FIELD TRIP REPORTS
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September 26, 2008 - Gardiner County Park Owl Walk |
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Our first owl walk for the
2008-2009 season was on Friday night, September 26th at Gardiner County
Park. The leaders, Alice Heller, Bob Grover, and I, met up with a couple
of other people to take the walk. There had been the threat of rain from
Thursday through the whole weekend, so unfortunately, I’m afraid that
may have prevented others who might have come. Luckily for those who did
go, the rain had stopped.
We started our walk down the main trail which leads through the forest
towards the Great South Bay, all awhile having Bob Grover whistling the
mimic of the ’whinny’ call of an Eastern Screech Owl (Otus asio) while I
was mimicking its ‘trill’ and Ken Thompson played both on his iPod.
Unfortunately, all the way down the main trail, we got no response.
About 100 yards back from the end of where we stopped on the main trail,
we came to a cross trail which led east to a parallel trail back to the
parking lot. Bob suggested we take these trails, which seemed a bit
darker than the main trail. At first, our whistling the screech owl
calls got no response. We then decided perhaps we could try for a Great
Horned Owl (Bubo Virginianus), since they also reside at Gardiner County
Park, and we might get a response from that species. Surprisingly, after
Ken Thompson played the hoo hoo-HOO hooooo hoo call of the Great Horned
Owl on his iPod, we now started to hear the ‘whinny’ of a screech owl.
So Bob started ‘whinnying’ the screech owl call again, and the screech
owl started getting louder, suggesting it was coming in closer to us. It
got to the point where it was very loud, and using our hand held
spotlights, we attempted to find the bird in the upper tree branches
around us. Bob got the owl in his spotlight, a gray-phase Eastern
Screech Owl, which was leaning flush against the side of a branch, being
about the same diameter as the owl, and both now being ~70-75º off the
horizontal. The owl stared at us while we were all excited looking at
it.
After observing the owl for 2-3 minutes, we decided to move on,
continually playing screech owl calls, and heard a second owl,
definitely identifiable as such because the call’s pitch was noticeably
higher. So the field trip turned out to be a success.
Walking back to the cars, we talked about the fact that the screech owl
didn’t start his calling until AFTER the ‘call’ of the Great Horned Owl.
This seemed somewhat of a paradox because Great Horned Owls will eat
screech owls, and since nocturnal owls hunt by sound, it seemed strange
that the screech owl would only start calling after hearing a potential
predator nearby. Well, I’m sure Mother Nature knows what she is doing,
even if we don’t. |
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September 13, 2008 - Connetquot River State Park Preserve, Birding and Breakfast |
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This was an
interesting ‘field trip’ through the Connetquot River State Park
Preserve. We first started with a ‘workshop’ wherein a slide
presentation showing those who attended the possible birds that might be
found at the preserve during this time of the year, resident, migrant,
and Fall visitor. So we had our ‘breakfast’ first while watching the
slide presentation, then we headed out into the field.
We saw a total of 32 species of birds. Using their field card, the BIRDS
OF CONNETQUOT RIVER STATE PARK PRESERVE, and looking at the Summer/Fall
columns (I know, technically Fall wasn’t starting until September 23rd,
but since this was very close to the Summer/Fall boundary, some birds
may have been finishing their Summer season whereas other species may
have started their Fall migration), using the state park preserve’s
field card’s presence status categories: A-Abundant, C-Common,
U-Uncommon, O-Occasional, and R-Rare, the highlights were Pied-billed
Grebe (F:U), Double-crested Cormorant ((Su:O, F:O), Great Blue Heron (Su:O,
F:C), Wood Duck (Su:C, F:U), Gadwall (Su:U, F-C), Osprey (Su:C, F:C),
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Su:O), Eastern Phoebe (Su:O), White-eyed
Vireo (Su:C), Cedar Waxwing (Su:C, F:C), Northern Parula (F:U),
Black-throated Blue Warbler (just listed as Common in Spring column, not
listed in any other season columns, however, we saw a female
Black-throated Blue Warbler), Black-throated Green Warbler (Su:O, F:C),
Pine Warbler (Su:C, F:C), American Redstart (Su:U, F:C), Common
Yellowthroat (Su:A, F:C), Red-winged Blackbird (Su:C, F:U), and American
Goldfinch (Su:C, F:C)
There are over ½ dozen bird species which are recorded only in the
Spring and Fall columns. One can see they are just migratory species,
some actually being listed as common here as they migrate through in the
Fall (e.g. the Blackburnian and Palm Warblers).
For those who would like to visit the preserve on their own, a permit is
required to gain access. This can simply be acquired by writing to
Connetquot River State Park Preserve, P.O. Box 505, Oakdale, New York
11769, giving name, address, purpose of visit, and the expected number
of family members in party. Permits for groups can be obtained by
contacting the preserve office at (631) 581-1005. |
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