Chasing Gold in Dutchess County

A quick run North for a Golden Eagle (because sometimes you have to do things like that)

So, to be honest, I might just be getting a little tired of Long Island birding, so this morning I figured it was time for a change. One of the most intriguing eBird reports locally this year has been a single Golden Eagle that has been seen regularly in Dutchess County (about an hour and a half North of the City on the East bank of the Hudson River).  So for a little variety in the birding diet, I figured I'd head up that way on Sunday morning and so hit the road at 7am with eagles on my mind.

Based on the eBird reports I had just the vaguest idea of where the eagle was hanging out but when I got to the area it didn't take me long to work out what was going on.  I quickly added Pileated Woodpecker and Eastern Bluebird to the year list and then was thrilled to add a Ring-necked Pheasant.  Then I saw another pheasant, then two more, then .... well let's just say they were everywhere, with perhaps 50 or more in the fields near Dover Plains.  Turns out that the area has several gun clubs and that they obviously stock a LOT of pheasants (all the birds I saw today were male by the way).  These pheasants were also obviously recently released ... by which I mean they were DUMB!  I had to stop the car to let one of these birds wander slowly across the road in front of me .... he was lucky that time ... but when I came back to the same place an hour later, sure enough there was a roadkill pheasant on the roadside.  But it solved the mystery of why so many raptors seem to be hanging around in this rea ... lots of pheasant meat ....

One of many, very dumb, pheasants ...

I wasn't here for pheasants though so I started cruising the roads looking for raptors and soon started to see eagles ... well Bald Eagles, and lots of them.  There were at least ten Bald Eagles just loafing around on tall trees in the river valley and, with more time looking, also lots of Red-tailed Hawks, a Cooper's Hawk and a really pretty adult Red-shouldered Hawk.  But no Golden Eagle, so I spent a couple of hours scanning and driving the roads hoping to bump into the star bird.

After almost two hours of this routine, I drive a road I'd tried several times before, but which gave a good view of a broad river valley, and there, I finally saw a kettle of soaring birds.
2 Red-tailed Hawks ...
2 Bald Eagles ...
a Sharp-shinned Hawk ...
a super-high Black Vulture ... very cool ... and a year bird ...
and what's that ....
GOLDEN EAGLE!
So I jumped out of the car to try to get some records shots ... and I'm afraid that's pretty much all I got ....

Golden Eagle (two shots) - distant and heavily cropped, but it's a Golden Eagle! 

So very happy with my morning in Dutchess County, and I managed to move my Dutchess County list from a 'pitiful' 18-species to a 'just embarrassing' 43-species ... still, it's progress.

On the way back I stopped in another much neglected county, one I really never bird in), and chased a Black-headed Gull in Larchmont in Westchester County.  Needless to say I dipped (second Black-headed Gull dip of the weekend), but I was still pretty happy with my expedition to the North of the City.

Update:  turns out that the area I birded today was subject to some controversy in past years where birders did not respect local landowner rights and trespassed on private property.  Would not have published the exact location had I known, and I've since removed many of the exact details.  If you saw the original post and plan to go, please be very careful to respect the locals and property rights.  Lots of places to see eagles, no need to cause controversy.