More from Braddock Bay

Warbling vireo, mid-warble

Visiting Braddock Bay near Rochester, New York, offered me a good opportunity to see birds I don’t get to see on my mountain. May is prime migration and birding season. It’s hard to tear myself away from my own patch during May, but I'm glad I did as the trip turned out to be worthwhile for birding, though I didn't have nearly as much time for it as I would have liked.

The area where sawgrass ends and the solid ground begins is marked by a narrow strip of vegetation, a kind of hedgerow. In this narrow band, lots of birds gathered and found cover. The narrowness also presents a good opportunity for birders to see birds that usually prefer to stay hidden.

The first bird is warbling vireo, noted mostly for being drab and nondescript—until they start to sing. The song is lovely and repeated often. These birds are usually heard and not seen, so finding one out in the open and singing was a real treat for me.

Palm warbler





Also on hand and virtually everywhere else were palm warblers.



White-crowned sparrow eating dandelion



Another bird I don’t often get to see, let alone get to see well and be very cooperative, was a white-crowned sparrow that was very engrossed in those dandelions.

Now that I’m home again, I need to catch up on my cabin birding! When you’re a birder, as I am, May is no time to be sitting indoors.



Braddock Bay weekend

Braddock Bay

This weekend I visited Braddock Bay Raptor Research Center along the south shore of Lake Ontario near Rochester, New York.  The annual board meeting of the Hawk Migration Association of North America was held there.  For the most part we were inside and not looking at birds, but we all took advantage of every break, as well as the time before and after the meetings adjourned to go outside and see what we could see.

May is always the best time to look for things outside, so even the few minutes we had was very productive.  The first view today is where the bay meets the land.  Miniature inlets and channels were everywhere and was great habitat for a variety of species.

Marsh wren

My best sighting in this part of the bay was the marsh wren.  These wrens are frequently heard in appropriate habitat but not often seen.  Here at Braddock Bay I heard at least three of the birds, but getting to see one took some time.  And then finally, one of these little devils popped out just long enough to grab a quick photo of one.  Success!  Seen and photo'ed!

The weekend also produced some other good sightings--palm warblers, a warbling vireo, white-crowned sparrow, third year bald eagle, sandhill crane.  I'll write more about those tomorrow.