February 17 - Four for Four

This weekend I wasn't feeling 100% healthy so I thought it would be best to avoid long periods of being outside, thus I decided to do some hit-and-run birding from my car.

First up was a ride out west on Route 78 toward the Pennsylvania border with a planned stop at the Alpha Grasslands. This area is composed of large open farm fields, that are on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River.  Recently the area has been hosting a very rare visitor from the Arctic in the form of a Gyrfalcon.  I was minutes away from the area, when just before 8:00 am my friend Mike W. posted that he was looking at the bird !   Soon enough I too was viewing the bird perched in a treeline about 175-200 yards from Snyders Road.  We had fine looks at the dark-morph Gyr, including it's cere.  After 20 minutes or so, there were enough people parking cars along the road & moving about that the bird took off. Shortly thereafter it was found on the large Cellphone tower much farther away.  Here's an image of the bird from today via e-bird's MacCauley Library:

credit: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=gyrfal&q=Gyrfalcon%20-%20Falco%20rusticolus

Satisfied with my looks, I then headed back east toward home & made a second stop at Round Valley Reservoir.  Here an over-wintering Eared Grebe has been seen for more than a month, perhaps two.  After a short walk I was able to locate the Eared Grebe in front of the South Dam.  The bird was distant, yet I could make out the diagnostic field marks and plumage of this visitor from the Western US.

I was feeling that luck was on my side, so I decided to try for a third rarity today in the Pink-Footed Goose that had been recently and continually reported from the Warinanco Park that is located in Union, NJ.  After a 45 minute ride I was in this urban-park scanning flocks of Canada Geese.  In the second flock I was able to see the Pink-Footed Goose. This species has only recently been found occurring in North America during winter months yet has quickly become almost annual. I have seen this species in x of the past x years !

Credit friend: Don DesJardins

Euphoric from my good fortune today and with some time to spare I went for my fourth rarity in the Ross' Goose that has been frequenting the Overpeck Park in Leonia, NJ.  This bird was a drive-up as it was quite easy to locate the one white bird amongst the flock of Canada Geese that were feeding on the large lawn of the park.

Credit: Chris Takacs

So, a successful day of hit-and-run birding where all my targets were seen.

February 11 - Nanday Parakeet life birds

I was in Tampa, Florida to visit my father who is in the hospital in nearby Clearwater, Florida.  So I decided to see if & where I might be able to see the Nanday Parakeet because I needed this species for my American Birding Association Life List.

As luck would have it, these birds can be found just 4 blocks from the Morton Plant Hospital in the Lake Belleview park.   Since I was near the hospital and there was still some time before Visiting Hours began, I decided to give the park a try.  I was there only a few minutes before I heard the call of the Nanday Parakeet, so I moved closer to the sound and there on the telephone wires was the bird  !

Here's a pic from the MacCauley Library on e-bird taken by a local birder named Wendy.
I want to thank her for reporting the parakeets to ebird so that I could find a lifebird and also a brightspot on an otherwise dour trip to visit my ailing Father.