Friday, 28 April 2017 Town of Saugerties, Northern Ulster County There was an apparently good movement of migrants into the area last night, with many new arrivals this morning. Late this morning I returned home from work and was immediately greeted with first-of-season (FOS) singing Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, American Redstart, two brilliant male Cape May Warblers, and a male Baltimore Oriole. There were at least a dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers and a FOS male Scarlet Tanager foraging in the tree tops, and a FOS male Rose-breasted Grosbeak visiting my sunflower feeder a short time later. A short walk along the edge of my meadow and adjoining woods produced FOS Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher (already checking out a nest box), Eastern Kingbird, Blue-winged Warbler, and a pair of Common Yellowthroats, along with another singing Ovenbird and Baltimore Oriole.
This afternoon on a nearby utility cut in the Town of Saugerties I encountered three FOS Prairie Warblers singing on breeding territory and one FOS Indigo Bunting. A very colorful, and very vocal, FOS adult male Orchard Oriole provided nice close-up looks as it sang from a roadside shrub on Lauren Tice Road. There was also a good showing of recently emerged butterflies on the utility cut. Clouded Sulphur (2), Eastern Pine Elfin (2), Eastern Tailed Blues (12+), and a Juvenal's Duskywing were all new for the year for me. Spring Azures and Cabbage Whites were flying in good numbers, and there were at least three Falcate Orangetips coursing the ground, including my first female of the year. Perhaps most remarkable, I encountered at least 8 fresh Gray Hairstreaks. There easily could have been more, but I conservatively did not count individuals within 100 feet of my previous sighting. I don't recall ever seeing this number of Gray Hairstreaks in one location at one time. Nearly dusk now, and my first Veery of the year is singing from the woodlands. Steve Steve M. Chorvas Saugerties, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
