Greetings,

With the day off today from work I decided to head over to Greene County for another shot at a few good targets that I’m hoping to get early in the year for my ‘08 year list. These were mostly gulls including Iceland, Glaucous, and Lesser Black-backed. I was also hoping to take my camera with me to get a few good shots of various species along the way. One of the species I was hoping to get a better look at today was Northern Shrike.

With that thought in mind I headed up to Houghtaling Road near the town of New Baltimore to search for the previously reported Northern Shrike at the Serta factory in Kalkberg Commerce Park. Quick enough I found the shrike, actually quite quick. Unfortunately it was found near where it was before *far away* so a good photo was not in the cards. Birds of note at the Coxsackie Creek Grassland Preserve aside from the shrike were 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Northern Mockingbirds, and 1 Northern Flicker.

After checking out the shrike I headed down to the Coxsackie Boat Launch for my first of two trips on the day for gulls and I was not disappointed…there were gulls there…about 450. Unfortunately I was not able to find any other than the expected Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed. While checking out for rare gulls among the distance flock I was also approached by a trio of Mallards who were obviously looking for food. Common bird but certainly pretty in the right light.

Upon leaving the river I headed up to some of the grasslands for raptors, however I did not have the best of luck. I had 1 Red-tailed Hawk and 2 Northern Harriers. There were no Rough-legged Hawks or Short-eared Owls present. On the plus side, I was able to get a nice view of a Northern Harrier feeding by the road side. But for some reason I was on a road that had a lot of traffic (unusual) and it made it hard to get photos before the harrier flew away. Two of the best photos that I managed are below.

After leaving the harrier I headed back down to the boat launch hoping that the distant gull flock was closer, and fortunately it was. However, I was not able to notice any gulls of interest. I did have 1 individual that gave me second thoughts on Lesser Black-backed, but I couldn’t make a positive ID without a scope.

Certainly I wish I had better luck getting my target species, but regardless I had a good day of birding and got 1.5 hrs of sitting next to a calm river on a 60 degree day in the second week of January. Not too bad, and on top of that there are 51 weeks to go to pick up those other target species.

Good Birding,
~Chad