Birding Field Trip

Common Yellowthroat... one of my favorite warblers.
Such bold and busy little birds

I went on one last Saturday. It was put on by the Hudson Mohawk Bird Club and led by David Harrison. The birding was well above my pay grade but oh, so much fun.

The group walked about 12 thousand of my steps through mixed habitat ranging from woodland to overgrown fields. Others saw 40 species; I missed some, but got 36.

High points for me were the county birds I was missing for the year, Blackburnian Warbler, Scarlet Tanager and Magnolia Warbler, plus the opportunity to observe people who are much better birders than I in action. The latter two birds we see most years either here on the farm or on the Brand Rd./Rankin Grove Road extension, which is under construction this year.....major construction, as in if you like living you will bird somewhere else. The road is closed with eager dump trucks backing down it really fast and driving out even faster. One of my favorite spots and I miss it a lot....maybe next year.

Anyhow, 12 thousand steps was pretty much enough for me, and the boss wanted to go over to the beef auction, so we skipped the second half of the day.

On the second half of the walk the group found a Louisiana Waterthrush, which would have been a life bird for me. Darn it. However, when I contacted the trip leader to thank him for a wonderful experience, he described the exact location of the elusive bird.

Beautiful wooden decked bridge, the only one I have ever seen

We hied ourselves over there this morning to arrive in a miserable drizzle, but oh, what a beautiful spot. We spent quite some time staring at the banks of the stream there, to no avail. After a while the boss's knees got ouchy and he retired to the car...where a brand new Country Folks, plus Lancaster Farming awaited him.

I climbed partway up the hill and finally hauled myself over the guard rails, which were waist high to me, so I would be safer, as the road is narrow, and while not much traveled, there is a blind curve and the one truck we met was pretty swift.

Because the stream is dancy and vigorous, it was hard to hear birds. However, a noisy Downy Woodpecker drew my attention to the top third of some trees on the other side. 

Louisiana Waterthrush, my first ever

And there it was. Bird number 160 for me in the county this year and a life bird as well.