The First Chase of Big Year 2013

A few days ago a local birder on his way home from work, noticed 2 odd shapes next to a little patch of water along the north shore of the Mohawk River in Crescent, Saratoga County.  The birds were just within the lights of a local Tavern and in this dim light, he could make out that they were 2 Sandhill Cranes!

Sandhill Crane is a bit of a enigma in Region 8, it occurs in the area annually, but its totally random as to where they might show up.  In e-bird (where I am the local reviewer), there had been 2 Sandhill Cranes present in western Saratoga County on and off for much of the latter part of 2012.  Perhaps the same birds?

The next morning a few birders still found the Cranes at first light and they hung around for about an hour after sunrise before taking off west over I-87 and Twin Bridges.  Another birder stopped back at the area around 5pm that night and again found the Cranes in the spot they had been reported next to the tavern.

The next day more birders showed up, but the Cranes took off right after sunrise (and just as I was leaving the house!), but once again the came back late in the afternoon to the same spot.

This morning, I made another attempt after getting the kids on the bus.  At 7:30 am I got an e-mail saying the birds were still present, so both Danika and I were hopeful.  We finally got to the spot around 8:30 am and found quite a few birders there (The Thursday Morning Group) and sure enough, there were the 2 Cranes in the little patch of water next to the tavern.  We enjoyed the Cranes for about 30 minutes, even getting a cruddy, but at least recognizable picture.

Sandhill Cranes, Saratoga County NY – January 2013 – By Danika Raup

After seeing the Cranes, we hopped on the Northway and headed up to Queensbury, Warren County where Pine Grosbeak has spent much of the winter.  The original areas I had seen them with Corey Finger back in December were all eaten and it took us sometime of wandering through various housing developments looking for Crab apples   Finally, we had a flock of about a dozen birds fly over us in one development (year bird # 2 for the day), not the best looks (especially for Danika who has not seen them in a couple of years), but clearly countable and identifiable.

Pine Grosbeak – Queensbury, Warren County NY – December 2012 by Will Raup

After getting the Grosbeaks, we headed over to Ft. Edward, Washington County, but it was very quiet.  There were a few good looking Rough-Legged Hawks and many, many Red-tailed Hawks, a small flock of about 25 Snow Buntings and a lone American Kestrel (year bird # 3 of the day).

Our last stop was at Wrights Loop in Saratoga County, where I hoped to pick up an Eastern Screech Owl that tends to roost in a Wood Duck box there, but no luck, though although we did find a Northern Flicker, the 4th new year bird of the day.

So the first chase of 2013 was a success, 4 new year birds bringing me up to a nice 58 through the 1st 10 days of January!  And getting Sandhill Crane was nice, it was on my “possible” list, so always nice to be able to cross one of those off!

Albany County CBC Highlights

December 16, 2012

Barred Owl – New Baltimore, New York – December 2012 – By Danika Raup

Red-Shouldered Hawk – New Baltimore, New York – December 2012 – by Will Raup

 

Butterfly Kisses

Using our Kaufman butterfly field guide that we won from our friends at http://10000birds.com/ we were able to tell that all of the small blue butterflies we found dancing up and down the paths at Vosburgh’s Marsh were, Spring Azures.  Kaufman calls them widespread and common.  They occur in spring and summer in the north east and are often thought to be one of the first signs of spring here.  So while Will went off in search of spring warblers I got distracted by the little things along the way. 

-Vosburgh’s Marsh, and 4 mile point-

Is a track of land half way between Hudson and Cosxackie NY along the Hudson river.  It is owned by a local organization called Scenic Hudson that preserves historical and environmentally relevant land along the Hudson river Vally.   http://www.scenichudson.org/parks/fourmilepoint  

In a accessible point of view the trails are wide, dirt or grass paths that may not be suited to people with disabilities.  But there are parking lots at both ends of the road, and the mile drive goes through many different habits so there is plenty to see whether you’re in the car or out.  There is not much traffic on the road and as long as you use the marked lots you wont have to face the dogs

This description was taken from http://library.fws.gov/pubs5/web_link/text/upp_hud.htmt ,  and while it maybe out of date being that the most recent year i could find in the article was 1996, it has relevance in its documenting what this area was and is to this day.

SIGNIFICANT HABITATS AND HABITAT COMPLEXES
OF THE NEW YORK BIGHT WATERSHED

Upper Hudson River Estuary
COMPLEX #33

Vosburgh Swamp-Middle Ground Flats is a freshwater wetland
complex extending for 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) along the western shore of the
Hudson, upstream from the village of Athens at river kilometer 192 (river mile
119). This 486-hectare (1,200-acre) complex includes mudflats, shallows,
freshwater tidal marsh, freshwater marsh, palustrine hardwood swamp, dredged
material bank islands habitat, and freshwater creek, i.e., a 0.8-kilometer
(0.5-mile) section of Murderers Creek to the first barrier, the Sleepy Hollow
Lake Dam. This area’s habitat values for fish and waterfowl are similar to those
of a number of sites already described. What is unusual is that Middle Ground
Flats contains one of the only known bank swallow (Riparia riparia)
breeding colonies in the area. Several rare plants occur here, including
exemplary occurrences of heart-leaf plantain and southern estuarine
beggar-ticks, as well as kidneyleaf mud-plantain and smooth bur-marigold.