Over the last two weekend I soaked up most of the new arrivals for this year. Last weekend at Hempstead Lake State Park I was running out of luck on Fox Sparrow and Winter Wren, until I got some hot tipoffs from 2007 2nd state Smith's Longspur finder Ed Coyle. We were wacking the bushes (not literally) for wrens, but only found gnatcatcher after gnatcatcher. Still wonderful! Then we both heard a song, and he called it as a Fox Sparrow. We ambled off in the general direction and eventually I spotted it after it made it's distinctive CHWP call (which sounds like a YRWA on steroids).
Today I did my first bike Bigby, to a small bird sanctuary about 2.5 miles away. At first it seemed like nothing was about, but then I found a small pocket of sparrowes (incl juncos), a skittish flicker, Eastern Phoebes, a Hermit Thrush and Palm Warblers. I also had a surprisngly drab warbler that looked more like a fall-plumaged bird than anything else. I quickly lost it, so I'll never know. Also on the way home I added Brown-headed Cowbird and Killdeer to my Bigby yearlist, which stands at a pathetic 41. Highlights are Great Egret and Scott's Oriole (the latter using mass-transit Bigbying of course!).
Today I did my first bike Bigby, to a small bird sanctuary about 2.5 miles away. At first it seemed like nothing was about, but then I found a small pocket of sparrowes (incl juncos), a skittish flicker, Eastern Phoebes, a Hermit Thrush and Palm Warblers. I also had a surprisngly drab warbler that looked more like a fall-plumaged bird than anything else. I quickly lost it, so I'll never know. Also on the way home I added Brown-headed Cowbird and Killdeer to my Bigby yearlist, which stands at a pathetic 41. Highlights are Great Egret and Scott's Oriole (the latter using mass-transit Bigbying of course!).
