Three Days, Four Places...Birds Galore!

State Line Lookout, 10-5-12

Western Palm Warbler 

Resident Osprey

TV with arrow, a local favorite...

Black Vultures

American Kestral

Sharp-shinned Hawk outline

More Sharp-shinned action!

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Most of the Ospreys had fish!

Flock of Double-crested Cormorants flying down the Hudson towards NYC.

A great look at a Red-breasted Nuthatch!

Sandy Hook, 10-7-12

Scott Barnes of NJ Audubon led a great trip to "the Hook" along with another vastly knowledgeable Audubon birder named Linda.  Areas seen included: Plum Island, which really isn't an island, Spermaceti Cove and Nike Pond near the Ranger's Station.  Highlights included seeing Nelson's Sparrow, Clapper Rail, Wilson's Snipe, a bat and several migrating flyovers.

Golden-crowned Kinglets

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Common Yellowthroat male

American Black Ducks landing near Plum Island.

(top two) Nelson's Sparrow, (bottom two) possibly an interior type of Nelson's Sparrow

Swainson's Thrush

Marsh Sparrow

A couple more shots of Nelson's Sparrow.

Black-Crowned Night-Herons on Nike Pond.

NJ Botanical Gardens, 10-7-12

Yellow Palm Warbler (eastern type) with large green caterpillar!

White-breasted Nuthatches

Ruby-crowned Kinglet landing on a plant.

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco, Slate-colored type (in my next blog post I will have pictures of the Oregon Group type taken recently at Mount Hood, OR)

American Restart male

This Chipping Sparrow gave me quite a photo shoot!

Northern Mockingbird

A Buddha statue in the gardens.

More flowers and a statue from the gardens.

Eastern Pheobe

Yellow-rumped Warbler, of course!

While the peripheries of the property have many of the less common birds, the interior of the property if full of American Robins, Blue Jays, Cardinals, House Sparrows, Norther Flickers, etc. 

Another Chipping Sparrow

Red-bellied Woodpecker

A couple more Palm Warbler shots of the eastern type.

Eastern Bluebird adult male

Northern Flicker...nice moustache!

Juvenile (left), adult male (right), Eastern Bluebirds

One last shot of the adult male!

The Ramble, 10-8-12

Black-throated Blue Warbler male, also seen at NJ Botanical Gardens.

Ovenbird?

Brown Creeper

I was told by some of the regular Central Park birders that Black-capped Chickadees have not been seen for some time.  They were pretty happy to finally see them again.

Magnolia Warbler hunting in the trees...also seen at Sandy Hook.

I will include a full list of birds seen over these four days of birding in a later post.  I saw 80 species (conservative estimate).  I have a feeling there were a few more I just can't remember.