After speaking with Ed Brecher at Jones Beach recently, I knew where I would be by 0800, come Thursday morning - and I wasn't disappointed ! The scene resembled the start of a field trip at the Annual Meeting of the New York State Ornithology Association, with the horde assembling, greeting friends and strangers alike, "smooshing" and exchanging recent birding experiences, before starting to move out ! The birding was "fair", but the human contact was fabulous ! A pair of Wood Ducks, a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Blue-headed Vireo, a couple of Chimney Swifts, a Great-horned Owl, 3 young Raccoon's in a tree hole (2 in the back, and 1 with it's head and paws sticking out of the hole) were just some of the treats ! A couple of the conversations that come to mind was a) hearing of Joe Guinta's recent trip to Texas (he returned just last night, while his luggage returned late this morning) and b) as I was photographing a pair of Fish Crows sitting close together on a branch high up in a tree, I turned to Rick Kopitsch and said "I am calling this shot a couple of courting crows". He, in turn, improved on that title by softly stating "how about making it a couple of courting corvids" ! While our moving mass was on it's last leg, Ed Brecher got a call stating yesterday's Hooded Warbler was just re-found and was currently vocalizing. With that, the walking pace increased, and the exodus was under way.
Never having been to Valley Stream State Park, I proceeded to get lost en-route, which cost me a satisfying look at the male Hooded Warbler, only getting an abbreviated look, till much later in the AM (1130-1200) when I got a "full frontal" . During this time we also had a gorgeous male Baltimore Oriole. Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
