The Area A gang (not including me).
I awoke at 6 am this morning to a pleasant surprise; the weather forecast had gone from snow until noon to snow until 7:30 am. This was very relieving because I, along with everyone else participating in the Greenwich Christmas Bird Count, was counting on the snow stopping in order to find good birds.
By the time we – Mike, Steve, Ken, and I (all Quaker Ridge hawkwatchers) – got started, at 9, we had abandoned early-morning owling and given up over an hour of daylight – hopefully the rest of the day would make up for that.
Our first stop was the Kensico Reservoir. We drove down a road lined with gorgeous towering conifers coated with snow – totally un-Westchester-like – and stopped where the conifers met some deciduous woods. There I played my screech-owl/chickadee recording, to great effect. At least a couple dozen Chickadees, Titmice, Blue Jays, and other birds came to investigate. After that stop we drove along the reservoir, scanning the water. Waterbirds were sparse, however; the only ones we found were Hooded Mergansers, Great Black-backed Gull, Mallards, and a Common Loon.
A low, very nice look at a pale redtail.
After the Reservoir we headed to our main birding location – the property of IBM. This consisted of a massive amount of acreage, and is home to many, many birds. It made me think how many rarities would be found there if entrance didn’t require special permission (which we had). First, we climbed to the highest point on the property, a north-facing (and quite windy) hill. Mike said that many years ago it had been used as a hawk watch, which wasn’t surprising as we saw Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, and hundreds of Canada Geese in the 20 or so minutes we were there. Next, we continued to the upper field, which at first appeared barren. I played my recording and out popped an Eastern Towhee, fairly uncommon on the count, and, wait, what’s that? A thrush? In my haste to get to my binoculars, my iPhone (which had been connected to mini speakers) became disconnected and fell to the ground. Oh, it’s a Hermit Thrush. Wait, where’d my phone go?! I looked down and just saw snow… Luckily after a couple minutes of searching I was reunited with a wet, but working, iPhone. As we began to head back, I spotted a large corvid over the treeline. A large head, strong wingbeats…a Common Raven! It even gave a low croaakk for us to make sure we knew its identity. Moving on, we headed to a lower portion of shrubby field, which yielded many sparrows species last year. All we found were White-throated, Savannah, and Song Sparrows, however. After surveying a few more spots at IBM (with the highlight being a Ruby-crowned Kinglet with a brilliantly ruby crown), we left (around 1:30 pm).
Carolina Wren.
Business Park Drive was our next stop, and it was well worth it. In an area by a sizable brook, we found Hairy Woodpecker (finally!), Yellow-rumped Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, and more geese. We then took a walk around Wampus Brook Park in the hopes of finding a kinglet or Creeper. We did find Red-winged Blackbirds, American Tree Sparrow, and a Carolina Wren, but none of those. Interestingly, the weird hybrid geese that I had seen at the same spot in the spring were present among the Canadas.
A hybird goose, probably Canada x some domestic kind.
With the sun low in the sky, we headed for our last stop, Nichols Preserve, right on the very edge of our territory. On the way there someone commented on a low Red-tailed hawk on the side of the road. I looked at the hawk, and said “That’s not a redtail” (the chest was vertically streaked). We pulled a U-Turn and approached the hawk, which took off and showed a faintly banded tail and translucent primary patches – another Red-shouldered Hawk.
The Red-shouldered Hawk on the side of Riversville Rd.
Once at Nichols, the most productive spot was actually before the entrance (probably due to the presence of bird feeders). We picked up a few more species, including our much-wanted Brown Creeper, Fox Sparrow (4, actually, one which actually sang), House Finch, and Sharp-shinned Hawk. Inside Nichols we got even more lucky – Eastern Bluebirds, Rusty Blackbird (a county bird for me), and Red-breasted Nuthatch were all new birds for the day, with only a half-hour of sunlight remaining. We then headed back to Audubon. At the end of the compilation, we had tallied 53 species for the day (2 more than last year), and Common Raven had been a count save (no one else saw one)! Because no one had bothered to go owling in the morning, we were missing Eastern Screech-Owl. People were planning to go out to find one, but I had to get home.
Warblings 
Leave a Reply