January 13 - Shinnecock Inlet seabirds

Today was an exciting morning.  It's rare in this area to be able to enjoy so many seabirds from land. The inlet is hosting a Thick-Billed Murre for more than a week, and was recently joined by Common Murre.  These birds were seen along with the more-likely alcid species of Razorbill.
We also saw Black-Legged Kittiwake, and some Red-Necked Grebes.



Thick-Billed Murre

My friend John's blog has more info on the day and some photos


Later we went east to Watermill, NY and saw the American White Pelican that was found recently.

January 12 - Mega rarity in Upstate New York

Today I finally had a chance to try for the Golden-Crowned Sparrow that has been seen since the last few days of 2018.

Here is the Range Map for this species:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Golden-crowned_Sparrow/maps-range






On the drive back southeast, we stopped in Parksville and saw a few dozen Evening Grosbeaks at the Woodard Road feeders.  We also had Pine Siskins at the Grants Road feeders.

January 5 - Black Phoebe

I awoke to see the New Jersey Rare Bird Alert message that a Black Phoebe had been found !
This is remarkable as this species has not been known to be found outside it's normal range.  Oh well, I guess this guy is just confused and kept flying East.

The viewing conditions were very tough as it had been raining quite hard for over an hour while we waited to see this bird.  As soon as the rain lightened up, the bird was out catching insects along the pond that is in the Hainesville Wildlife Management Area.

Here is the known Range Map:

January 1 - Slow start to the New Year

The winter thus far has been very mild, so the birding got off to a slow start this year.

We then stopped at Stone Tavern Lake in the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area to get a peek at the pair of Trumpeter Swans here.   The Trumpeters are hanging around with the more common Mute Swan.