[nysbirds-l] Bohemian Waxwings/Northern Goshawk/Barred Owl/Evening Grosbeaks/Red Crossbill/& more boreal birds
3/20/15 Sabattis Bog (Hamilton Co.) It was a beautiful first day of spring early this morning at Sabattis Bog. Brown Creepers and Golden-crowned Kinglets were singing! A first-of-the-season Red-winged Blackbird flew over the snowy bog. I found 3 Black-backed Woodpeckers (nice views of a male foraging at eye level a few feet from me), two Gray Jays (one imitating a Northern Goshawk just as Amer. Crows showed up), and several Boreal Chickadees - wonderful views today and I even managed a few photos. (Photos of the Black-backed Woodpecker and Boreal Chickadee are on my Facebook page below.) Yesterday and today have been record-setting for seed consumed at our feeders - a LOT! Our redpoll numbers have increased and I've observed a Hoary twice, we still have Pine Siskins and Amer. Goldfinches, and all the other feeder birds. For the past 5 days, a Barred Owl has been hunting and roosting all around our house - and often from our back porch roof. It begins hunting in mid-afternoon. Its pattern is to consume prey and then roost. On Tuesday night, it was roosting on a branch a few feet from our back porch. We needed to barbeque and assumed it would move, but it just watched us and stayed put - for hours! A couple of interesting observations: I took a dead mouse from a trap in our basement and tossed it to the owl as it sat on our porch roof. It didn't pay any attention and didn't even seem to notice what I threw. An hour later, I noticed it fly in from the forest behind our home and then fly up to a branch - with the stiff, dead mouse! I watched it consume the mouse and struggle to get the long (house) mouse tail (that was stiff and curved) down its throat. I was somewhat surprised that it took dead prey. Also, we watched a deer's reaction when it spotted the owl on our porch roof - it stamped its hoof and ran away. Another deer with it didn't spot the owl until the owl shook off the snow from its head, and then that deer too, stamped and ran away! I posted several photos of the owl on Facebook. On Wednesday, I took a photo through our kitchen window of the owl eating a large prey item - a bit too gross to post to Facebook! Its bill is usually blood covered after it catches prey. 3/16/15 St. Lawrence Co. birding David Buckley and I birded in St. Lawrence Co. on Monday. MaryBeth Warburton joined us for a couple hours in the morning. We spent time in Potsdam, Stockholm, Winthrop, Brasher, Massena, Waddington, and Madrid. Here are some of the 37 species found: Amer. Black Duck Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Wild Turkey Bald Eagle - 1 in Stockholm; 2 on Simon Pond (Tupper Lake) on my drive home Northern Goshawk - Brasher Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk - dark morph Pileated Woodpecker Merlin - Madrid Northern Shrike - 1 in Potsdam, and 1 in Massena at Hawkins Point Horned Lark - 3 in Tupper Lake (there has been a movement of Horned Larks over the past week) Bohemian Waxwing - 40 to 50 in Stockholm (eating crab apples and buckthorn berries), and a flock of over 100 in Madrid (eating buckthorn berries) Cedar Waxwing - a few in the large Madrid flock House Finch - usual location in Waddington - Brookview Dr. (the only place I find them in the North Country!) Red Crossbill - loud, calling flyover bird in Brasher Common Redpoll - several flocks 3/14/15 Sabattis Bog There were six Horned Larks at the Little Tupper Lake outlet. (I regularly see Snow Buntings at this location in migration, but this is the first year I've observed Horned Larks moving through this spot.) 3/13/15 Saranac Lake (Essex Co.) On my way home from an event in Lake Placid, I found 111 Bohemian Waxwings perched in a tree behind Pizza Hut in Saranac Lake (likely it was over 120 since some birds were behind others in the tree that I couldn't count). 3/12/15 Long Lake There was a solo Horned Lark at the Little Tupper Lake outlet. I observed a Hoary Redpoll in a tree outside our home. 3/11/15 Sabattis Bog Yet another day when one of the two Gray Jays at Sabattis Bog perfectly imitated a Northern Goshawk. We listened to two Barred Owls vocalize during the night over our baby monitor - a wide range of their vocalizations, including the loud monkey calls. I was in heaven and my husband was irritated! 3/8, 3/9, & 3/10 On a three-day tour with a birder from NYC on 3/8-10/15, we birded two days in boreal habitat (one in Long Lake, Newcomb, Minerva, and one in Paul Smiths, Gabriels, and Bloomingdale) and one day in the Lake Champlain Valley. Here are some of the birds found: Amer. Black Duck Wild Turkey Bald Eagle Black-backed Woodpecker - 3; male observed and two others drumming at Sabattis Bog Pileated Woodpecker Gray Jay - 2 at Sabattis Bog, 5 to 6 at Bloomingdale Bog, and 1 on Jones Pond Road (imitating a Northern Goshawk!) Common Raven Horned Lark Boreal Chickadee - 3 at Sabattis Bog with a view of one;
[nysbirds-l] Bohemian Waxwings/Northern Goshawk/Barred Owl/Evening Grosbeaks/Red Crossbill/ more boreal birds
3/20/15 Sabattis Bog (Hamilton Co.) It was a beautiful first day of spring early this morning at Sabattis Bog. Brown Creepers and Golden-crowned Kinglets were singing! A first-of-the-season Red-winged Blackbird flew over the snowy bog. I found 3 Black-backed Woodpeckers (nice views of a male foraging at eye level a few feet from me), two Gray Jays (one imitating a Northern Goshawk just as Amer. Crows showed up), and several Boreal Chickadees - wonderful views today and I even managed a few photos. (Photos of the Black-backed Woodpecker and Boreal Chickadee are on my Facebook page below.) Yesterday and today have been record-setting for seed consumed at our feeders - a LOT! Our redpoll numbers have increased and I've observed a Hoary twice, we still have Pine Siskins and Amer. Goldfinches, and all the other feeder birds. For the past 5 days, a Barred Owl has been hunting and roosting all around our house - and often from our back porch roof. It begins hunting in mid-afternoon. Its pattern is to consume prey and then roost. On Tuesday night, it was roosting on a branch a few feet from our back porch. We needed to barbeque and assumed it would move, but it just watched us and stayed put - for hours! A couple of interesting observations: I took a dead mouse from a trap in our basement and tossed it to the owl as it sat on our porch roof. It didn't pay any attention and didn't even seem to notice what I threw. An hour later, I noticed it fly in from the forest behind our home and then fly up to a branch - with the stiff, dead mouse! I watched it consume the mouse and struggle to get the long (house) mouse tail (that was stiff and curved) down its throat. I was somewhat surprised that it took dead prey. Also, we watched a deer's reaction when it spotted the owl on our porch roof - it stamped its hoof and ran away. Another deer with it didn't spot the owl until the owl shook off the snow from its head, and then that deer too, stamped and ran away! I posted several photos of the owl on Facebook. On Wednesday, I took a photo through our kitchen window of the owl eating a large prey item - a bit too gross to post to Facebook! Its bill is usually blood covered after it catches prey. 3/16/15 St. Lawrence Co. birding David Buckley and I birded in St. Lawrence Co. on Monday. MaryBeth Warburton joined us for a couple hours in the morning. We spent time in Potsdam, Stockholm, Winthrop, Brasher, Massena, Waddington, and Madrid. Here are some of the 37 species found: Amer. Black Duck Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Wild Turkey Bald Eagle - 1 in Stockholm; 2 on Simon Pond (Tupper Lake) on my drive home Northern Goshawk - Brasher Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk - dark morph Pileated Woodpecker Merlin - Madrid Northern Shrike - 1 in Potsdam, and 1 in Massena at Hawkins Point Horned Lark - 3 in Tupper Lake (there has been a movement of Horned Larks over the past week) Bohemian Waxwing - 40 to 50 in Stockholm (eating crab apples and buckthorn berries), and a flock of over 100 in Madrid (eating buckthorn berries) Cedar Waxwing - a few in the large Madrid flock House Finch - usual location in Waddington - Brookview Dr. (the only place I find them in the North Country!) Red Crossbill - loud, calling flyover bird in Brasher Common Redpoll - several flocks 3/14/15 Sabattis Bog There were six Horned Larks at the Little Tupper Lake outlet. (I regularly see Snow Buntings at this location in migration, but this is the first year I've observed Horned Larks moving through this spot.) 3/13/15 Saranac Lake (Essex Co.) On my way home from an event in Lake Placid, I found 111 Bohemian Waxwings perched in a tree behind Pizza Hut in Saranac Lake (likely it was over 120 since some birds were behind others in the tree that I couldn't count). 3/12/15 Long Lake There was a solo Horned Lark at the Little Tupper Lake outlet. I observed a Hoary Redpoll in a tree outside our home. 3/11/15 Sabattis Bog Yet another day when one of the two Gray Jays at Sabattis Bog perfectly imitated a Northern Goshawk. We listened to two Barred Owls vocalize during the night over our baby monitor - a wide range of their vocalizations, including the loud monkey calls. I was in heaven and my husband was irritated! 3/8, 3/9, 3/10 On a three-day tour with a birder from NYC on 3/8-10/15, we birded two days in boreal habitat (one in Long Lake, Newcomb, Minerva, and one in Paul Smiths, Gabriels, and Bloomingdale) and one day in the Lake Champlain Valley. Here are some of the birds found: Amer. Black Duck Wild Turkey Bald Eagle Black-backed Woodpecker - 3; male observed and two others drumming at Sabattis Bog Pileated Woodpecker Gray Jay - 2 at Sabattis Bog, 5 to 6 at Bloomingdale Bog, and 1 on Jones Pond Road (imitating a Northern Goshawk!) Common Raven Horned Lark Boreal Chickadee - 3 at Sabattis Bog with a view of one;
