“Upstate” with the Hawkers

Depending on your location in New York, upstate and downstate have very different meanings. For those in Albany, the Adirondacks might be upstate while Westchester downstate, though for those on Long Island, Westchester might be upstate (and I guess there’s no downstate). Well, on Sunday, I went “upstate,” if you could even call it that, to the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge, and to a lesser extent, Croton Point Park, with some hawk watchers from Quaker Ridge. The weather was excellent — a high of 45F was predicted for the day, a nice change from previous weeks in the 20s and 30s.

At Croton we hoped to find some waterfowl, eagles, and maybe even some uncommon birds that had been reported hanging around. Strangely, there was next to no waterfowl at the Croton Train Station, usually filled with ducks. All we saw were some Bufflehead and Mute Swans. We were treated to excellent looks at an adult Bald Eagle perched on a stick poking out from the riverbed on the opposite side of the train tracks.

We had better luck once actually in the park. There had been a Red-headed Woodpecker reported nearby one of the parking lots, so we headed there first. After spreading out and combing the area for perhaps 15 minutes, we headed back to the car, disappointed. Just as we were about to pile in, Mike exclaimed that he had the bird! Sure enough, there it was in a tree not 50 feet away. We spent the next several minutes following the Red-headed Woodpecker from tree-to-tree, shutters clicking.

The best shot I got of the Red-headed Woodpecker. It took a bit of patience before it flew out into some good light.

After the woodpecker, we drove up to a lot on top of the capped landfill-turned grassland. We couldn’t find any evidence of owls in the pines surrounding the lot, and we began to walk down the road toward the water. After a minute or two we encountered a small band of passerines. White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, all the usuals…but wait — a flash of yellow here…and out emerged an Orange-crowned Warbler! There had been sporadic reports of one from that general area throughout the winter, but this particularly hardy individual hadn’t been seen for at least a month (at least by birders who post to the NYS Listserv). The day was turning out to be pretty good, but the best was still yet to come.

I suggested we go down to the water, and it was a good decision — many more waterfowl were present than at the train station, though still not as much as earlier in the season. We attributed this at least partly to the almost completely thawed Hudson, which had been much more frozen just a couple weeks prior. There we found Common Goldeneye, Ruddy Ducks, more Bufflehead, and a large group of Common Mergansers — approaching 50 birds. That same Bald Eagle on the stick was still visible.

It was 2:15 and we figured it was time to head for Shawangunk. After over an hour’s drive (we stopped to examine a few interesting birds along the way), we arrived. It was cold and windy, not anything like the warm sun at Croton. Luckily, though, it was already 4:30, and we wouldn’t have to wait much more than an hour for the sun to set. As the shadows lengthened, it got colder (and windier), and I began to regret leaving my warmest gloves in the car. There were birds to look at to keep me occupied, though. Many Northern Harriers, several of them males, coursed over the grasslands. An American Kestrel whizzed by, silhouetted by the setting sun. Then, a Short-eared Owl appeared. Then another took off from by a stand of phragmites. Then another. And another. And another. Pretty soon there were over six owls in the air, soon joined by more. We watched over ten owls for 30 minutes or more as they hunted over the fields, flying so very slowly, mothlike. I was surprised they managed to stay airborne. Eventually the owls dispersed across the refuge, and by 6 pm there were only a couple nearby. The light fading, we headed back to the cars, extremely satisfied with the great show the owls put on for us. Excellent pizza at a nearby italian restaurant put a great end to a very nice afternoon birding.

It was extremely difficult to digiscope the far-off owls in the very low light. This is the best I managed, and it does the bird absolutely no justice...