First up was a stop in Sterling Forest, near Tuxedo, NY. I had never previously birded here before and I was excited to see a new area. We began at the powerline cut off Ironwood Road. Almost immediately we had Prairie Warbler, then Blue-winged and Chestnut-Sided warblers as well. However we were here for the Golden-Winged.
We walked up the cut to the top of the ridge without success, and were headed back down when Rob F. heard the song of the Golden-Winged. We tried in vain to locate the vocalist, and the group seemed to accept the fact that it would go down as a "heard-only" today. Walking down the powerline cut, Rob again heard the song and this time John and I were able to get on a flying bird and follow it. Once it perched we were able to determine that it was in fact a male Golden-Winged.
We walked a bit closer so everyone could see the bird.Walking back down the cut again, I noticed some movement near some dead tress. This time we were able to see the male and a female Golden-Winged !!
Our next stop was at Doodletown Road, just south of the Bear Mountain bridge.
Here we we searching for the beautiful Cerulean Warbler. While hiking up the trail we heard this bird several times, and then Jennifer was able to locate one just over the trail. We all got nice looks at this male, albeit high up in the trees.
We proceeded toward Herbert Cemetery where some Ceruleans had been recently reported. Again we heard the birds but could not locate them. We were about to leave when Rob and Jennifer found a Cerulean in sight. To their surprise the bird was a female. And shortly thereafter the bird actually landed on it's nest ! We enjoyed views of this female on the nest for quite a bit, when the male returned with a meal for her, and trhe chicks. We could see the female leave the nest and let the male in to feed the young. Amazing !
The male quickly flew off, but returned about 15 minutes later. Again he fed the young, but this time the female took off. She returned a few minutes later with another meal, and the male then left to go foraging once again.
A truly remarkable event to not only see the female (my first time doing so) then to also see the nest, but finally to see the feeding of young and the family interaction..There were lots of other beautiful birds seen today including Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo buntings, Baltimore Orioles, Wild Turkey with several very small young, Hooded Warblers, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, and finally we also heard the call of Pileated Woodpecker.
