November 30 - Central Park's Varied Thrush

My friends Andy & Jen picked me up at work early today and we took a quick ride into Central Park. Here we looked for, and ultimately found, the Varied Thrush which had first been discovered on Sunday.

We had very nice views of this bird that is a vagrant from the Pacific Northwest. The bird was seen just east of the Rambles Shed along the 79th Street Tranverse. While there I ran into Corey Finger, and his images of the thrush can be seen at his website here.

You can see some wonderful images of this bird at Lloyd Spitalnik's webpage, including the one below:

So a quick NY State bird # 317 for me, and I'm back at work without anyone missing me... :)

November 20 - Flycatcher Redux & NY specialties

With friends Andy and Jennifer, today saw a return to see the continuing Fork-Tailed Flycatcher. Today was overcast so the bird stayed down longer & was less active then on early Thursday morning. Nevertheless we had nice views & good company with all the local metro-area birders making the similar trip for this rarity.  A quote from the group that manages the Cove Island Park Natural area:

"600 people ranging in age from 2 to 97 visited from 15  
states."

credit: Kevin Bolton
Visit Kevin's website for more photos of this bird, plus plenty more

Afterwards we went to eastern Long Island for the now long staying Common Ground-Dove. This bird is a first for New York State.

credit: Corey Finger
Visit Corey's website for more photos & some background info on this bird

Lastly we stopped at Jones Beach where I had a late Laughing Gull, Snow Buntings, and the juvenile Loggerhead Shrike. See Phil Jeffrey's web page for images of the Loggerhead Shrike headlong into the breeze.

The Dove and Shrike boosted my NY State life list to 316.

November 18 - Connecticut's Fork-Tailed Flycatcher

Minutes away from arriving at work today I received an e-mail stating that the Fork-Tailed Flycatcher discovered in Stamford, CT yesterday had been re-found...so I kept on driving and headed north on I-95. The commuting traffic was tough but I was there within 75 minutes and the bird was still being seen.
At first it was across a large field, but later it came withing 40 feet of us affording great close views of this extreme vagrant.  ABA-area bird # 611 for my list

click on images to enlarge

November 13 - San Diego Pelagic & Coronado Islands

The primary purpose of my trip was to enjoy the pelagic offered by Socalbirding.com. Although I had already seen the Black-Vented Shearwater, Northern Fulmar, and Red Phalarope from shore at Point La Jolla I was still after some life birds today.

While still inside US waters, I was able to see my ABA-life bird of Rhinoceros Auklet:

credit: Patty Bruno


Also I was able to get several views at the Pomarine Jaeger:

credit: public domain


This Glaucous-Winged Gull circled the boat for seemingly hours. Apparently when it got either too tired, or finally smart enough, the bird decided to hitch a ride on the bow!

November 12 - Salton Sea's Bean Goose

 Since it was such a rare bird (first ever in California, and perhaps 4th ever in the Lower 48 States) I took the 2-hour ride out to Salton Sea. I was rewarded with seeing the bird.

credit: Unknown


Visit Vic Murayama's website to enjoy his excellent images

Click on images to enlarge

Also seen at the Sea, were Mew Gull, Yellow-Footed Gull, Burrowing Owl, Sandhill Cranes, Ross' Geese, Stilt Sandpiper and Long-Billed Curlews.


On the way back I stopped in Jamul and saw the dark-morph Ferruginous Hawk.
Dead Sexy !

 

November 11 - La Jolla Point seawatch

Birding from here again, with Stan W and Paul L, I was able to view lifebirds of Red Phalarope and Northern Fulmar.

 Credit: Terry Fountain

 Credit: USF&W public domain

Also seen were more Black-Vented Shearwaters, Common Murre, Black & White-Winged Scoters along with the expected Surf Scoters.

November 10 - Tijuana River Slough and more

With the information from local birder of Matt S., this morning I visited the Tijuana Slough area looking for the Pacific Golden Plover. After a short search I found the bird close to where I was told it would be.