Great Gray Owls in New York ... Finally!

One of My Most Wanted State Birds Finally Shows Up ....

Saturday, February 11 - Massena, New York

There are two Robert Moses State Parks in New York.  One is an hour os from my house on Long Island, the other is 7 hours from Manhattan (and 9 hours from East Hampton).  So for me to go to the latter one, means there is a seriously good bird there.

For the past week or so there have been rumors of Great Gray Owls in the very North of New York State.  That in and of itself if not unusual; most years there are rumors of Great Gray Owls but they almost never seem to turn into real birds.  There were birds in the 70s and 90s and a bird in 2013 (that for some reason I didn't chase, probably burned out after my big year) but I haven't really had an opportunity to see this species in New York. This year though, the omens were good with a massive invasion of owls into neighboring Quebec, a handful of New York sightings reported to local newspapers, and then, the moment I'd been waiting 20 years for .... a specific Great Gray Owl record from New York, with detailed location, and photos, when  I was available and interested in chasing it!  Game on!

So at 5am on Saturday I was on my way North, heading for that other Robert Moses State Park, this one near Massena on the St. Lawrence River, North of the Adirondack Mountains at the very Northern tip of New York State.  It took me almost 7 hours to get there, and I pointedly avoided checking the list serve emails on the way up (it's not like I was going to turn back).   As I pulled into the park though I allowed myself a peak at the email and the news was good ... 2 GREAT GRAY OWLS were being seen along one of the roads in the park.  Not ten minutes later I pulled up to a bunch of parked cars and a group of (albeit freezing cold) birders watching the owls.  Oh, why can't they all be this easy - after my horrible year of long-distance dips in 2016 - this was an amazing sight.

There were two owls in view and they pretty much did everything you want owls to do.  They did some perch hunting, flew around a bit, changed perches a lot and came close to the road, and one even did some awesome hovering thing over the (hopefully) vole-infested grass.  Quite a show and a very, very cool to add to my state list (NYS #393).

There weren't really all that many other birds present, a few chickadees, crows, ravens, etc.  and a single Rough-legged Hawk.  I did a quick detour to look for a previously reported Barred Owl (no luck) but bumped into a birder who gave me directions to a NORTHERN SHRIKE which was definitely another great add for the state year list.

Northern Shrike - another backlit photo, sorry ...

So onward.  Super happy with my owls, I headed further North with a  plan to add a few more.  I crossed the US-Canadian border near Cornwall Ontario and headed NorthEast toward Montreal, stopping at a small suburban preserve and adding Great Gray Owl to my Quebec list too (joining previous sightings in Ontario and Minnesota).  Nice day ... but cold ... and I had dinner plans in Montreal.  Plans at perhaps my favorite restaurant in North America ... Joe Beef.

Two very old school dishes at Joe Beef - Flanc de Cerf, Dauphin et Foie Gras
and Gateau Marjelain 

Sunday, February 12 - Adirondacks, New York

Up shocking early after Saturday night's excesses and off to the Adirondacks.  I knew I didn't have much time given a forecast snow storm but figured I'd at least have the morning to bird.  The day started really well when, not long after dawn I crossed the U.S. border and had a Barred Owl hunting by the side of the road somewhere in Clinton County.  So on to the Adirondacks to see if I could clean up the available boreal specialties in a single morning.  Well I can dream can't I?

A quick stop at Oregon Plains Road added a BOREAL CHICKADEE  among the more common locals.  Then on to Tupper Lake where I added EVENING GROSBEAK and to Sabatis Bog which gave me Ruffed Grouse and GRAY JAY.  While I was in Brazil a few weeks ago a ROSS'S GULL showed up at Tupper Lake - it arrived just after I left ... and left just before I got back, allowing every serious birder in NY to see it except me (and Corey Finger who was apparently in Austria).  That's a bird I really want to see in New York, in fact I've never seen one in North America.  So driving through Tupper Lake had a certain bitter-sweet element to it, and I did scan the lake, just in case .... but no dream gull.

Birding cars aren't meant to be neat and clean ....

The snow also started to come down hard at that point though and I reluctantly decided to start heading South.  That unfortunately took me into the storm and the next 7 hours were a pretty stressful drive through heavy snow (almost a white-out blizzard at some points), bad roads, traffic jams, car accidents, and other wintery travel fun.  There was a brief highlight when I saw two BOHEMIAN WAXINGS in Indian Pond, but otherwise the ride South to the City was long and stressful.

Not a bad haul of birds though.  A New York State bird, 9 NYS year birds, and a smattering of new county birds on both sides of the border.  By no means did I do a boreal clean-up though - couldn't find a Black-backed Woodpecker, and came up short on Winter Finches other than the grosbeak.  Also, when I got back to New York, I found out that Joan Collins had had two male (!) Pine Grosbeaks sitting out on the road at Sabatis Bog just after I left.   So while I got a lot of stuff on my quick swing through the Adirondacks, I clearly would have seen a lot more had I birded it properly.  Still, always happy to have a reason to go back to the Adirondacks (or Montreal for that matter) so I'm sure I'll find a time to head back up there again.

Boreal Birds and Poutine

A quick run North to add some "Boreal" Species to the Year-List

I'm at my best as a birder when I plan, and at my worst when I don't.  So this weekend, being very much unplanned, produced some very mixed results bird-wise.

With no real plans for the Easter weekend I debated a number of different options before deciding, essentially at the last minute to "Head North" for Boreal birds.  Sounded like a good idea at the time, so with little research, not a peep at the weather forecast, and no fixed itinerary, I booked a hotel in Lake Placid, jumped in the car at 5am on Friday and headed up to the Adirondack Mountains.

For New Yorkers, to get all the State's resident birds, inevitably means a trip (or 8 trips on my big year in 2012) to the Adirondacks for so called "Boreal Birds".  What do we mean by that?

True Boreal species that breed in the pockets of Boreal habitat (essentially high altitude spruce / tamarack bogs) in the Adirondacks.

1. Black-backed Woodpecker
2. American Three-toed Woodpecker
3. Boreal Chickadee
4. Spruce Grouse
5. Gray Jay

And then there are some other Northerly breeders that come down to the coast irregularly.

1. Red Crossbill
2. White-winged Crossbill
3. Pine Grosbeak
4. Evening Grosbeak
5. Common Redpoll (and Hoary Redpoll for now I suppose pending the inevitable lumping)
6. Pine Siskin
7. Northern Shrike
8. Bohemian Waxwing

Some of these species come down to the coast quite frequently (think Pine Siskins), some much less regularly (I've seen one Bohemian Waxwing and two Evening Grosbeaks on Long Island ever), and of course some never come down (try reporting a Spruce Grouse in West Islip and see what response you get from the local eBird reviewer).

Friday, March 25 - Adirondack Mountains

Planning matters!  And so, with no planning, I rather predictably bombed today.   Sabbattis Bog produced a Ruffed Grouse (a year bird), some Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a few Pine Siskins, but no Boreal Birds.  Losing faith I jumped over to Bloomingdales Bog - a "gimme" site for Gray Jay - and saw .... no Boreal Birds.   And then it started to snow ... which turned to hail ... and I decided I didn't like birding any more ....

So I drove to an area with cell reception, cancelled the hotel in Lake Placid, made a hotel reservation in Montreal, messaged a bunch of friends to say I was heading there, and drove North towards the Canadian border.  Four hours after I'd been standing in freezing hail in a damp New York forest, I was in a nice warm French restaurant eating amazing Canadian food, drinking good French wine, and hanging out with good friends.  Plan B turned out to be a good choice.

Foie Gras Poutine at Au Pied do Cochon, Martin Picard's shrine to decadence

Saturday, March 26 - Quebec

Mont Tremblant National Park, Quebec 

So, despite the great French food the night before, I still had no plan, and no Boreal birds.  I didn't want to cross the border again so soon, so actually decided to head further North and drove up to Mt. Tremblant National Park, about two hours North of Montreal.  It's one helluva pretty place and I once saw some Pine Grosbeaks there so I figured I was bound to just randomly bump into Boreal birds, even without any research.

As compared to Friday, Saturday was at least a beautiful day, and even if I'd seen no birds, the trip would have been a really neat drive through great scenery.  There were also actually birds .... finches .... tens of thousands of finches.  The roadsides were full of feeding/gritting Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls and everywhere I drove, I flushed them by the hundred.  While this was pretty cool at first, it soon became quite troubling .... I'f I drove too quickly I risked hitting and killing them (not the smartest things and they often flushed in front of the car as I got close) but if I drove too slowly I just pushed a bow-wave for small finches in front of me down the road.

Common Redpoll

Common Redpoll and Pine Siskin

In addition to the two finches mentioned there were also a fair number of Purple Finches and a single Evening Grosbeak.  At one point I though I heard some White-winged Crossbills too, but I never heard them a second time to let that record go.  It was a pretty day, lots of birds, few species, and good scenery.  All good stuff, but soon enough I headed back to the more human-centered pleasures of Montreal .... did I mention how amazing the food is in Montreal?

Sunday, March 27 - Adirondack Mountains

Well after two bad birding days, but a lot of good food and wine, I was hoping my luck would change ... and it did!  Back to the Adirondacks where on Friday I could do no right, and today ... I could do no wrong.  Birding is a funny, sometimes cruel, but always interesting hobby.

To begin with, the weather was a lot better - sunny, warmer, and (important for Boreal birding, so much of which is done by ear) windless.  And secondly, for some reason, birds practical threw themselves at me all morning ... not that I'm complaining.

I had limited time so I really intended only to spend time at Sabattis Bog before making the long drive back to the City for Easter Dinner.  I set the destination in the navigation system on the Range Rover and sat back, passively letting it make all the decisions, until I realized that I was passing through the village of Bloomingdale.  So taking control back from the computer I decided to make a quick stop at Bloomingdales Bog where I'd skunked on Friday and ended up spending some quality time with a very cute Gray Jay (Year Bird, and a real "Boreal").

Gray Jay at Bloomingdale Bog

Then on to Sabattis Bog where I quickly found another Gray Jay and then watched as a small red car pulled up and a woman got out, closely followed by said Jay, to put out some food at an improvised bird feeding area.  The woman was of course Joan Collins, Adirondack bird guide and all around encyclopedia of all things avian in the mountains, coming to put out raisins for her Gray Jay friends and suet for a very tame, and quite pushy Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Gray Jay - Sabattis Bog

While it was great to catch up with Joan; who I hadn't seen in a while, she was also very generous with her local information and within minutes I had re-planned the rest of my morning and headed off East towards the town of Newcomb.  Where, over the next couple of hours, I really cleaned up on the local birds adding in quick succession .... a Northern Shrike ... a couple of Evening Grosbeaks ... a Red Crossbill ... a couple of Boreal Chickadees ... and a Black-backed Woodpecker (5 New York State year birds, one after another).

Black-backed Woodpecker nest hole

The woodpecker was perhaps the most interesting as Joan had previously discovered a pair excavating a nest hole ... months earlier than they would traditionally do so.  Climate Change is having a huge impact on the birds in the Adirondacks  - Blue Jays now overwinter (at what cost to Gray Jays?) - Swainson's Thrushes are breeding higher and higher on the mountains (pushing out Bicknell's Thrushes?), and everything is breeding earlier.  While it's fascinating to see what's going on, it's also a little worrying and Joan, with her incredible on-the-ground knowledge is documenting it all.

Reluctantly though, I was timed out and still had a five hour drive to the City so had to leave.  I came to the Adirondacks eight times on my big year in 2012 and have only been back a couple of times since.  I've definitely missed it, and I'll be back soon.  As for Montreal ... I'll be there sooner ...

The Cold, White, North .... of New York.

Just back from a quick two-day trip to NorthEastern New York, a bit of a change from Long Island, but a bit of a challenge in terms of temperatures and conditions.  My plan was to head up to Long Lake in the Adirondacks, look for Hoary Redpolls, then head down to the St. Lawrence Valley with Joan Collins to look for Winter birds.  I made a hotel reservation in Lake Placid with a vague plan to either check out some boreal forest spots on Wednesday, or of heading down to the Champlain Valley if I still hadn't found some of my target birds they day before.

These Common Redpolls descended on my car when I arrived in Long Lake,
presumably looking for the sand and grit I tracked in with me.

Leaving the City at 3:15am, I pulled into Joan Collin's driveway near Long Lake almost exactly 5 hours later and was immediately surrounded by a swirling flock of 200 or so Common Redpolls.  Joan has a big feeder set-up and gets large numbers of redpolls every other year when they surge South.

So reluctantly exiting the car, and scrambling for an extra layer of clothing, I greeted Joan and got down to the serious business of winkling Hoary Redpolls out of the Commons.  Luckily, the flock, while skittish, stayed fairly close to the feeders, and we soon had two females and brief view of a stunning almost pure white male.

Female Hoary Redpoll (2 shots)

While there's still some debate about the taxonomy of Redpolls I keep to some simple rules ... pure white rump and undertail, stubby bill, limited streaking = Hoary.  It may be a gross oversimplification but it's probably OK for now, at least until people really pin down the taxonomy of these beautiful birds.  Work seems to be ongoing with experts suggesting a number of forms that may or may not be good species.  They're certainly variable though, and here's another interesting link that has all of the (currently) recognized North American forms (species? sub-species? races? or whatever) together on one feeder.  Fascinating little critters.

Joan unfortunately had a family emergency so we had a bit of a false start before I headed off down to the St. Lawrence Valley in the early afternoon.  I was in search of Pine Grosbeaks, Northern Shrikes and Bohemian Waxwings so cruised roads and the locations of previous sightings in Canton (Nothing), Potsdam (Nope) and Massena (Nada).  Somehow I was sure I'd bump into these birds fairly easily but I was really struggling and it wasn't until I cruised some roads NorthEast of Massena that I finally bumped into two Pine Grosbeaks followed twenty-minutes later by a flock of 22 Bohemian Waxwings.  Of Northern Shrikes I saw nothing, and the search for Grosbeaks and Waxwings had consumed my daylight so I had to turn South and made my way back up into the Adirondacks to the welcome warmth of my regular hotel in Lake Placid.

Wednesday dawned .... well cold.  When I turned off the alarm my iPhone said the temperature was -17 degrees Fahrenheit (-27 degrees Celsius) and I seriously though about turning over and sleeping in.  Still, I'd driven a long way and I don't get up there all that often, so the birding urge took over and, putting on every item of clothing I'd brought with me, I headed out to start the car.  I'd hoped that I could pick up boreal birds driving Oregon Plains Road and listening, but of course I had no such luck.  That left nothing for it but getting out and hiking Bigelow Road and heading into Bloomingdale Bog.  The Bog was bruttaly cold, but also birdy and I could hear Black-capped Chickadees almost as soon as I got away from the road.  Pushing down towards the 'feeder' I saw four Gray Jays sitting quietly on the  tops of nearby trees and, while I hoped that they might come down to visit, they really didn't seem to want to move in the cold.  The chickadees also kept up quite a racket on both sides of the road and before long I heard a Boreal Chickadee calling from behind a group of Black-capped Chickadees.  I followed them for a while, struggling for a look at the Boreal while my face and hands stung in the cold air.  It took me perhaps another ten minutes to see the bird and, as soon as I had, I jogged back to the car (and I'm not one of nature's natural joggers), slammed the doors and turned up the heat, heated seats, and even the heated steering wheel until I got feeling back in my hands and face.

When I got to the car I was ready to head South right away but, as I thawed-out, I figured I already had Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee so I may as well go and look for a Black-backed Woodpecker.  So, bracing myself, I headed back onto Bigelow Road.  I quickly heard a woodpecker tapping away a fair ways back from the trail but, as I was looking for a route to bush-whack in, I head a loud "kweek" call .... Hairy Woodpecker.  So pushing on, it took me another twenty face-numbing minutes before I heard another woodpecker, tapping gently, almost imperceptibly, and close to the trail.   Sneaking closer, I pushed into the trees and bingo ... a female Black-backed Woodpecker.  So back to the trail, and I didn't stop moving again until I was out of the mountains and down in the, relatively balmy (0-degrees F) Champlain Valley.

Rough-legged Hawk in the Champlain Valley.

The rest of the trip wasn't all that noteworthy bird-wise.  I saw some Rough-legged Hawks near Lake Champlain, but found both the recent 'Pochard spots' completely frozen with no ducks to see.  I ended up down at Shawangunk hoping for Short-eared Owls but my promise to be 'back home for dinner' meant leaving by 5pm and the owls had not yet started their show by the time I had to leave.  Still, it's a neat spot and I was treated to a show by 11 Northern Harriers, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, and even a Coyote.

Northern Harrier at Shawangunk (2 shots)

So not a bad trip.  A 'tad nippy' as we'd say in the UK, but a good selection of birds that I'm not likely to see at home in Suffolk County.  The trip, inevitably started more 'Big Year version 2.0' rumors but if people think about it, they'd see that I'm not hitting many of the birds (Townsend's Solitaire for example) that I'd be obsessing about it I was doing another big year (which I'm not!).  Enjoying the birds I'm seeing though ...

NYS 2012 Big Year Summary (Part 4)

OCTOBER
Is a very birdy month with lots and see and lots to hope for.  I spent a lot of time (most days) on the barrier beaches and at the East End of Long Island hoping for Western Kingbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Northern Wheatear and the like but really didn't turn up much in terms of new birds.  I did chase, and dip a Say's Phoebe, and did finally manage to connect with a Western Kingbird at Breezy Point.  The Kingbird was my only year bird from Long Island though and one of only 5 that I managed to turn up all month.

Western Kingbird - this one was at Jones Beach.

The other four year birds all came from road trips.  After dipping Franklin's Gull once in Niagara County I was a bit gun shy about chasing another one up there, but when one showed up at Montezuma NWR I took the risk and managed to get the bird the day after it was found.  Montezuma also gave me my only Ross's Geese of the year on rain-challenged trip to the Rochester area.  I also managed to add Cave Swallow and Lapland Longspur at Hamlin Beach SP, and even though I subsequently saw both species down on Long Island, seeing Cave Swallows migrating along the shore of Lake Ontario was a very memorable experience.

October also brought us Hurricane Sandy which did not bring me any birds, a single Leach's Storm-Petrel was the only bird I could legitimately call a 'Storm Bird'.  I did however bring a lot of destruction and misery to many of the low-lying coastal areas of Long Island, and effectively closed large areas of the barrier beaches for the balance of year.  We actually got off pretty lightly out in NorthWest Harbor with no real damage other than some downed trees.  It did create a sort of 'lost week' phenomenon though as we hunkered down with no heat, or power, and with limited gasoline supplies keeping me close to home.  I spent weeks looking for my Brown Pelican, but still no luck.

NOVEMBER
So into 'rarity season' at 347 species.  It seemed like I was close to breaking the record back in June and then had crawled along, seemingly no closer to the record, ever since.  I still needed 6 more species, and perhaps a couple of spares just in case.  As I looked over the prospects, absent pelagic birds (which I never got in any case) I'd really need a spectacular crop of goodies to show up in New York if I was going to break that 352 mark.  And we did indeed get a spectacular crop of November rarities ...

On the vagrant front I ran up to Canastota for a Harris's Sparrow, and to Athens for a Western Tanager.  I got Virginia's Wabler (!) and Painted Bunting in Queens,  and Northern Lapwing and Brewer's Blackbird at Montauk.  Both ends of Long Island producing at once, and who knows what we might have had if the Sandy-damaged beaches had been open to birders.

Pine Grosbeak - part of what turned out to be an epic 'Finch-Year' with large
numbers of Crossbills, Siskins, and other Winter Finches invading the State.

Ironically, with all these high profile vagrants my 352nd species (tying the record) was Pine Grosbeak and my (record breaking) 353rd species was Dovekie.  Both good birds, but neither a vagrant per se.  The Dovekie, part of a very good year for this species at Montauk so far, came on November 24th and was a huge relief.  After slogging away all Summer/Fall the November spurt hurled me over the record very quickly so it felt very strange to not be chasing that number after so many months of looking at it stubbornly staying out of reach.

DECEMBER
And so into the home stretch with 356 species and still time to add a few more to 'put it out of reach'.

 I did try to get out to sea on fishing boats but had four December trips cancel for lack of bookings.  Pelagic birds really did become the big gap in my list this year with 5 or 6 additional species left on the table due to my less than impressive pelagic effort.  I did however manage to catch up with a Brown Pelican (no-one expects to get their year Brown Pelican in December) thus avoiding an embarrassing miss for the year.   I also got to catch up with another long-time nemesis bird, one which I had chased and dipped often including two painful missed already this year, when Corey Finger gifted me a LeConte's Sparrow in Queens.

LeConte's Sparrow - a long-time nemesis on the East Coast.  I chased it this
year in Brooklyn and Ithaca before getting this gift in Queens.

With the year waning, and my enthusiasm fading as thoughts turned to next year, I did still manage to summon the energy to chase a few more things.  A Tufted Duck in Western Suffolk County was a quick run, but a Townsend's Solitaire in Seneca County wasn't.  Finally on December 28th I ran up to Lake Placid to add Hoary Redpoll, giving me my 361st and last NYS year bird of 2012.

And so I guess I'm all done and I wonder what it will feel like tomorrow not having a New York Big Year to work on.  Although I'll be honest and say that this project was a bit of chore at times, especially during the Summer, overall it was a wonderful experience.  I saw a lot of really neat birds, got to visit some great places, and met a lot of really interesting people.  It was a terrific way to get back into birding in the NorthEast after years where my only serious birding was done on vacations to the far-flung corners of the world.  I learned a ton, and am slowly getting back up to speed in terms of birding skills.  Was it worth doing .... yes, absolutely.  Would I do it again .... hell no.

.........
I'll do one last post with some stats and 'Thank Yous' and then the Big Year is done ...

NYS 2012 Big Year Summary (Part 1)

So while I realize that no-one believes me, this really was an accidental New York State Big Year and I really hadn't planned it in advance.  The extent of my pre-planning was to invite an old birding friend, Philip Dempsey, to bird with me on the East End of Long Island on New Year's Day.  Our plan was to bird hard for a day and see how many species we could come up with, hopefully capturing some of the nostalgia of New Years Days gone by when we were young and rabid birders.  Fact is that neither of us had done much birding in recent years; careers, relationships, and other hobbies (fly-fishing in my case, surfing in Philip's) had pushed birding to the back seat.  So a bracing day of Winter birding would be a fun (and harmless) thing to do and that really, honestly, was the extent of the plan for 2012.

So our day went well and we found some good birds Out East.  It started with a pre-dawn Screech Owl in my yard in Northwest Harbor and ended 73 species later with one of the last birds being a Snowy Owl at Shinecock.  We saw nothing particularly unusual or rare that day and perhaps the best bird was a Glaucous Gull which we found at Sagaponac.  We certainly saw nothing like the Mega-rarity that Doug Gochfeld and Andrew Baksh turned up when they found New York State's first Grace's Warbler at the other end of Long Island.  Philip and I got the call from Angus Wilson but opted to stick to our original plan and stay local (would someone who was doing a big year skip a shot at a Grace's Warbler?).  We had a good day, enjoyed our time in the field and even picked up six more species, including a Mountain Bluebird, on the way back to the City the next morning.

Grace's Warbler - photo by Andrew Baksh, one of the original finders (used with permission).

Then an odd thing happened - the result perhaps of a strange series of coincidences.  My partner Ryan had introduced me to eBird during the Summer of 2011 and I had started to enter local birding records into it.  Back from our New Years Day trip I entered the birds we'd seen and discovered that you could see real-time league table of other birders year-lists.  And, almost certainly as a result of every other serious birder in the state abandoning their New Years birding plans to go and chase the Grace's Warbler, it tuned out that Philip and I were doing rather well on that list.  In fact I think we were briefly number one and two.

So perhaps, I thought, I'll see if I can see 100 (soon adjusted to 150) species in January.  And the rest, as they say is history.

JANUARY
The 'Winter that Never Came' allowed for a lot of birding time and I was able to run around collecting species that had been reported around the New York City area.  In addition to the Grace's Warbler I was able to add a Rufous Hummingbird at the American Museum of Natural History, a Barnacle Goose at Seatuck Creek, an Eared Grebe and a Eurasian Wigeon at Jamaica Bay, and a Black-headed Gull in Brooklyn.  Soon enough though the supply of local birds dried up and so I had to look further afield.

Rufous Hummingbird at the American Museum of Natural History
- photo by Greg Lawrence (used with permission).

In late January Philip and I headed up to the Adirondacks where we met up with Joan Collins and did two days of Winter birding.  Philip was between girlfriends at the time so could be talked into such a trip given copious assurances about unseasonably mild temperatures.  While we didn't get everything we wanted, we did add 14 year birds, including Boreal Chickadee and Gray Jay.  That put me in range for my 150-species January target and I got there with a Long-eared Owl at Hunter's Island in the Bronx on January 31st.  All done ...

FEBRUARY
Or perhaps not.  Having got back into the habit of birding I ended up adding another 31 species in February to end the Month at 181.  I finally caught up with the Barrow's Goldeneye at Jamaica Bay after multiple attempts and added a White-winged Dove on Staten Island.  I also cleaned up on local wintering birds now that I'd learned how to search eBird and had set up a 'Needs Alert' for New York State.

February, being mild, also allowed two more trips to the North.  A second Adirondack's trip with Joan Collins added Black-backed Woodpecker and an American Three-toed Woodpecker, one of New York State's superstar, hard to find residents.  The other trip was my first real foray to the NorthWest of New York and, after picking up two Western Grebes on Cayuga Lake and a King Eider at Sodus Bay, I met up with Greg Lawrence for a Niagara gull trip.  Greg and Joan were not people I knew before this year and in both cases I reached out to names I saw on eBird, looking for help in areas I didn't know well.  Joan turned out to be a professional bird guide (I had no idea) and Greg turned out to be a college student.  Either way, I managed to press both into service as unofficial regional helpers, the first of what became a network of new friends across the state helping me keep abreast of goings-on bird-wise.

Anyway, back to Niagara where Greg and I had a great trip adding Little, Thayer's and California Gulls to my year list.  My first time ever at Niagara and I didn't actually see the Falls - my parents live in Wales, and even they've seen the Falls.

Fun with Gulls at Niagara.  Herring, Iceland, Ring-billed, and
California Gulls.  Photo - Greg Lawrence (used with permission)

Oh, and another thing started to happen in February.  People started to notice my year list - most assuming I was some kind of new birder but a few remembering me from 20-years ago when I was last seriously birding in the NorthEast.  And people started to reach out, including a chap called Richard Fried (who I'd never heard of but learned was the current holder of the New York State Year List record at 352 species) who messaged me via Facebook to ask if I was doing a Big Year.  At the time I still wasn't sure.

MARCH
Is a dull month where, if you've birded hard you'll have seen all the Winter birds and be waiting impatiently for migration to start.  The month started off in spectacular fashion though with the discovery of a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch at Nancy Loomis's feeder North of Utica.  After that star bird however, normal service was resumed and it went back to being ... well just March.  While I added 12 year birds during the month it was quite the slog as I waited impatiently for more migrants and chased down early arrivals even though I knew they'd be abundant in just a couple of weeks time.  My last bird in March was a Northern Saw-whet Owl in the 'Owl Woods' at Braddock Bay near Rochester and I had to work really hard for that bird.  Still, with Spring Migration just around the corner and 193 species in the bag, I was actually starting to think I might actually do a big year.

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

A last run North - Hoary Redpoll in Lake Placid.

This being a 'Redpoll Year' Hoary Redpoll was perhaps the last year bird that I was reasonably confident of seeing before December 31, 2012.  My eBird Needs Alert (if you don't have one, get one) has been popping up Hoary Redpoll sightings for weeks now but I have been waiting for birds coming to feeders before I made one last slog up to the North Country for perhaps one last year bird.

The undisputed king of redpoll feeding is a chap called Larry Master who runs literally dozens of niger feeders (not to mention Flying-Squirrel, Golden Eagle, and Fisher feeders) at two sites near Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.  I've kept in touch with Larry for the last couple of months, and although he's had a few good redpoll sightings, the mild weather has made the redpolls a hit-or-miss thing and less than guaranteed.  So when he emailed me yesterday, in the midst of 18-inches of fresh snow in Lake Placid, to say that things looked good for redpolls, I quickly planned one last trip Up North.

Leaving NYC at 4am I made good time and rolled in to Lake Placid, after a quick stop for a roadside Northern Shrike near the Olympic Ski-jump Center, about five hours later.  Heading over to Larry's house I met his pack of friendly dogs, and his gracious wife, and was ushered into Larry's living room where Derek Rogers was already watching a set of feeders through a picture window.  There were certainly redpolls around, in fact a flock of about 90 redpolls was milling around the treetops in the yard but seemed reluctant to come to the feeders.  So we waited and watched, and slowly the redpolls got more confident and came down to the trees around the house.  On their second visit, Derek spotted a redpoll that stood out as obviously white in a flock of buffy-beige birds.  Even with the naked eye this bird popped out of the flock so we struggled to get better looks through bins and I took some distant record shots.  Undertail coverts looked good ... rump looked good ... bill looked good ... and the overall coloration and structure of the bird all seemed right for Hoary Redpoll.  This particular bird just wouldn't come down to the feeders though and even though we all three got decent looks I wasn't able to get a great photo.

Hoary Redpoll - not the best shot.  The two dark tail marks aren't necessarily
bad for Hoary Redpoll by the way and this bird did not have any fine streaking
on either rump or undertail coverts.

Soon thereafter Larry's children and grandchildren started arriving for family Christmas things so Derek and I tried to make our excuses.  Larry, being the most gracious birding host offered to show us his other feeders and so we convoyed over to his 'farm' in the 'Intervale Lowlands' to check out dozens more feeders and another crop of birds.  There were American Tree Sparrows, Red-breasted Nuthatches, a few Hairy Woodpeckers, and Larry showed us a pile of deer carcasses designed to lure in Golden Eagles.  Before long I picked up a small group of Bohemian Waxwings, a state bird for Derek and then we settled in to watch the local redpolls in the hopes of another Hoary.

The redpoll flock here was quite flighty and moved around a lot, but even in the distance, Derek and I kept zeroing in on a particular bird that looked really good.  Derek, using his new iPhone digiscope mount thingy, was able to get some good shots and when we looked at them later, it was pretty obviously a female Hoary Redpoll.

Hoary Redpoll among Common Redpolls - Photo: Derek
Rogers (used with permission)

So 'mission accomplished' so to speak - HOARY REDPOLL (NYS 2012 #361), I decided to head South for the 5+ hour drive back to the City.  On the way back I got a constant stream of texts from Derek who, with his girlfriend and other family, was staying in the area for the holidays.  First he had a Northern Shrike, and then he had a perfect male Hoary Redpoll.  I'm not jealous ....

A perfect male Hoary Redpoll, and perhaps Derek's Christmas
Card next year.  Photo: Derek Rogers (used with permission)

Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings in the Champlain Valley

So I've been watching the reports of Pine Grosbeaks upstate for the past two weeks and holding back the impulse to run up for them.  The nearest grosbeaks are still at least a 5 hour drive from the City so I was hoping that perhaps a Hoary Redpoll would show up so that I could combine the trips.  Finally the temptation just became too much though, with all my Adirondacks friends reporting Grosbeaks, some even from their yards.  So I finally gave up and planned a quick one day trip to try and get the bird.

I left Manhattan at 4am and got off I87 at Westport in Essex County nearly 5 hours later.  There had been reports of Grosbeaks in the town of Westport but, after 10 minutes of driving around peering at bushes and apple trees in front yards (I really hate this type of birding) I had no luck.  Heading down to the lake I saw a sign for a boat launch which seemed familiar from bird-alerts, so I pulled in and flushed a flock of 60 BOHEMIAN WAXINGS that were bathing in a stream.  A blizzard of bohos came blasting past the car as they flew up into a nearby tree.  Not a bad way to start the day.

Bohemian Waxwing

So, giving up on Westport I headed to Elizabethtown where there had been reports of many more grosbeaks.  Stopping briefly for a Northern Shrike, I pulled into town number two and started looking for grosbeaks again.  After two or three streets, I passed the Community Center (?) and caught sight of birds in a roadside tree out of the corner of my eye.  A quick (legal) U-turn and I found a convenient parking lot to pull into.   I got out, and there they were ... 17 PINE GROSBEAKS (NYS 2012 #352 - Ties the All-Time Record).

Pine Grosbeak (4 shots - female, immature male, adult male)

After taking 318 photos (went a little mad apparently) I finally dragged myself away and went up to Lake Placid where I had lunch, got a local (negative) Hoary Redpoll update, and failed to find Pine Grosbeaks at two other recent sighting locations.  So figuring I may as well head home I turned South but decided to stop in one more time at the Elizabethtown site.  The Grosbeaks were still there, in fact there were a few more (so probably more in the neighborhood) and there was an adult male in the mix. A pretty neat sight, and a great bird for #352.  One more species to go ....

Snark! (Spruce Grouse) in New York

One of my toughest and yet, most rewarding birds of 2012 was the legendary Spruce Grouse.  A tiny, and declining population clings on in the central Adirondacks, very much isolated from their nearest neighbors in Vermont and Quebec.  I tried for this species on several occasions and, despite having some good local information, failed to find one on several trips.

So this was attempt number six for Spruce Grouse - my own personal New York State 'Snark Hunt'.  This time however,  I was feeling pretty confident, having lined up some expert help from some DEC biologists who'd taken pity on me after my long unsuccessful vigils at Massawepie Mire.  I slept in late after the previous night's failed search for Yellow Rails, so I didn't get to the Tupper Lake area until 8:30am, allowing time for a little birding before the meeting.  Best bird by far was a Philadelphia Vireo, which was a bit of a surprise, even though I knew they'd been reported in the area, but I also saw a Ruffed Grouse which caused a brief moment of excitement.  Soon enough though it was time to head off for my rendezvous.

When I arrived at the meeting place, there was a quick change of plans as my DEC friends, while driving over, had found a female grouse with 5 young on a nearby road.  Knowing how much I wanted to see the bird, they had thoughtfully, left someone behind to track the bird, while the others came to get me.  So within 2 minutes of arrival, the promise of a long day tracking down secretive grouse turned into a quick drive and "road-side" views of a Spruce Grouse family.  Why couldn't it be this easy the other five times I'd tried for this species?

Spruce Grouse (4 shots)

While the birds initially stuck to dense cover, as they got used to our presence they came out on the the road and started feeding on the road-side.  Four of the young stuck to cover, and flew across the road when they crossed, while number 5 here confidently strutted across in front of us.

Took a ton of photographs and spent a half an hour watching the bird.  This was one of my key targets for the year; a bird that many New York birders don't have.  Well worth the time and effort.

As a footnote: after I left, the biologists apparently captured the female and discovered that the bird had been captured and banded back in 2008, making her the oldest known bird in NYS.  With only 100 or so individuals left in the state, a proven breeder like this is a really important bird and it was a real privilege to see her.  Wishing the DEC the best of luck with their recovery plan.  It would be a huge loss to let this species go so hopefully the State's recovery plan can have an impact and keep the Spruce Grouse in New York.

Wood Turtle at Massawepie, NY

While the three-day Spruce Grouse stake-out at Massawepie Mire was a bust (Snark Hunt?) there were a few consolation prizes, most notably my life Wood Turtle.  We were driving along a dirt road (I'm not going to share the exact location here) when we noticed a turtle standing in a tire track at the side of the road.  I assumed it was one of the nest-prospecting Painted or Snapping Turtles that we'd seen so many of that day but even a wing-mirror view made it pretty obvious that it was something different so I slammed on the brakes and ran back for a better look.  As I ran up, I have to say I was simply stunned to finally see a real live Wood Turtle just standing there; my first after 22 years in New York and birding and herping in the Northeast.  What a simply beautiful animal.

Took a couple of quick iPhone shots and was about to run back to the car to get the real camera when we heard another vehicle speeding along from the other direction.  Fearing for the turtle, and ourselves, I moved the turtle off the road and quickly ran back to move the car.  Should probably have gone back for better photos but didn't want to move the animal again, or disturb it too much.

Its hard to believe that this species was once a common sight all across the Northeast and across New York State.  A victim of habitat fragmentation, and both professional and amateur collecting for the pet trade, the species has all but disappeared from most of its former range.  Wood Turtles are now considered endangered in New York and the DEC was thrilled to get this record.  Let's hope there's a good population hanging on in the area.

Massawepie Marathon - the search for Spruce Grouse

During late May and early June I spent five days in the Adirondacks, largely in and around the Massawepie Area.  I spent part of each of May 22nd and 23rd and June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the area, at various times in the company of Joan Collins, Richard Fried, Benjamin VanDoren, and Mark Manske among others.  The main point of the vigil was to look for Spruce Grouse, in which I failed spectacularly (the Great Snark Hunt) but there were some great birds to be seen nevertheless.

Mourning Warbler

Breeding warblers are a highlight of any late Spring trip to the Adirondacks with 18 species breeding in the Massawepie area alone.  There are also a good range of other Northern breeders to be had, including Alder and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Brown Creepers, Winter Wrens, Golden-crowned Kinglets and Ruffed Grouse.

Alder Flycatcher

Among the specialty breeders, I was able to take side-trips to see Bicknell's Thrush at Whiteface Mountain and Northern Goshawk with young at a secret nest location.  Although I didn't target any of the boreal specialties I did bump into Boreal Chickadees and Gray Jays, while White-winged Crossbills, Pine Siskins and Purple Finches all popped up from time to time.

Gray Jay

Away from the birds, a close Coyote surprised on the trail was probably the highlight among mammals, while Wood Turtle was the clear star among the reptiles.

So much to see in this most remarkable of parks and, even though the Spruce Grouse didn't cooperate, time spent there is never wasted.