Greetings,

Getting out of work today my folks asked me if I
wanted to join them for dinner so I decided to take
them up on it, especially because they also wanted to
go for a ride to one of my local birding haunts, Lake
Taghkanic State Park.

Driving out to the park we drove by Miller Rd in
Churchtown and I was able to pick up a single GREATER
YELLOWLEGS in the field’s wet depression. There was
also a single BALTIMORE ORIOLE at the Happy Clown Ice
Cream stand on Rte 82.

Lake Taghkanic itself proved to be more productive
yielding me several great First of Season (FOS) birds,
almost all in the fading light. Highlights were:

PIED-BILLED GREBE- 1 (F0S)
LEAST FLYCATCHER- 1 (F0S)
WARBLING VIREO- 1
YELLOW-THROATED VIREO- 1 (F0S)
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER- 15
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET- 5
GRAY CATBIRD- 5
BLUE-WINGED WARBLER- 1 (FOS)
YELLOW WARBLER- 5
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER- 40
AMERICAN REDSTART- 1 (FOS)
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT- 1 (FOS)
OVENBIRD- 1
EASTERN TOWHEE- 1
WHITE-THROATED SPARROW- 5

All in all not a bad day considering my trip wasn’t
necessarily 100% birding oriented. Between increased
hours at work, and increased gigs with my band,
getting out to bird at my usual frequency is a tad
hard. I suppose I’ve been spoiled having done bird
research for the 3 past breeding seasons. At any rate,
it was still a great day to get out, and it is once
again wonderful to see many of these east coast
migrants that I have missed the past two years in CA.

Good birding…keep em coming
Chad