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 ...

A Day off in Newfoundland.

Unexpected day off to actually bird in Newfoundland.

So after the easy hits (and epic birding day) on Monday.  I found myself with a totally free day on Tuesday and planned to simply, well just go birding.  I'd asked Jared Clarke for some suggestions and he kindly gave me some locations so I got up early, hit a Tim Hortons, and headed out for my favorite sort of day ... no plans, limited cell-phone reception, unfamiliar place ... and birds .....

First stop was Cape Spear, which as cold and birdless, so I soon retreated to the boreal forests around the settlement at Blackhead (I presume this was named after a geographic feature, not a skin problem) and spent a happy couple of hours slowly working thought 'boreal' (black spruce) forest.  I wanted Pine Grosebeaks and Boreal Chickadees and got both relatively easily, along with a supporting coast of Pine Siskins, both Kinglets, Fox and White-throated Sparrows, and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  The dawn chorus was also supplemented by 'drumming' Ruffed Grouse and 'winnowing' Wilson's Snipe ... a very happy couple of hours for a 'lowland' birder.

Pine Grosbeak and Boreal Chickadee ... rare treats for a largely coastal birder. 

Then back along scenic coasts to the Goulds area where I'd really hoped to get photos of yesterday's Black-tailed Godwit.  No luck with that, although I spent a fair amount of time looking and did luck-out with great views of a River Otter that swam around in the marsh, came up on to the bank (do otters do anything that doesn't look like they're playing) and was so preposterously photogenic I completely forgot to pick up me camera.  Sometimes you just have to look and not worry about the optics, it was a special moment.

Next was Bidgood Park (on Jared's suggestion) where I planned to kill a few hours in what seemed like a pleasant, but not necessarily birdy, local park.  While I was getting out out the car though, and before I was set up, I heard a crane bugling.  "Nice" I thought, "didn't realize they had Sandhill Cranes here".  The bird called a few more times and I looked up, got brief binocular views and got back to business, getting set up to to birding.  It was only after a few steps that I thought to check the range map .... Sandhill Crane it tuns out was rare and accidental in Newfoundland.  With all these East winds and Eurasian vagrants, did I overlook a Common Crane?  Did I see a black neck?  No ... surely I would have noticed that, right?  Yes, it wasn't that high ... I would have noticed.  So Sandhill it was, but it turns out that even that was a rare bird (Alvan Buckley still needs it for Newfoundland) so a good find nevertheless.

The other rare bird I found at Bidgood Park was a bit of an oddity, but in a similar vein.  At the far end of the marsh I heard and saw an Eastern Phoebe.  Again after the fact I sort of had a vague recollection of the locals talking about a vagrant phoebe somewhere and I took photos just in case this was a different bird (they are very rare here apparently).  As none of the locals have since commented on this bird, I'm guessing it was the one that they'd already found.  Rarity is a function of geography it turns out ....

Eastern Phoebe ... garden bird in New York, rare in Newfoundland ...

Next stop was back to look for the European Golden-Plovers in the hope of getting better photos.  The birds were not on the field when I pulled up but just as I was leaving I saw a flock flying by and was able to get a few more shots (not all that much better) and an accurate count ... 58 (Jared's ~60 was pretty good it turns out).

European Golden-Plovers (two more shots)

After that, and chilled to the bone, I sort of gave up for the day, ran back to St. John's and checked the  ponds for ducks, adding 4 TUFTED DUCKS at Kent's Pond and intending to go back to the hotel.  I thought I was done for the day, but the time in the car had warmed me up and, as it was still early, I though better of it and returned to Goulds for another crack at the godwit.  No godwit, but while I was there I met some local birders who (were jealous of my crane but) gave me directions to another Northern Wheatear.  By this time I was getting really cold and chilled but decided I'd like to end on a high note so headed over to Ruby Line Pond (farm?) to the "shit pile" to try to add one more good bird before I gave in.  Sure enough, when I got there, there was a male Northern Wheatear on top of said pile, and I was happy to end my weekend on a high note with a good bird.

Northern Wheatear on a 'shit pile' ... the local term, not mine ...

In the end I had 70 species for the trip, 3 ABA birds and numerous year-birds.  It was a really great adventure and I'm sure I'll be back.  Keep finding those European vagrants and I'll book a flight.  Great trip ...

Chasing "Euro-Trash" Shorebirds in Newfoundland.

A quick trip for some ABA birds in Newfoundland, Canada ....

So OK, I'll admit it.  I have a crappy ABA list.  Most of my friends have at least 700+ but I'm languishing somewhere in the 640s and have never really focused on it.  I guess for two reasons, i) because when I first moved to the US in 1991 the idea of chasing vagrants from Europe in the NorthEast just wasn't all that appealing and, ii) once the World-listing bug kicked in I just couldn't see the thrill of trolling the Southern borders of the US for birds I'd already seen in Mexico, or sitting in the rain in Alaska hoping for a bird that I'd either just seen in Thailand, or which breeds in my parents' garden in Wales.  Time I guess gives your perspective though, and now that I'm safely past my World-listing phase (and now that I've been here a while and see European birds less regularly), my ABA list is starting to get more interesting.

I also blame eBird for this change of heart.  Every day I get an email detailing ABA rarities, and while I'm usually able to ignore it, sometimes birds just stick in my mind.  So after weeks of seeing reports of LaSagra's Flycatcher in Florida I went to see it.  Then I just had to see a Sinaloa Wren in Arizona.  Neither were Life Birds, but both somehow stuck in my mind and just had to be seen (I'm not even going to try to explain the psychology).  More recently, the alert was filled with news of an incredible invasion of Eurasian shorebirds in Newfoundland and, after watching it for weeks, I gave in to the urge, booked tickets, and headed up to St. John's on Sunday.

Before leaving I'd made contact with local birding experts Jared Clarke and Alvan Buckley who assured me that the birds were still there (but that they could leave any day).  I'd arranged to bird with Jared on Monday so counted down the days, checking the eBird reports to make sure the goodies were sticking, until I finally I landed in St. John's in an Ice Storm on Sunday night (quite a change from watching warblers in shorts in New York that morning), scraped the ice of my rental car windshield, and drove through driving hail and freezing rain to the Marriott in St. John's Harbor.  Next morning, after clearing a thin layer of snow (!) off the car (and wondering exactly what possessed me to do this), I pulled up to Jared's driveway at 7:15am, and headed off to look for a troika of rare Eurasian shorebirds, all of which would be new for my ABA list.

First stop was Cochrane Pond Road in Goulds, just South of St. John's.  We pulled up to a field that was full of oddly shaped brown lumps ... cow pies?  No, they were EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVERS, lots of them.  We guessed that there were about 60 of them hunkered down in the field, but later we got some decent looks and got some (distant but diagnostic) photos.  First ABA birds of the trip, and it took seconds after getting bins out of the bag .... this was looking promising.

'Cow-pies' turned out to be 60-ish European Golden Plovers hunkered down in a field
(with a diagnostic ID shot down below).  A bird that is annual in Newfoundland but
which arrived in unprecedented numbers this Spring.

So that was easy!  And so, after trying to get closer via a couple of different roads (and failing), we decided to head off to look for the next target - after all, these birds could leave at any minute, the pressure was on.

Next stop was Third Pond in Goulds, where we walked across a race track (horses) to overlook a nice marsh and lake.  The target here was BLACK-TAILED GODWIT and there had been up to three of them the week before.  At least one of the godwits was supposed to be lingering and we learned that it had been seen that morning although the bird was apparently distant and being seen on the other side of the lake.  Setting up scopes, we scanned and .... no godwit.  So we just hunkered down in the cold and kept scanning the area where the bird had been seen earlier that day (left of the plastic bucket apparently).  After ten minutes, Jared, who'd borrowed my scope, got the bird and pulled me over to the eye-piece.  It was a good job he did because the bird, which was frequenting a small muddy area of field that was largely obscured from us, wandered out for a minute or so then turned around and drifted back out of sight.  No photos, but decent views, and a very spiffy breeding-plumage Black-tailed Godwit joined the list ... ABA bird number two.

OK, so two quick ABA birds and time to drive South for the star bird, North America's third record of COMMON REDSHANK (although the records each involved multiple birds) which had been hanging out at Renews, about an hour South of where we were, for the past week or so.  So back in the car and off we went, luck definitely seemed to be on our side.

An hour later, we pulled up to the 'Redshank spot' where another local guide (Dave Brown?) and his client had scopes set up by the side of the road.  We jumped out expecting the redshank, but it turns out that it wasn't there and they were just watching the worlds tamest Northern Wheatear (not exactly a bad bird though).

The world's tamest Northern Wheatear (2 shots)

Nice bird, but not what we were there for, so while I photographed the wheatear, Jared wandered along the beach and within minutes, a shout and excited waving alerted us to the fact that he had 'the bird'.  The Common Redshank turned out to be equally confiding and allowed decent photos.  This is a bird that breeds near my parents' house in Wales and one which I saw daily growing up, but here in North America it did in fact seem very special.  ABA bird number 3.  Mission accomplished ....

Common Redshank - ABA 'Code 5' and a very special bird in North America.

So by 10:45am, we had all three target birds and Dave's client was on the phone changing his flights and canceling his hotels so he could go home early (he apparently had no intention of actually birding on this trip - he was shown his ABA birds and was done).  I had a day and a half left before my scheduled return flight however, and I really wanted to go birding.  Newfoundland was spectacular and I really wanted to get to know it better, see some more birds, and maybe even find a few more things (the locals were convinced that there was a European Oystercatcher out there somewhere).

We don't get a lot of icebergs in New York ... as I said, Newfoundland was different
and spectacularly scenic.

So with an afternoon 'at leisure' we decided to bird Cape Race, dragging Dave's reluctant client along with us.  We saw some really cool things - 3 Snowy Owls, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls, Black Guillimots, Razorbills and Common Murres, two Pomarine Jaegers, another Northern Wheatear, and even a dead Sperm Whale.  A really nice afternoon of birding in spectacular scenery.

One of three Snowy Owls at Cape Race ... the last of the biggest invasion in
living memory.

On the way back to St. John's we even added some Gray Jays, a few Merlins, and (even though we were too early for Atlantic Puffins and Nothern Fulmars), enjoyed some great birding in some spectacular spots.

Afternoon birding highlights (for me anyway) included Gray Jays and Ruffed
Grouse. 

By the time I dropped Jared off at his home and wound my way back to the hotel I was exhausted (and realized that I hadn't eaten anything all day) but I'd had a great day of birding, 3 ABA birds, multiple year birds, and a really good time.  Local lobster for dinner, a few cocktails, and an early night.  Great day ...

Postscript:  the Black-tailed Godwit was not seen again after Monday (I looked twice on Tuesday but didn't see it).  The Common Redshank also apparently departed either on Tuesday or Wednesday as an extensive search by Alvan Buckley and Neil Hayward (of record ABA Big-year fame) also came up blank despite many hours of searching on Wednesday.  Seems I got there just in the nick of time ....

Blasts from the Past: Great Gray Owls near Ottawa, Ontario

Given that Great Gray Owls seem to be in Southern Canada in some numbers this year, we've been waiting for one to show up in New York State.  Yesterday we got word of one near Massena (a spot I birded last week) and, while I won't be able to chase this one this week, it's hopefully a good sign of more to come.  In the meantime, here are some photos from a great Owl-oriented trip to Ontario in 2009.  We saw 7 species of owls in 4 days (Snowy Owl, Great Gray Owl, Long-eared Owl, Barred Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Boreal Owl, Northern Hawk Owl).  Dream birds in New York but a little more regular up there in Canada.

Great Gray Owl (2 birds, 4 shots)

Finishing with a sunset photo -  think we had three individual Great Grey Owls
in view at the same time in this one area.  A really neat trip, and great birds.

Barola (Little) Shearwater - Nova Scotia

Way to go Tom Johnson - that's one helluva bird this side of the Atlantic!  A mere handful of records of this species from the ABA area.  Great pics on his eBird checklist.

checklist