Bohemian Waxwing - no

 I had some time in the morning before work so I decided to try again for the Bohemian Waxwing that was near Jones West End.  It hadn't been seen again but I gave it a shot anyway.  I didn't find any flocks of Robins that it had been associating with.  I did see a couple of flocks of Horned Larks on the median but no Lapland Longspurs.  I saw a few Ravens here and there.  The biggest highlight was actually Yellow Rumped Warblers - there was a group of them together by the Coast Guard hedgerow which I thought was unusual.

Bird Feeder in the yard again

 I decided to put bird seed in the feeder again, hoping to attract and see something rare in my yard.  The birds took to it quickly and already have seen an assortment of birds including: Juncos (first to notice the feeder), Blue Jays (second to notice), good amounts (4-5) of White Throated Sparrows, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Song Sparrow (assuming my resident), and House Sparrows.

Cardinals singing again

 I walked my son to the bus stop this morning and along the way heard 2 Cardinals singing in the neighborhood.  Nice to hear them - makes it seem like the start of the end of winter is here.

Yellow-breated Chat, Mill Pond, Bellmore

 There had been reports this past week of a Chat as well as an immature Red Shouldered Hawk continuing on the east side of Mill Pond in Bellmore.  It seemed rather cooperative for most birders so I tried my luck in the early morning to try to find it.  Other birders had reported it in the area of the east trail/ side of the lake near a house being renovated and had a blue tarp on it.  I found the house and did a thorough search of the area - no luck.  I think I was there for about 30 minutes when I decided to give up and leave.  Not to be totally defeated I walked slowly back and the Chat popped up but a while south of the area where everyone else was reporting it.  I got some good views of it as it was looking for food heading back north to where it had reported the day before.  I wanted to get totally unobstructed photos of it since I had seen other birders photos of it out in the open, but it was doing it's thing traveling through the shrubs so I didn't want to bother it too much and let it be.

I can't help but think other birders who tried and didn't find the chat like I did were relying too much on the observations of other birders.  I have seen several times where birders will just stick to one particular location where a bird was last seen - not making any other attempt to look around it and take some initiative.  I was sort of guilty of doing that with the chat but decided not to give up and it paid off eventually.

(I ran out of time for my morning outing so I did not attempt to find the Red Shouldered Hawk)

Happy New Year 2025

 For the last year or two, I've tried to go out birding on Jan 1st/ start of the new year - I know a lot of other birders do that so they can start their year list - I do it for good luck, hoping that I see a decent amount of life birds in the upcoming year.  The day started when I heard my "reisident" Song Sparrow singing a beautiful song in my backyard.  As I left the house, I saw gulls flying over - a nice start to the year/ day.  I started by going to Jones Field 10 and the Coast Guard Spit hoping to see a continuing Marbled Godwit, but the tide was high and didn't see either.  I did see some Cooper's Hawks, Raven, Kingfisher and lots of gulls.  When I got back closer to home, I checked out my "patch" at Massapequa Preserve and the Tackapausha spot by the firehouse.  Saw lots of Robins especially at the school yard grounds since it was warm out I guess they were looking for worms.  I also saw a Golden Crowned Kinglet and a female Ring Necked Duck which was a first for me at my "patch".  Later on, there was a report that the Marbled Godwit was seen at the Coast Guard Station so I drove over there, but wasn't there.  I checked Field 10 where it was sometimes reported by didn't see it either.  A family of birders noted that they also missed the Godwit.  They were looking at a continuing Black Headed Gull which I got to photograph - it was hanging out by a "tunnel" in the cove where also a Great Blue Heron was in.  When I got home, I saw that someone ebirded the Marbled Godwit at the Field 10 marsh area shortly before I arrived so I assume it was actually there, just hiding when I went looking for it.  I think Marbled Godwits are currrently my favorite birds - would have been nice to see one for the new year, but sometimes the best birding plans just don't always work out.  Better luck next time. (hopefully).....................

End of 2024: notes

 Some notes for the end of the year - I saw 10 life birds this past year - got photos of 9 of them - I wasn't able to get a focus or great look what I'm confident enough were Bahama Woodstars in Turks and Caicos.  Although I would have liked to seen more birds, I'm happy with the types of birds I saw - some were rare for New York such as the Flamingo (first in NYS?)  Some had been on my wish list such as the Smooth Billed Ani.  Some were hard to find such as the Bullock's Oriole but my patience and persistence did finally pay off.  I would have liked to go birding more and chased some more of the sightings that other birders reported but I did the best I could with the time I spent and some of the quick trips out of the house that I made.  I would have liked to have seen Manx Shearwaters  - I might have seen one but was too far distant off Robert Moses to call it - I would have also liked to have seen the Common Shelduck that was reported out by Montauk but I simply can't just drop everything I'm doing and go that far because of family obligations/ work.  I added some of the photos below that I didn't include in my posts.  It's hard for me to come up with the spare time to make a "complete" post sometimes.  Looking forward to whatever birds I might see in 2025 - hopefully a trip to another region/ country will happen.  I've been thinking recently that it would be cool to go to Europe/ England to see a European Gull and Robin?  - birds that are considered common there that would be life birds for me.  We'll see what happens in the coming year - I'm feeling positive about what new birds I might see - just never know what might pop up.  Happy New Year!

 

White Tailed Tropicbird

White Tailed Tropicbird

Thick Billed Vireo

Swainson's Warbler

Smooth Billed Ani

Sage Thrasher

Sage Thrasher

Sage Thrasher

Sage Thrasher

Red Headed Woodpecker

Lazuli Bunting

Bullock's Oriole

Nashville Warbler (random from Massapequa)

Bullock's Oriole

Antillean Nighthawk

FLAMINGO!

Harrisburg, PA

 My son had a Volleyball tournament in Harrisburg PA this past weekend - I didn't have much time for birding but always hopeful when visiting a new area.  There was a creek behind the hotel so I spent some time hoping to see Wilson's Snipe since the creel matched their habitat but only saw Song Sparrows, 2 Kingfishers, Robins and Cardinals.  I also saw some Chicakdees that I photographed hoping they were Carolina Chickadees but only upload BOC photos to Whats this Bird and seems they are Black Capped Chickadees at this point.  I might try uploading better photos when I have a chance.  Otherwise some some Red Tailed Hawks, crows, an unidentified hawk and presumably a juvenile Bald Eagle while driving around/ back home.  We saw some Turkey Vultures around - most were around a "mountain ridge" on the way back.