Greetings,

With my window open today getting some atmosphere into my room, I heard the trill of a singing Dark-eyed Junco outside my yard across the street. This is the first of trills that I have heard this year, and it made me remember one of my favorite articles that I wrote on the site, the Trillogy. If you are like me and you need a refresher on this, please check it out. It will make you ready for the Chipping Sparrows and Pine Warblers yet to come!

Chad

Greetings,

Today while searching quickly through Hudson’s Cedar Park Cemetery for the first wave of migrating vultures, I was fortunate enough to spot a pair of BLACK VULTURES in addition to about 15 Turkey Vultures (separate flocks). The two Black Vultures that I spotted mark my 4th and 5th sightings of this newly arriving species in Columbia County since 2007. While some may argue they compete against the native Turkey Vultures, I feel it is always a treat to find such a fun species that makes me think of south NJ. (more…)

Greetings,

Below are some results as emailed to me regarding the winter raptor survey being conducted by DEC in the Coxsackie area of Greene County. Of all the birds mentioned, I found an amazing 1. It was a dark-morh Rough-legged Hawk that was spotted in the first scan. Better luck next time? Currently under the weather I will have to see if I am up for another survey which is tomorrow night.

~Chad
From Paul Novak…

“And, some stats from the 2nd survey.

My overall sense was that we saw fewer birds on the 2nd survey and looking at all the sheets that was indeed the case.

We monitored 12 sites on the 2nd survey and the number of sites recording the 4 main species was:
RTHA 5
RLHA 4
Harrier 5
SEOW 4

Eliminating likely recounts and including multiple individuals seen at the sites we had:
5-9 RTHA
4-5 RLHA
4-6 Harrier
6-7 SEOW (though we know that is an undercount as the folks that were stationed for trapping saw additional owls that would have brought the total to either 8 or 9)”

Greetings,

Tonight I helped conduct a winter raptor survey in the town of Coxsackie, NY. There were many volunteers (including myself) helping an ongoing DEC study. My area was along Rte 57 and Hamilton Rd. Unfortunately for me, I had a slow site and picked up only one dark-morph Rough-Legged Hawk in an hour and a half (3:55-5:25pm). Most of the other sites had this species along with Red-tailed Hawk and DEC’s primary target species, Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl. When I get some results for overall numbers I will post them here along with some photos once they get uploaded.

~Chad

Greetings,

Tomorrow, I will be assisting New York State DEC and their Winter Raptor Survey in Coxsackie (Greene Co.). In addition to that, I hope to be making a run up to Albany tomorrow morning to look for the Merlin which has been reported at Colonie Center. Aside from both of these (and more?) which I hope to later make a post on, I am also hoping to finally do a short write up about the Bullock’s Oriole that I had an opportunity to view last week in Copake, NY (Columbia Co.).

See you soon,
~Chad

Greetings,

With hours of work on the site today, I’m a little past the point of writing up a good post. However, one of the things that I have been digging lately has been these awesome images of a “Mangrove” Yellow Warbler coming out of California that I want to share with you. You can check them out here.

Chad

Greetings,

Year listing, along with life listing, is an important facet of birding culture. While there are those that do not care to participate, it should be said that at least half, if not the majority of all birders keep lists in one way or another. In fact, here at Chat Happens, we have a whole section of the website devoted to lists, and even though the page is far from being completely developed, we think it will be an important aspect of the Chat Happens experience for years to come. (more…)

Greetings,

As it plays out year after year, coast to coast, rare birds or birds of special interest such as owls and hawks are sought after and photographed by a slew of professional and amateur photographers and birders alike. Unfortunately, sometimes it is not without controversy. Just recently, here locally in the Hudson Valley of New York, a Snowy Owl was discovered in Greene County within a fairly public grassland complex. The owl was originally unreported by the original finder due to his fears and concerns of the bird being pressured and harassed by humans. However, another spotter of the owl shortly thereafter reported the owl to a local listserve (after much consideration), and it was subsequently observed without incident by several birders, including myself, from all over the region. This however changed today. (more…)

Greetings,

Today while scanning the feeders at the house, I noticed 3 PINE SISKINS feeding in the tray along side 3 PURPLE FINCHES. These siskins are the first for me on the year, and the first for me this winter at my feeders. My last detection of siskins occured in mid October at the nearby Churchtown Reservoir. Seeing them today at my feeder was great because so many have been observed in the neighboring areas by others at their feeders; it feels nice to share in with what they have been enjoying. (more…)

Greetings,

Today with a few hours to kill, my wonderful girlfriend and I made a trip over to Coxsackie in Greene County in search of winter gulls and raptors. As posted earlier, I made the trip on Tuesday with mediocre results. While today was not a complete success with target birds, it was pretty stellar overall, and well worth the trip. (more…)