I stopped out to Chestnut Ridge's Eternal Flame area yesterday to see if I could help my good friend Nathan Johnson track down his lifer Hooded Warbler. The mission turned out to be one of the most excellent birding adventures I've had in a long time. We found our Hooded Warbler within minutes of arriving, and despite the poor lighting for pictures, the bird gave us an excellent show. We also encountered a lovely Hermit Thrush at the same location right near the start of the trail towards the Eternal Flame. With time to kill, we headed down to see if the Louisiana Waterthrush was still in the area. While the Waterthrush was not found anywhere near the normal creek, there were multiple Acadian Flycatchers calling and sallying in the area. The next thing we heard was the familiar scream of a Broad-winged Hawk. We ran down the gully in time to witness two juvenile Broad-winged Hawks calling back and forth to each other and taking small flights from tree to tree. Just awesome! We decided we had just enough time to see the eternal Flame, and headed down from there. We encountered numerous Scarlet Tanagers singing high in the trees, and a few Wood Thrush on the way down to the creek. While hiking up the creek, my phone rang, and the WInter Wren ringtone immediately prompted a nearby Winter Wren to fly in like a bat out of hell and start singing like crazy. It was one of the most beautiful things I've heard because of the natural acoustics of the ravine, and of course, the amazing song of the Winter Wren (that's why it's my ringtone). So just to add awesome-sauce on our meal of pure fantastic, a Louisiana Waterthrush came in out of nowhere and kind of danced around to the song of the Winter Wren. It just started twerking and giving chip notes for no reason other than to let us know we made the right decision to come down to the flame. The flame was lit when we arrived. We enjoyed the scene and ended up climbing the roots up to the ground level from there. What a day! I've included some various shots from Staten Island, Times Beach Nature Preserve, and other such randoms.
Rick BacherI like murderous birds and the things they kill. Archives
August 2015
Categories |