Greetings,

This past weekend (Saturday 09/23) Ryan paid a visit with his dog Finn, at my place in Claverack, NY. The afternoon he arrived the weather was down right nasty earlier in the morning, however things cleared up enough for us to get out to try and track down some birds. We tried at several spots throughout Columbia County (New Forge State Forest, Lake Taghkanic State Park, and Olana State Historic Site), unfortunately it was a rather quiet evening and we were unable to pick up anything noteworthy. We did have 2-3 warblers escape our view at Olana, but I totally take blame for not getting on them quick enough as they flew over a field. But, I can’t rule out the fact that Ryan forgot his binoculars for this trip.
The next day before Ryan departed for VT, we took a quick walk with his dog down the nearby Rail Trail just a minute walk from my house.  While there we found a rather decent sized flock of EASTERN PHOEBES and EASTERN BLUEBIRDS that we decided to investigate. While checking out the aforementioned species, we had 2 nice surprises including a single Palm Warbler (hypochrysea ssp.) and a nice adult Blue-headed Vireo, both of which appeared in the same piece of vegetation within 2 minutes of each other. It was great seeing these two species again (always is), as they were 2 year birds for me.

However, I had another bout of good luck for myself. Today I decided to walk down the Rail Trail again, and while doing so I decided to walk around the same field (cattle field) that we had observed the Palm Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo. Instead of being greeted by a dozen bluebirds and a dozen phoebes, I walked up to a large flock of icterids and starlings. The flock consisted mostly of Brown-headed Cowbirds (500+). I tried to find something more interesting (Yellow-headed or Rusty Blackbirds), but could not do so. After searching through the cowbirds, I walked the fenceline of the cattle pen, and eventually found a small flock of titmice, where after a few seconds of owling, a first year male MAGNOLIA WARBLER came into view. The bird was so close that as I was getting things into focus with my bins, the only clear mark I saw as the bird flitted away was the diagnostic tail pattern of Maggies with the jet black tip at the end of a white tail. Once again, another year bird.

So, all in all…not the best birding the last few days, however, I did get rewarded by some great birds, some of which I haven’t observed since last year.

Good Birding,
~Chad (09/25/2006)