I did my now annual winter raptor survey of the Black Dirt region and Wallkill NWR. About 80 raptors of 10 species were recorded, headlined by 10 Rough-legged Hawks. Not a big influx, but there have been worse years. These were widely scattered, with 3 off Pumpkin Swamp Road, 2 off Mission Land Road, and one each along Maple Ave., Indiana Rd., Skinners Lane, Oil City Rd., and Owens Station Rd. 3 Merlins were more than expected. Red-tailed Hawk numbers were good. I can't say that I saw any unusual looking ones, but very few were flying or sitting on power lines, where the best looks would be afforded. With that comes few photo ops. But there was a juvenile Red-tailed drinking from a puddle on Onion Ave. and a Turkey Vulture feeding on a presumably road-killed Opossum alongside Celery Ave.
There were some large sparrows flocks around. Along Jessups Switch Lane, Skinners Lane, and 2 places on / off Indiana Road, mixed flocks each contained 10-15 White-crowned. And a Common Redpoll was reported on Indiana. Also, a coyote seen from Skinners Lane. Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
