Every winter I take at least one trip up to the Shawangunk Grasslands and Black Dirt Region of Warwick and Goshen, to look for Rough-legged Hawks. I have a well developed itinerary. I typically start at the Shawangunk Grasslands to catch the Short-eareds hunting before they head in to roost, plus this is the best time to count the Northern Harriers and Rough-legged Hawks, as they disperse from roost to hunt. Then I hit numerous stops along the Pulaski Highway, plus Glenwood Road, Oil City Road, and Owens Station Road. I normally avoid the areas west of the Pulaski Highway (Lower Road and side roads) and County Route 1, in order to provide a buffer (to dispersal) and reduce/eliminate the possibility of double-counting. The birds do however utilize areas along these corridors as well, which could mean I miss a few? I can live with that.
Yong Kong and I set-up shop at the Shawangunk Grasslands at 6:05AM. Our best in the air at once was 5 SHORT-EARED OWLS but dawn is the worst time to attempt a count of this species. Reason is, you can see a few here and a few there (in the dark!)...then they disappear...then you see a few more not knowing if they're the same birds OR if they are new birds and the birds from before dropped into roost already? So the the most honest answer I can give is 5+ but I think 7-9 is closer to the truth. Dusk counts are much more accurate because like the Harriers and Roughlegs that hunt the refuge, the Short-eareds disperse off the refuge to hunt as well. Therefore, just like the Harriers late in the day, early in the morning you have Short-eareds returning to the refuge in singles and small groups, which is a factor in the problem I described above. To simplify things, 10 NORTHERN HARRIERS (one gray ghost, nine brown) rose and dispersed to hunt the grasslands. No Rough-legged Hawks were observed. According to my buddy Ralph Tabor (the local dean...nice to see you pal), there are at least two Roughlegs in the area but they must be, at least occasionally, roosting offsite. An AMERICAN KESTREL was a welcomed sight. >From here we headed to the Black Dirt Region and hit nine stops. Pickings were slim and we only had 6 ROUGHLEGS. Most of the raptor action was at the very reliable Pumpkin Swamp, which held 5 NORTHERN HARRIERS, 10 RED-TAILED HAWKS, & 5 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (three dark, two light). The only other ROUGHLEG was a light morph at Skinner's Lane. All in all we tallied 17-18 NORTHERN HARRIERS in the Black Dirt Region; we observed 2 AMERICAN KESTRELS - one at Indiana and one at Jados Lane; and 3 COYOTES were patrolling the large marshy field on Glenwood Road - a good spot for them. This route always holds Roughlegs but six is a very slow day. Especially considering the fact that I have hit "40" twice and my all-time high is "54." My best at any one location is "22" (Shawangunk Grasslands...wish I had the route established back then) and the year of the "54," fifty were in the Black Dirt Region alone! I think I'd cry if I ever went up there and saw subdivisions along my route... Mike Britt Bayonne, NJ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
