[nysbirds-l] Sparrows at Union Square Park and birds from The Adirondaks, etc.
Both the White-crowned Sparrow and the Swamp Sparrow were easily visible towards the South end of Union Square Park at around 10:45am this morning. A bit of a contrast from our weekend where Philip Dempsey and I joined Joan E. Collins for some Adirondack birding on Saturday. Spent most of Saturday and early Sunday morning around Oregon Plains/Bigelow Roads and Bloomindale Bog. I think others have documented this area recently so I won't go into detail. In summary we saw GRAY JAYS, BOREAL CHICKADEE and good numbers of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS and PINE SISKINS, along with a supporting cast that included Ruffed Grouse, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Purple Finch, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Pileated Woodpecker. We spent a lot of time listening/looking for Black-backed Woodpecker but came up empty. We did however stumble into a mixed flock of Waxings (mostly Cedar Waxwings but with at least four BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS) feeding on fruit in ornamental trees at the Pizza Hut in Saranac Lake at around 3pm. Joan went back later and estimated the flock to be about 70 birds in total although most were sitting high in pine trees with only a smaller subset coming down to feed at any given time. Thanks to Joan for sharing her, voluminous, local knowledge and providing such pleasant company. On Sunday afternoon, Philip and I drifted South as the snow started to get heavy near Bloomingdale. We spent a fair amount of time in the fields North of Westport and picked up three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS in the Clark Road triangle, along with a NORTHERN SHRIKE a little further North. We finished birding at the Fort Edward Flats (or Fort Edward IBA) with another three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, four Northern Harriers and 8 Wild Turkeys. This site is apparently a great spot for Short-eared Owls, with locals reporting 13 or more some evenings, but we had to head South before the appropriate time. -- 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/ --
[nysbirds-l] Sparrows at Union Square Park and birds from The Adirondaks, etc.
Both the White-crowned Sparrow and the Swamp Sparrow were easily visible towards the South end of Union Square Park at around 10:45am this morning. A bit of a contrast from our weekend where Philip Dempsey and I joined Joan E. Collins for some Adirondack birding on Saturday. Spent most of Saturday and early Sunday morning around Oregon Plains/Bigelow Roads and Bloomindale Bog. I think others have documented this area recently so I won't go into detail. In summary we saw GRAY JAYS, BOREAL CHICKADEE and good numbers of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS and PINE SISKINS, along with a supporting cast that included Ruffed Grouse, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Purple Finch, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Pileated Woodpecker. We spent a lot of time listening/looking for Black-backed Woodpecker but came up empty. We did however stumble into a mixed flock of Waxings (mostly Cedar Waxwings but with at least four BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS) feeding on fruit in ornamental trees at the Pizza Hut in Saranac Lake at around 3pm. Joan went back later and estimated the flock to be about 70 birds in total although most were sitting high in pine trees with only a smaller subset coming down to feed at any given time. Thanks to Joan for sharing her, voluminous, local knowledge and providing such pleasant company. On Sunday afternoon, Philip and I drifted South as the snow started to get heavy near Bloomingdale. We spent a fair amount of time in the fields North of Westport and picked up three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS in the Clark Road triangle, along with a NORTHERN SHRIKE a little further North. We finished birding at the Fort Edward Flats (or Fort Edward IBA) with another three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, four Northern Harriers and 8 Wild Turkeys. This site is apparently a great spot for Short-eared Owls, with locals reporting 13 or more some evenings, but we had to head South before the appropriate time. -- 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/ --
