Christmas Break Birding: Episode 3

Christmas Break Birding

Episode #2

South Shore, Nassau County, NY

For this third and possibly final* episode of Christmas Break Birding, I decided to cover two ponds/lakes on the South Shore of Long Island.

First up was Massapequa Lake, a large lake on the southern end of Massapequa Preserve. Upon arriving the first thing that was evident was a large grouping of Ruddy Ducks, forty-five to be exact. A closer scope scan revealed innumerable amounts of Hooded Mergansers and American Black Ducks, with Mute Swans, Northern Shovelers and a Great Black-backed Gull mixed in with the Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. Some American Coot were also present, and while not rare, they do have unusually cute looks for any bird, not to mention lobed feet. I also located a bunch of Ring-necked Duck on the other side of the pond, though the Gadwall and Common Mergansers also present in the same vicinity did not seem interested in socializing. A Downy Woodpecker called from a nearby tree.

Further up along the trail that leads around the lake, a Black-capped Chickadee called incessantly, though it was almost drowned out by the calls of the exciting, amazing, super-rare House Sparrow. On the water, the ubiquitous Canada Geese and Mallards quacked and honked and made a ruckus. A Great Blue Heron flapped heavily across the water, landing on the other side of the lake in some reeds, where it proceeded to sit down and not move.

I had somewhere to be at 4:30 and it was already 3:00, so I moved back down the trail, where a Song Sparrow hid very well in the bushes, though I saw it anyway. 

I detoured along the way to the next stop and drove through Robert J. Burns park, which is situated next to a canal of the Atlantic Ocean. There was nothing at all there except nine Hooded Mergansers, all females, which provided great photo opportunities, as they were so close. Several Ring-billed Gulls were also very close to the car, which allowed for good shots.

The final stop of the day was a place called Unqua Lake, where one had to be careful where one stepped so as not to tread upon Canada Geese and Mallards. My counts, as reported to eBird, were 200 for the former and 150 for the latter. However, there were a bunch more American Black Ducks and Hooded Mergansers, as well as two Northern Shovelers and a nice surprise in a tree across the lake, two Black-crowned Night-herons. 

Speaking of night, the sun was setting, and I had an appointment. Enjoy the day's photos!

*I say final tentatively, as I have no further plans for birding over Christmas Break, but am prone to SBI (Sudden Birding Impulse).

Ruddy Ducks

Gadwall

Common Mergansers

I guess she took off...

The Ladies Club--Hooded Mergansers

"I see you looking at me..."

Common birds are beautiful too!

Incoming!  Canada Geese

A Look Back (on 2014) and Forward (to 2015)

As I write, there are three days left in 2014. With the year drawing to a close, I feel the need to sum up 2014's birding and give a preview of 2015.

This has been, without a doubt, my most serious year of birding yet. I have gone birding too many times to count, participated in several large birding-related festivals/conferences, and gotten seriously into this blog, writing a total of twenty-two posts since January 1, 2014.

I have, as I intended, done lots of eBirding, with exactly 45 checklists as of the writing of this post. I am planning on keeping it up into next year, on a quest to get to the top five Nassau County eBirders.

Right now, my year list for 2014 stands at 114. However, I have three days, and would like to add a few more before the end of the year.

In 2015, I am attempting a very leisurely, relaxed Big Year. Most big years are limited to county, state, Lower 48 or North America, but I am going to try a Big Year in Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, Kings, Richmond, New York and Bronx counties. I will probably not cover some of these counties, but I include them because I would hate to see a bird by accident in one of aforementioned counties and not be able to count it on my Big Year total.

The areas I'll be covering in my 2015 Big Year

I know of one NYC Big Year that reached 307 species, and I know that one New York Big Year reached 361 species. I don't have such huge ambitions for mine; my goal is 200 species.

2014 was a fantastic birding year, so let's hope for an even better year approaching. Here's to good birding in 2015!

Good birding in 2015! 

Christmas Break Birding: Part 2, Searching for Nemesis Birds

Christmas Break Birding

Episode #2

Jones Beach State Park, Nassau, NY

Last year, as most of you probably know, there was a massive irruption of Snowy Owls. Unfortunately, I figured I could always see the bird later and waited until February, when it was Too Late, at which point the Snowy Owl became a nemesis bird, one that everyone else sees but I always miss. 

And so I chose to set this next episode of Christmas Break Birding at Jones Beach, an Atlantic Ocean beach on the South Shore of Long Island, where the Snowy Owl turns up every year. I was also looking to pick up some other nemesis birds, such as Purple Sandpiper and Horned Lark.

Upon arriving at the beach, I found some gulls in the parking lot, including some that were a Black-backed Gull sp., though I was unable to put them to a single species. I briefly scanned the dunes with binoculars, but instead of an owl, I found guys with a gun. I hopped in the car and my dad drove rapidly to the Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center, where we reported the men with the gun to the park police. 

I took a brief walk in the dunes behind the nature center, but found only a rude photographer walking over the protected habitat where he was expressly forbidden not to, flushing up huge numbers of Canada Geese and duck sp..  However, there were good sized flocks of Snow Bunting in the air, their wing patches flashing in the blue sky. A Northern Harrier skimmed the grass and pounced and twirled.

As there was nothing else to see in the dunes, I headed over to the Coast Guard Station and surveyed the water. Here, some other birders had already found five Long-tailed Ducks, a bunch of Brant, and four Great Black-backed Gull. Three Double-crested Cormorant dried their wings. 

After the Coast Guard Station, I headed back to the dunes in the hopes that something had changed and there were now birds all over. There weren't. The flock of a hundred Snow Buntings was still there, but that was it. 

Earlier in the morning, my mother had called the nature center to ask if there were any owls there at the time. The man who worked there said that there weren't, but that some other good birds sometimes hung out in the median and the scrub between the road and parking lot. I went in there, and stumbled upon a flock of House Finch and Yellow-rumped Warblers, which I enjoyed in the fading light. 

At this point, it was too dark to bird any more, so I got in the car and headed home, the gulls circling and a Peregrine Falcon sitting on a light post on a bridge, silhouetted in the sunset.

Enjoy the photos from the day and look out for the next episode of Christmas Break Birding!

Gulls! Greater Black-backed and Ring-billed. There might also be a Herring in there somewhere,
but not sure.

Double-crested Cormorants dry their wings

Long-tailed Duck grabs some lunch and keeps it away from
Herring Gull that kept trying to steal it 

Snow Buntings

Christmas Break Birding: Part 1, Testing the New Camera

Earlier this year, my camera broke.

My Canon Elph 100 HS had a lens error shortly after returning from the NY Birder's Conference and was unable to work. This was very disturbing news, as this had been my very first camera and I had done some good digiscoping with it. However, that particular camera was also my third replacement due to lens errors and so this gave me an excuse to upgrade my camera a bit.

You can't see it here, but trust me, it's broken.

And so, on Christmas, a replacement magically appeared. It is a superzoom camera, the Nikon P600, with 60x optical zoom and many of the manual controls of a DSLR. What's more, it is smaller and lighter than my D3100, making it easier to carry.

Nikon P600

And so, in order to test out this new camera, I began today a new series for this Christmas break...

Christmas Break Birding

Episode #1

Nassau County, North Shore

For winter waterfowl that like to hang out in saltwater, Stehli Beach on the Long Island sound is a great place. I needed to get some first-of-season saltwater ducks and besides, it would be a good place to try out the new camera. So I went.

There was nothing doing in the swamp on one side of the parking lot, so I pulled out the scope and checked the sound. I found a Long-tailed Duck. Then I found another. And another. This kept up until my count was 64. 

Popping out from the masses of Long-tails came two Horned Grebes, which I easily identified by their weird shaped heads.  A Red-breasted Merganser was also bopping along the waves, and soon came very close to shore, allowing good looks and photos. A whole bunch of duck sp., actually probably scoter sp., stayed way far out with the skyline of the Bronx behind them, and with the wonderful looks I got, I officially identified them as Black Blobs.  A Great Black-backed Gull floated in the water. Two Sanderlings landed on the shore.

At this point, it was getting dark, so my parents drove to another location, Mill Pond. One of the numerous places called Mill Pond on Long Island, this one is a relatively small pond situated right next a road, so that one must stand behind the guardrail to view the pond. Here there where the ubiquitous Mute Swans, as well as a whole crew of scaups, which I called Lesser Scaup due to the pointy head. Some Hooded Mergansers hung out on the other side as Buffleheads came in closer, and Northern Pintails stayed far far away. Three American Wigeon hung out and acted cool.

And now, I leave you to take a look at the pictures, all taken with the P600. Enjoy, until tomorrow's episode!

Red-breasted Merganser

Horned Grebe

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling. Yes, I took a lot of pictures of that bird.

Canada Geese

Long-tailed Ducks. Yes, the photo's bad, but these birds were invisible to the naked eye, and were
only slightly more visible in an 8x binocular.