Bullock's Oriole, West Islip - no

 There were photos on Facebook, then reports of a female/ immature male Bullock's Oriole (and a Chat) at at a bird feeder in West Islip next to a school - I tried to find it one morning but didn't see either.  I wasn't too upset since I had seen a male Bullock's Oriole at Stillwell Woods in Syosset some time ago.

Robert Moses State Park

 I took a quick trip to Robert Moses - saw Horned Larks and my FOS Snow Buntings by field 2.

Sunken Meadow State Park, Barrow's Goldeneye, Ross's Goose

 I went to Sunken Meadow State Park since there were reports of a continuing immature drake Barrow's Goldeneye in the "river" that flows between the sound and a marshy area.  I was able to find it easily enough and get OK photos - I had only seen a Barrow's Goldeneye once before and it was far away.  On the way, I spotted a flock of a geese with a white goose in the mix - turned out to be a Ross's Goose - there was some talk from another birder that it has been around a few days, but not really reported.  There was a recent ebird report but was only flying, didn't land.

 

Manheim/ Mount Joy, Pennsylvania

 My son had a volleyball tournament in Manheim PA.  Of course, I realized it was an opportunity to possibly see some birds we don't get on Long Island such as Barred Owl, Pileated Woodpecker and was even wishing for a possible Golden Eagle.  I didn't see any of those but when my son and I were driving around we went to the top of a hill that had a cemetary on it and had a Bald Eagle fly towards us and land in a tree.  Later on, we found a Red Shouldered Hawk perched right at our hotel.  I saw some other raptors here and there in the sky such as Turkey Vultures, Black Vulrures? (can't remember) and Red Tailed, Red Shouldered Hawks.  BTW, the town does not smell nice (all farmland).

 

Marbled Godwit, Jones Beach Coat Guard Station

 There was a reported Marbled Godwit at the "spit" that I got to see.  One of my favorite birds and always a treat to see.

 

Tundra Bean Goose, Beaver Lake, Locust Valley

 There were reports of a Tundra Bean Goose at Planting Fields but it seemed to have disappeared from there rather quickly - I assume because of zealous photographers.  A little while after it showed up at Beaver Lake which is the lake that is between Shu Swamp and Oyster Bay.  I went really early in the morning around sunrise with Mike Z to try to see it - it would be a lifer for me.  After a long time searching, another birder spotted it with their scope and the rest of us were able to have an idea where to look (to the right of the red bush)  The other birder was a lady named Bailey and I was also lucky to see Joe V who is always nice to talk to.  It was on the far side of the lake by the private winter sports center.  Using my scope I was able to get better pics of it eventually than using my camera.  Since then it was been seen at the properties around there, Dosoris Pond, and Nassau County Golf Club in Glen Cove.  It was neat to see the blue color in the beak.

 

 

 

Jones Beach Field 4, 6

 There were reports of Sooty and Parasitic Jaegers recently by Jones Field 6 so I tried my luck there since I still need Parasitic Jaeger as a lifer (I probably saw one years ago when I first starting birding and dismissed it as a "seagull" )  There were a lot of birds far out by the horizon but I had no way of identifying them at that distance even with my scope.  Towards Field 4, I did find a bunch of Royal Terns on the beach that were coming off the ocean - I think I counted at least 30.  Later on after uploading their photos, I noticed some were banded.

 

 

Yard in Massapequa

 Since it was Halloween, I worked from home and saw Chipping, White Throated, Song and House Sparrows, and Juncos in my yard.

Bryant Park, Central Park

 I was able to go to Bryant Park where there was a reported Chat - it was actually a block north of Bryant Park.  I got to see it well.  I tried my luck in Central Park where the highlights were my FOS Junco, a Northern Waterthrush in a muddy pond that mostly dried up, a Great Blue Heron eating fish and several Winter Wrens which I don't see much by me.

 

 

 

Connecticut, Storrs

 We visited my daughter at college - there's a big hill with cows outside her window so we drove up it and found some local birders who were searching a spot for a Connecticut Warbler that had been there resently - I checked back with them, but they didn't relocate it.

Jones Beach Field 10, Massapequa Preserve/ Lake

 I went to Jones Field 10 - saw a banded Herring Gull.  I also stopped by Massapequa Lake since there was an out of season Hooded Merganser.

 

Jones Beach, TOBAY, Massapequa Preserve

 There was a report of a Marbled Godwit yesterday at Field 10 so I tried to find it but didn't have any luck.  The Coast Guard Station didn't have many sandpipers anymore - assuming shorebird season is over - there were some Oystercatchers, Yellowlegs, Semi Palmated Plovers.  I noticed some spider crabs were beached up on the dock, so I kicked them (gently) back into the water so feel like my visit wasn't wasted.  I stopped by Massapequa Preserve - not as many warblers as yesterday but did see Parulas, one unidentified one that I'm guessing was a female Black Throated Blue (still not sure), Great Crested Flycatchers, Warbling and Red Eyed Vireos and Redstarts.

Massapequa Preserve Warblers, Red Eyed Vireo

 Although the radar wasn't strong recently, I heard birds flying over my house at night the other day and had a feeling some birds had moved into the area - I wasn't disappointed when I went to the preserve early and saw lots of warblers - most were female Redstarts, lots of Chestnut sided. Also saw a male Redstart, Least Flycatchers, a Pewee, Canada Warbler, Parulas, Warbling Vireos, Blue Winged Warbler, Common Yellowthroats, Chimney Swifts, Wood Ducks and oddly my first Red Eyed Vireos for the year.

Little Blue Heron, Seaman's Neck Park

 Found a photo of a juvenile Little Blue Heron on my laptop -. Was from last August at Seaman's Neck Park.

 

Curacao

My wife and I took a trip to Curacao without the kids this time.  The original plan was to stay there a few days and enjoy the beaches and tropical weather however we didn't make our flight because the uber driver had something really whacky going on.  We called a different Uber driver who got us to our destination really fast.  We were going to fly out of Newark.  We got to the airport just a few minutes under the hour that's needed to pre-board - the airline was very stubborn/ unreasonable and would not check us in. We missed the flight.  The next flight was later on that day but we would need to go over night and transfer at Meddelin, Colombia - how nice.  While waiting at the Colombia airport it was just around sunrise so I decided to make the best of it and try to bird from the airport - the only bird I might have seen could have been a Cattle Egret.  We were not aware that it was cold by the airport since it's at a high eleveation - who knew?  We finally made it to Curacao and the first bird I saw was actually in the airport - a Carib Grackle.  We got our rental, went to the hotel and stopped by the beach and hung out at the hotel.  Beautiful, fun time, but I was beginning to worry since I haven't seen many birds and was wondering if I would get to see any lifers.  The next day I went out for a while but got caught in the rain - I did see Brown Throated Parrots which I have seen before in Aruba, but I learned that Curacao has it's own subspecies called "Prikichi" locally. We drove far from the hotel the first day with the plan that we would stop at as many places we could on the way back.  We reached a beached on the far side of the island that was in between 2 cliffs - I started seeing some birds - Swallows, Yellow Orioles, Saffron Finches - nice to get some lifers without trying too hard.  We stopped at another beach that has pigs walking around - let's just say the pigs were being pigs on the beach.  On the way back we passed a "salina" type area and I could have sworn I saw a bird that sure looked like a Reddish Egret - I convinced my wife we should drive back because Reddish Egret had been on my wish list for some years now.  Sure enough I saw a beautiful Reddish Egret but my camera died!!! I managed to get some bad iphone pics just to say I photographed one.

 The next and last day, my wife and I decided we would "do our own thing".  She was going to the beach and I was going to go birding, then we would meet up later.  I started out by checking out the salinas where I found a white morph Reddish Egret up close and got nice pics to make up for yesterday.  I also saw some Flamingos in the salina across the street - they were somewhat distant but that was ok.  Within a short time, a nice regualr morph Reddish Egret flew in and was able to get some good pics of that also.  I also saw a Tri-colored Heron near it.  Before heading back to the hotel, I stopped at the Curcao Rig Mangrove Park.  Nice place - saw some cool wildlife and found a lifer Scaly Necked Pigeon.

I was done with birding for the trip and it was time to head to the airport.  I was happy to get some lifers which I wasn't sure was going to happen at the beginning of the trip, but was bummed out that I didn't get to see a Groove Billed Ani which was one of my target birds for the trip - can't have everything.

While waiting at the airport, I enjoyed some Juan Valdez coffee and decided to take out the bins and scan the airport runways for any last minute birds.  I saw a black bird pop up from a ditch and perch on a pole - I couldn't believe it...it was a Groove Billed Ani!

These are the birds I saw on my trip:

American Flamingo

Pigeon

Scaly-naped Pigeon

Bare-eyed Pigeon

White-tipped Dove

Eared Dove

Common Ground Dove

Groove Billed Ani 

Blue-tailed Emerald

Killdeer

Southern Lapwing 

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet

Laughing Gull

Royal Tern

Magnificent Frigatebird 

Brown Pelican

Tricolored Heron

Reddish Egret

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

Green Heron 

Great Blue Heron 

Osprey

White-tailed Hawk (possible, but could have been an Osprey)

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel 

Brown-throated Parakeet (endemic Curacao subspecies)

Barn Swallow 

Tropical Mockingbird

House Sparrow

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Venezuelan Troupial

Yellow Oriole

Carib Grackle 

Yellow Warbler

Saffron Finch

Bananaquit

Black Faced Grassquit 

 

Yellow Oriole

Saffron Finch    

Groove Billed Ani

Groove Billed Ani

Groove Billed Ani

Groove Billed Ani

Groove Billed Ani

Groove Billed Ani

Groove Billed Ani

Royal Tern

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Green Heron

Wow! Is that a Mockingbird?

Brown Throated Parakeet 

Scaly Naped Pigeon

Scaly Naped Pigeon

Scaly Naped Pigeon

Green Heron    

Reddish Egret

Brown Throated Parakeet

Green Heron

Carib Grackle 

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret

Flamingo (American)

Flamingo + juv, with Great Blue Heron

Tri-Colored Heron

Heron, Yellow Crowned?

Killdeer

Reddish Egret

Cara Cara

Caracara

oh hello?!

Pigeons, just because

Mourning Doves

White Tipped Dove

Green Heron

Yellow/ Mangrove Warbler

Yellow Crowned Heron

White Tipped Dove

White tipped Dove

Bananaquit

Troupial

Royal Terns

Frigatebird

Brown Collared Sparrow

 

 Yellow Oriole