A very good weekend of birding. May 13th & 14th, 2016.

My father came up from Maryland to do some birding this weekend. Friday was to be a warm up for Global Big day on Saturday. Friday was a good day for birding, but a terrible day for photography. We went to Sunset Bay park in Scriba, NY (in the shadow of the soon to be closed Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant) but it was dark and raining. Later in the morning we drove down to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Better conditions for photography, but we dipped on the Hudsonian Godwit that has been reported there.

Wood Duck drake

Solitary Sandpiper

Blue-winged Teal

In the evening the sun came out, so we went to my favorite local warbler spot, Great Bear Recreation area in the Town of Volney.

Golden-winged x Blue-winged "Lawrence's" Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

On Saturday it was Global Big Day. We needed at least 5 eBird checklists. Sunset Bay was the first stop again. It was quieter on Saturday morning than Friday morning, but at least it wasn't raining. The best birding was right when we arrived in the lower parking lot.

Common Yellowthroat

Palm Warbler

The bird of the day. I didn't even know what it was until I got home and ran the photo through Merlin Photo ID. The Clay-colored Sparrow is a rare bird in upstate NY. It was mixed in with White-crowned and White-throated sparrows.

Female American Redstart

There were also Nashville, Yellow-rumped, Black&White, and Yellow Warblers. Probably others that I couldn't identify. It got quieter as we moved up the park away from the water.

Next stop was the Derby Hill Bird Observatory. Onondaga Audubon was having their annual festival there, but if you get there before it starts the crowds aren't that bad. It was a short visit to check out the corner where I saw the Wilson's Warbler on Thursday, dipped on the Wilson's but there were other warblers...

Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

I also observed Nashville, Yellow, and Common Yellowthroat.

Next stop was on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in Jefferson County. Black Pond Wildlife Management Area. It features barrier beach, dune, open water, emergent marsh and wooded swamp habitats. It is the northern terminus of the eastern lake ontario dune system and the best preserved wooded dunes on the lake. The barrier beach is an important shore bird breeding area, and as such is closed to access until fall. This doesn't stop the locals from using it illegally anyway. Despite the fact that there are multiple State parks that offer beach access and swimming, the locals use Black Pond because there is no day use fee They litter the beach and dunes with beer bottles and coolers Nobody was using the beach on Saturday, the lake is still in the 40s

Male American Redstart

Yellow Warbler

Warbling Vireo

Herring Gull

Eastern Phoebe

I also had my second life bird of the day, Eastern Meadowlark. I saw it jump up out of the grass on a dune, no photo though.

The afternoon was largely wasted time. We drove down to the Labrador Hollow Unique Area at the southern edge of Onondaga County, but by that time the cold front was starting to push through. After that we went down into Cortland County and the Tuller Hill State Forest but it was almost completely silent.

The last stop was Hamlin Marsh, as it is a mile from my house. We only spent a few minutes there, almost as soon as we arrived a dark cloud rolled in. We got back to the car right as it started raining...