Shawangunk Grasslands with Tod Winston, 5/22/2021
Registrar: Mary Beth Kooper
Report by: Tod Winston
Participants: 14
Weather: Overcast, 73 degrees
Bird Species: 56
We had a luckily-not-THAT-hot morning at the Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge. We quickly heard and spotted the major grassland specialties we sought, among the many Red-winged Blackbirds. We found plentiful singing male Bobolinks (“the gladdest bird that sings and flies,” according to poet John Burroughs), and got nice views of a couple subtler but also beautiful females. We distinguished the buzzy songs of several Savannah Sparrows from the even buzzier sound of Grasshopper Sparrows (both primary and secondary songs), which thankfully popped up and showed themselves several times during the walk. The clear, slurred cry of the Eastern Meadowlark was heard all morning, and a few of these birds posed atop posts for us.
Several striking Eastern Bluebirds were nesting in the refuge boxes, as were many Tree Swallows. We also saw a pair of American Kestrels standing guard near their box; we were told that this was one of five pairs nesting this year. Along our walk through the grasslands, we also encountered some woodland and scrub birds at the edge: a singing Yellow Warbler, a Warbling Vireo, a Tufted Titmouse, an Eastern Wood-Pewee… and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that allowed us good glimpses as it foraged. We then escaped the heat and birded the refuge drive and nearby pond. Highlights included a quick view of a Scarlet Tanager and a cooperative pair of Orchard Orioles–and our determination was rewarded when we tracked down an unexpected singing Alder Flycatcher (FeeBEo!) and a Blue-winged Warbler.
A quick stop at nearby Blue Chip Farms didn’t net us much more (though the young horses were cute)… but our third and final stop, the Liberty Loop Trail of Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge (in Pine Island), didn’t disappoint. Sharp eyes in the group spotted a male Wood Duck and a Common Gallinule (whose nasal cackling we continued to hear)… and then we found, popping out of the marshes to our left, the heads of our main quarry! A pair of Sandhill Cranes turned out to be chaperoning a small, orange-colored chick. We hiked to the eastern side of the trail and eventually got nice views of the pair, and fleeting views of the much smaller young one. (By the way, it seems that a Sandhill Crane nest looks quite similar to a Muskrat lodge. AND, apparently, Sandhill Cranes frequently nest on top of old Muskrat lodges! I suspect we saw several Muskrat lodges yesterday in Liberty Marsh. As to whether one was the cranes’ nest… well, you’ve got me.)
Along our way we heard but did not see several secretive, furiously singing Marsh Wrens, a second singing American Redstart for the day, and at least one calling Virginia Rail (“kiddick, kiddick…”)—but did see several singing Swamp Sparrows, along with a distant Pied-billed Grebe. A singing Willow Flycatcher (Fitz-BEW!) capped off the trip, providing the counterpart to our earlier Alder Flycatcher. (These two very similar species were once considered one—the “Traill’s Flycatcher”–and must be heard to be distinguished from one another in the field.)
Species Lists
Birds
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Virginia Rail
Common Gallinule
Sandhill Crane
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Buteo sp.
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Alder Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
American Goldfinch
Grasshopper Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Plants
Bird’s Foot Trefoil
Field Pennycress
Leafy Spurge
Ragged-robin
Tufted Vetch or Cow Vetch
Mammals
Groundhog (aka woodchuck)
Amphibians
Spotted Turtle
Reptiles
Water Snake
Insects
Catchfly
Common Ringlet
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Tiger Swallowtail
Zabulon Skipper
Drone Fly
