Home, Cedar Waxwings

 I heard and saw a group of 4-5 Cedar Waxwings fly over by my house - while not rare or uncommon, they're always a nice surprise to see!

Massapequa Ravens

 Ravens are somewhat new for Long Island - these were somewhat recently considered rare here but are quite common now.  The other day I saw 4 flyover my house from the direction of the preserve.  Today, I heard weird noises that reminded me of a turkey - when I went out to investigate I found a HUGE Raven a couple blocks away that eventually landed on my neighbor's roof.  Was the largest Raven I ever remember seeing.

Backyard Feeder

 I put the rest of my bird seed out into the feeder and within a short time, had house sparrows, grackles, red winged blackbirds including a female, doves, house finches, cardinals, blue jays and a bonus chipmunk visit.  There were also 4 Ravens circling above - assuming not related to the feeder.  Later on, a bird seemed to approach me and didn't seem afraid - it was a female Cowbird that seemed to want something from me (from my anthropormorphic mind)  I put some water out but didn't seem to want it.  It followed me a little and then got some seeds from the feeder.  It stayed on one of the patio chairs and flew off by night time.  Nice little visitor.

Upstate New York, Sullivan County/ Great Swamp Preserve, New Jersey

 I went on a trip with my son upstate New York to check out the area and show him my grandparents old trailer house and mostly do general horseplay/ guy stuff.  We saw Turkey Vultures from the car on the drive up and stopped at Mongaup Reservoir aka "Forestburgh Lake".  We saw a Bald Eagle there and walked the trail going up to the dam to avoid ticks.  We didn't see many birds but heard a Pewee which is a bird special to me because I remember hearing them as a kid when I visited my grandparents house.  My attention changed to butterflies since we were seeing a lot and I know from a fellow birder's blog that I met that this time of year is "butterfly season" in Sullivan County and there was a group doing a survey of them.  On his blog, "Bashakill Birder" he noted there were some rare ones found, some that hadn't been seen in 20? years.  My son was intent on going to Ice Cave Mountains so we drove there next.  Along the way, I realized we were on Route 209 which is adjacent to Bashakill so we stopped briefly on Haven Road (my "go to" spot) there.  We saw Red Winged Blackbirds, heard a Marsh Wren, and heard some honking/ grunting which I assumed was a Virginia Rail but never came out in view.

My son was patient but was ready to move on so we proceeded to Ice Cave Mountains.  Well,,,,that was an experience...there are signs that it is a treacherous trail which I scoffed at but was later humbled by when trying to go through the trails in the caverns - it was also hot as *$*$* on top of the mountain and the fly were annoying.  I made the best of it, hoping to see a Barred Owl or Pileated Woodpecker but had no luck with them.  I saw Turkey Vultures from the mountain top and there was some Towhees calling.  We were also treated to a weasel sighting by the caverns - it posed and looked at me but my damn camera couldn't focus in time - would have been a great photo - I'm still pissed about it.  On the trail, I heard Pewees, chickadees, and some type of warbler but could not ID but sound/ and couldn't get a look.

Next stop on the way home was Great Swamp Preserve where I had always wanted to go - it seems to be a good spot for Barred Owls and Pileated Woodpeckers but we didn't see either.  The driving app took us to a back trail, but that was pleasant since it was a wooden boardwalk type trail that was in a shaded forest.  We were treated to hearing Wood Thrushes which my son never heard before.  We left that part and went to the visitor center, but wasn't excited too much by it. We did see Purple Martins however.  We were ready to leave to get home so we drove what I assumed was a road through the preserve but wasn't.  Only other bird we saw was a Great Blue Heron.

Turks and Caicos

 I went on a trip to Turks and Caicos with my family - my wife had always wanted to go to see the beautiful beaches there.  When we arrived at JFK I saw Laughing Gulls and the first bird I saw when I landed at the Turks airport was also a Laughing Gull.  When we drove to the hotel I saw a mockingbird that I was hoping was a Bahama Mockingbird but during the trip all I saw were Northern.  At the hotel I saw Gray Kingbirds which seemed to be everywhere during the trip.  At night, we saw a Yellow Crowned Night Heron having a drink from the pool.  On Sunday, my wife and I were parking the car at the side of the hotel and we saw a bunch of Smooth Billed Anis - I went back with my camera to get better than iphone pics - the side of the hotel seemed to be a good spot for them.  Around the hotel during our stay I saw Green Herons, Kestrels which seemed unusally common there, and Eurasian Collared Doves.  At the beach I saw Royal Terns and at least a few Least Terns.  Not sure if it was a tern or Sullid but saw some bird over the ocean that I assumed at the time was a Sullid/ Brown Booby but not 100% sure now.  Only gulls I saw during the trip were Laughing Gulls.  White Crowned Pigeons occasionally flew past the hotel.  Right before sunset at dusk I saw 2 Antillean Nighthawks fly by which was a nice surprise.

At night, we went to a restaurant Mango Reef which has seating on a dock.  A Yellow Crowned Night Heron was walking around and we fed it some meat and seafood (he did not like/ want bread)  My son fed him by hand.  He became our dinner buddy and we nicknamed him "Teddy".

On Monday morning, I met another birder who we saw some of the Anis with.  He was from Pennsylvania and recommended going to Bird Rock Trail for birding.  I had hoped to go to the nearby golf course for birding since there were some good ebird reports but seemed to be off limits which he agreed.

Later that day, my family and I took a boat to Iguana Island.  Along the way I saw what I assumed was a Great Blue Heron but not 100% sure now since there doesn't seem to be summer ebird reports.  Part of me is hoping I saw a Reddish Egret but have to assume I didn't.  On the way to Iguana Island I saw Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns.  After landing my family and I saw lots of Rock Iguanas which are endemic and endangered.  I also saw a Wilson's Plover and it's baby, as well as an Oystercatcher.

Next morning, I planned on birding at Bird Rock Trail  -I looked out the window of the hotel and saw a Green Heron hunting outside in the shrubs - I took that as a good sign for the day.  I drove a short distance to Bird Rock Trail - when I got out I heard and briefly saw a vireo - wasn't sure if it was Black Whiskered or Thick Billed but then a confiding Thick Billed Vireo landed right in front of me (literally) and I was able to get good photos of my life bird.  I saw a small thing fly by which I assumed was a hummingbird (assuming Bahama Woodstar by default)  I also assumed that during the time on the trail, that I missed some life birds - I heard some, but did not see them and wasn't able to ID them by sound.  The Merlin App I downloaded and updated with the Caribbean bird "file" totally failed me.  When I got to the marshy section I saw some fish in the water and a red land type crab.  I saw a Tri-colored Heron, not the Reddish Egret I was hoping for.  The trail wasn't pleasant  - lots of random rocks so you have to pay attention, but wasn't too bad either.  When I got to the end of the trail, there was a nice view of the sea and I could see the rusted shipwreck in the distance that is advertised as a tourist attraction.  I saw a couple of pelicans and laughing gulls.  I gave up on seeing tropic-birds but as I was leaving I heard an "odd tern call" and sure enough got to see 2 White Tailed Tropicbirds within a short distance sometimes. On the way back down, I saw a Willet, Bananaquits, and heard a bird I assumed was a Yellow Warbler. I also saw the tropicbirds again flying over the cliff.  I heard vireos all around as I got to my car.  I drove around the area hoping to find one of my trip wish birds, the Cuban Crow but didn't have any luck.  I did find a ditch type pond that had 2 Black Necked Stilts in it.  On my last day I went around the hotel property hoping to see Anis as a goodbye ending but just saw and heard Grey Kingbirds and a Eurasian Collared Dove.

In summary, I was happy to get 4 or 5 lifers depending on whether I count the brief assumed sightings of Bahama Woodstar, but was also very disappointed.  Most of the websites about birding Turks and Caicos seem to hype it up too much.  The birds seem very scarce on the island - not sure why.  If I got in my back yard in Massapequa, I can see more species of birds in 30 minutes than I did in the 5 days in Turks - I guess I should consider myself lucky.  I was also comparing my birding in Turks and Caicos to Aruba and Aruba is definitely a better bird watching location.  Life birds were Smooth Billed Anis, Antillean Nighthawk, Thick Billed Vireo, White Tailed Tropicbird and assuming I saw Bahama Woodstars.