In early December I was fortunate enough to be back in New York for two weeks of winter birding on Long Island with my mate Pete who now lives over there. I made two visits last year, the main trip being for spring migrants, but birding in winter is completely different. The brilliantly coloured warblers are gone, replaced by visitors from the north; including ducks, geese and passerines.
There seems to be one rule for birding in New York. Find a crappy looking bit of habitat and expect some amazing wildlife! Here are a few tales from our outings.
Barrier Islands, Jones Beach and Point Lookout
Our first stop was Captree Island to look for american bittern and ducks. On crossing over the Robert Moses Causeway, ducks were evident including several bufflehead and red-breasted merganser. Sadly we didn't see an american bittern, but a northern harrier was great compensation, a new bird for me. Also new were a flock of boat-tailed grackle.
Heading along Ocean Parkway, Pete spotted a snowy owl perched on a fence at the edge of the dunes, completely ignoring the passing traffic, and them seemingly ignoring it. We couldn't not stop and appreciate the bird.
The highlight of the day, and the trip as a whole (for me at least) were two harlequin ducks which flew in to view at Point Lookout. The two birds tarted around in front of us, eventually coming out of the water to preen on the rock groynes. Absolutely cracking birds, and one of my top 5 lifers. Also present on the sea were a flock of common eider, several horned grebe (aka slavonian grebe), lots of long-tailed ducks whilst distantly groups of black scoter, surf scoter and white-winged scoter flew passed. On the seemingly lifeless beach were a flock of horned lark (shorelark), several snow bunting and a group of waders including dunlin, sanderling and a few turnstone.
Several passerines and other birds were seen during the day, amongst the notable were yellow-rumped warbler, american oystercatcher, great egret, dark-eyed junco, red-tailed hawk, common loon (great northern diver), hairy woodpecker and black-bellied plover (grey plover).
On our return journey home we called in at Lake Capri, a rather undesirable body of water fenced off from the world (as shown below) next to the Montauk Highway. Take a closer look and you may even see the flock of lesser scaup, ruddy duck and redhead. Crap habitat, great birds.
Southards Pond
Pete's local patch is a great chunk of habitat, somewhat contradicotry to my opening statement of finding a bit of crap habitat. Along with the pond itself, an area of wet woodland stretches south along the Carlls River, eventually connecting up to Argyle Lake.
In the spring I had a great time at Southards Pond, seeming several new species including blackburnian warbler, magnolia warbler, hooded warbler, bufflehead, orchard oriole, northern parula and blue-headed vireo. I struggle to summarise such a great trip to a few species. In winter, the area isn't quite as productive but still can hold some great birds. On this trip I finally saw my first wild hooded merganser. There were also a couple of surprises this winter including a common yellowthroat and a orange-crowned warbler, both rather late occurrences.
Just down the river is the aforementioned Argyle Lake, a classic ornamental lake but filled with ducks. Most common are black duck, a reoccurring theme across most water bodies. Other species seen during my trip were hooded merganser, ring-necked duck, lesser scaup, greater scaup, american wigeon, green-winged teal, mallard and gadwall.
St Charles Cemetery
A few minutes drive from 'home' is a large collection of cemeteries where a surprising collection of birds can be found. The area of grassland attracts a flock of geese which occasionally holds something other than canada geese, whilst there is also the chance of horned lark, american pipit and american kestrel. We were fortunate enough to see the super cute american kestrel hunting insects along the roadside. Also present was a barnacle goose, a reasonably scarce bird in New York.
New York City
Its hard to resist visiting the city around Christmas time to see what all the fuss is about, but why not combine it with a spot of birding at the same time? In the city is the relatively small Bryant Park, a small green space which at this time of the year hosts a ice rink and Christmas market. This, surely, would be the least likely place to find a great bird? Nestled away in a small planting area measure barely 5ft across from the back of a marquee to the walkway was an american woodcock, roosting under a clump of azalea.
Montauk
Perched on the very eastern tip of Long Island is Montauk and Montauk Point. A wild and blustery landscape can hold many birds, which were sadly absent on our trip which was in preparation for an Audubon Christmas Bird Count the following weekend. The one thing that struck me was the ease of sea watching from the point. Simply place your scope at any angle looking at the sea and watch flocks of all three scoter, long-tailed duck, common loon and common eider flying past. I was able to enjoy fantastic views of white-winged scoter, and finally fully appreciate the beauty of surf scoter, a species I've only ever really seen distantly of the north coast of Wales back in the UK.
Elsewhere along the coast and on the sea, birds seen included white-winged scoter, black scoter, surf scoter, purple sandpiper, common eider, common loon, razorbill and gannet. Nearby we found a greater white-fronted goose, another reasonably scarce species for New York.
There is a staggering array of habitats around Montauk, including several woodlands offering owls and passerines, but some of the best views and variety of passerines I saw was at a feeder in a local garden. Ten species came to the feeder in the space of a half hour including cardinal, dark-eyed junco, house finch, red-bellied woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, mourning dove, blue jay, black-capped chickadee, white-throated sparrow and american goldfinch.
Big Reed Pond at Montauk was a great to see, a vast area of reedbed stretching down the valley. Sadly there weren't too many birds to see, other than a virginia rail heard along the path.
The final highlight was on our return journey at Hook Pond were tundra swans (bewick's swan) have been seen. Also present amongst the canada geese were four more greater-white fronted geese. A cracking end to an adventurous day.
Hecksher State Park
On one of my weekends during the trip I was lucky enough to take part in an Audubon Christmas Bird Count covering Hecker State Park. The mix of grassland, woodland and coastal marsh provide a great range of habitats for birds and other wildlife.
Along the beach and coastal marsh we saw northern harrier, common raven, american tree sparrow and swamp sparrow, whilst in the woodland were purple finch, pine siskin, golden crowned kinglet and fox sparrow. On our return to the car park news came through of a great horned owl, sitting quietly in a tree next to a path. Just before we departed a belted kingfisher flew over the car park. Also in the car park was a raccoon, quite happily at home in a skip.
