Hempstead Lake State Park: Spring is Here!

Spring is Sprung! The birds are singing! The flowers are blooming and the butterflies are fluttering!

I visited Hempstead Lake State Park today to locate signs of the arrival of spring. The first sighting came as we were driving there: a large, dark bird with crooks in the wings flying over us. 'Twas a first-of-season OSPREY! It should be pointed out that Ospreys are some of my favorite birds, thanks to their gray-and-white plumage, huge (six foot) wingspan, and stunning headfirst plunges into the water to grab some fish. And, every year when it gets chilly out and the snow is on the ground, all the Ospreys around pack up and head on down to Cuba. Not until spring do they return. Therefore, seeing an Osprey is really a sign of spring.

Then, I visited the South Pond. A raft of Ruddy Ducks swam around, and a large quantity of Hooded Mergansers did the same behind them. Numerous Ring-necked Duck mixed with the Ruddies.

Then, we headed toward the main lake, walking along the trail and making a few stops along the way. A great number of White-breasted Nuthatches hopped up and down the trees, making their nasal "hank, hank, hank" calls.

I observed the South Pond again, from the other side. Here, another Osprey circled around and hovered quite close, allowing for great photos.

Osprey Hovering

More Osprey

Then, we accidentally bumped into McDonald Pond, a tiny manmade body of water mainly for fishing. However, there was a pair of American Wigeon there, which was nice.

American Wigeon Pair

American Wigeon Posing for the Camera

A Cooper's Hawk soared around way up high in the sky, totally scaring the wits out of a series of European Starlings. It was good to see a Cooper's Hawk. I haven't seen one in a long time.

Then, we made a discovery: a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers attending to their nest hole in a tree! I'll go back and watch them with their young later on in the year. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker Nest Hole

I jumped a guardrail (don't tell anybody) and then was looking out over the Hempstead Lake. Ring-billed and Herring Gulls were out on the lake, with four Greater Black-backed Gulls mixed in. Another Osprey flew to my right, carrying nesting material. A Red-tailed Hawk flew across the lake, and landed in a tree. 

And then, there was a little loon out on the water. After much deliberation, I determined it was a RED-THROATED LOON, a life bird! I continued to see him throughout the day, and he much overshadowed the Tufted Titmouse in the trees. A Murder of American Crows sat in a tree.

A Murder of Crows

We headed home, but pulled off again at the South Pond. There was a most likely Common Loon, a Bufflehead, and yet another Osprey. Numerous swallows flew around, some of which were Barn Swallows and the rest of which may or may not have been Tree Swallows, but most likely were not.

The real find there was not a bird, though. It was a BEAVER, swimming low in the water and looking like a beaver generally should. 

It was a fantastic trip!

Totally unrelated to Hempstead Lake or the arrival of Spring, but I found out today that most of the pageviews on this blog come from the New York State Young Birder's Club website, where this site is listed as a young birder blog. Thanks so much for putting it there! Please check out their website, and if you are a birder who lives in NY between the ages of 10 and 19, consider joining!

http://www.nysyoungbirders.org/

Red-throated Loon Flaps Wings!

More Tappen Beach Birding, and some Marine Mammals

I visited Tappen Beach again today. Then again, I could say that a lot of the time.

Either way, it was good. The first thing I found was a pair of Hooded Mergansers floating in Scudders Pond, across the street from Tappen Beach. Behind them, there were four Wood Ducks, and some Canada Geese were hanging around, one of them wearing an orange neck collar reading the code Y9R5. A Double-crested Cormorant was flying around.

Wood Duck

After that, over to Tappen itself, and there was a bird that was a Red-necked Grebe, my best bird of the weekend by far. For those who don't know, the Red-necked is the largest of our grebes in North America, with a distinctive white chinstrap in non-breeding plumage and a general demeanor and appearance that is quite loon-like. I continued to see him throughout the day. 

Some Red-breasted Mergansers flew in and floated around over by a big red-and-yellow boat called the "Deborah Quinn." Two Common Goldeneyes flew across the harbor, and a Hooded Merganser female flushed and landed in the middle of the wide, wide water, where she was joined by a male Bufflehead. Maybe soon we'll have some Buffleheaded Mergansers…?

My dad said, "Right where that that Bufflehead took off, there's a bird's butt sticking out of the water." I looked, but saw a grey lump that wasn't a bird's butt. Curious, I focused my scope. The grey lump had a black nose, two bright black eyes, grey fur and flippers. It was a SEAL! I have never seen a seal before, though I have been to various beaches many times.

Bufflehead

Further down, there was the Grebe again, and some Bufflehead, and numerous Gadwall, American Black Duck, and American Wigeon. 

American Wigeon

More Wigeons!

And finally, I returned to the car. There, six Brant floated around and braved the waves. 

Brant

I will Brave the Waves!

And then, home. But home happily, for it was a great day of birding.

Quack Attack!

Today, I had to chance to go on a trip with my local bird club, the Queens County Bird Club, on a waterfowl walk. Formally known as the "North Shore Quack Attack", the group traveled up and down the North Shore of Long Island, searching for ducks.

Unfortunately, I was not able to join the walk until 11:30 AM. I met up with them at Stehli Beach in Bayville. Things were fairly peaceful, the water was blue and serene, and Mary Normandia, the trip leader and a fine birder, was showing me some Long-tailed Ducks and Common Goldeneyes through her scope. (I left mine in the car). Some Brant flew across the water. Suddenly, we spotted seven little shorebirds flying across the water. They were Sanderlings, a brand spankin' new lifer.

Long-tailed Duck

Suddenly, from around the corner of a nearby building, there came the frantic, though faint, cry of "Owl! Owl!" Nothing motivates birders like the Owl Cry. There was a unanimous CLACK as tripods snapped together and a unanimous THUD as boots hit the pavement, running wildly to the trip member who saw an owl. My last memory of that moment was of another birder on the trip grabbing his tripod with his scope on it and dashing away at the pace of an Olympic runner, I right behind him.

And then I was looking towards the sky, my binoculars trained on all the beauty and glory of my very first Short-eared Owl. "It flies like a huge moth", said one of my fellow birders, and, as I looked at the bird's tawny plumage, it's deep, graceful wingbeats and deep yellow eyes, I couldn't help but agree.

Short-eared Owl

Once the owl had left us and his vicious prosecutors, American Crows, behind, we returned to the beach, where we located two Common Loons, again a life bird. 

And so I left Stehli Beach, having procured three lifers in ten minutes.

Next stop, after getting coffee (not for me, no thanks), was Mill Neck Creek. There, Red-breasted Mergansers floated around with their cousins, the Hooded Mergansers. Buffleheads buffled around in the icy water, and sixty Canvasbacks swam, conveniently enough, on the exact opposite side of the water. In with them was a single Redhead, who, equally conveniently, stayed facing away from us the entire time we were there.

Bufflehead

Next up was an area near the Bayville Rod and Gun Club. This was uncomfortable, as a group of men in camo baseball caps kept shooting off various firearms the entire time we were there. But we saw a Common Loon, numerous Greater and Lesser Scaup, and a group of Brant. 

Upon arriving to the other side of that beach, we looked closer at the Greater and Lesser Scaup, as well as looking at some Mute Swans. A Greater Black-backed Gull associated with some Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. 

We headed out and over to the Long Island Sound. And there, we observed around ten Common Loons, quite close. A lone White-winged Scoter and four Surf Scoters were waaaaay out to sea, but the Sanderlings that probed the sand were right there next to us. Several Ruddy Turnstones mixed with them, but they flew before I saw them.

Common Loon

We were heading out to Oyster Bay next, but stopped to look at some waterfowl we had spotted on the side of the road in a small pond. And it was good. Hooded Mergansers hung out with Common Mergansers and Ring-necked Ducks, with Lesser and Greater Scaups mixed in. Green-winged Teal bobbed around, while a lone Great Blue Heron hung around. See if you can find it here.

Find the Heron

An American Wigeon was present, as were Northern Pintails. It was a fruitful stop.

And the very last bird of the day was at Beaver Lake, a Belted Kingfisher swooping over the water low.

Here is my total lifer count from the day:

Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Lesser Scaup
Sanderling
Short-eared Owl
Common Loon
White-winged Scoter
Surf Scoter
Redhead
Canvasback
Bufflehead

That's 11 lifers in just a few hours! Thanks so much to the trip leader and other birders on the trip for helping me out!

Northern Pintail