crow 10 Fish Crow 2 Common Raven 1 Tree Swallow 5 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 Cliff Swallow 10 Barn Swallow 4 Black-capped Chickadee 3 Tufted Titmouse 10 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 Carolina Wren 2 Marsh Wren 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3 Eastern Bluebird 2 Veery 2 Wood Thrush 5 Swainson's Thrush 1 (FM) American Robin 20 Gray Catbird 25 Northern Mockingbird 4 Brown Thrasher 1 European Starling 5 Cedar Waxwing 4 Blue-winged Warbler 1 Nashville Warbler 2 Northern Parula 3 Yellow Warbler 5 Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Black-throated Green Warbler 2 Pine Warbler 1 Prairie Warbler 2 Blackpoll Warbler 2 Black-and-white Warbler 3 American Redstart 6 Worm-eating Warbler 3 Ovenbird 5 Northern Waterthrush 2 Louisiana Waterthrush 3 Common Yellowthroat 3 Scarlet Tanager 5 Eastern Towhee 1 Chipping Sparrow 5 Field Sparrow 2 Song Sparrow 5 Dark-eyed Junco 3 Northern Cardinal 5 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5 Indigo Bunting 4 Bobolink 6 Red-winged Blackbird 10 Common Grackle 2 Brown-headed Cowbird 4 Orchard Oriole 1 Baltimore Oriole 4 Purple Finch 1 House Finch 1 American Goldfinch 4 House Sparrow 5 Good Big Day Birding, Frank Murphy South Saugerties, NY Ulster County [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
