Prime Hook, first wave

First real warm south wind of the year and I drove down to Prime Hook. I always forget how flat and open that refuge is — the sky is maybe eighty percent of everything you see. Good for raptors.

The first wave of ducks had moved through already but the lingering crowd was still substantial: Northern Shovelers by the hundreds, Blue-winged Teal (my first of the year), a dozen or so Northern Pintail, and a huge number of American Black Ducks that I kept trying to turn into other species.

Raptors were the real show. Northern Harriers working the whole marsh, a single Bald Eagle on a dead pine, and a gorgeous adult Red-shouldered Hawk at the edge of a wooded section. Also my first Osprey of the year — a single bird over the impoundment, back from wintering somewhere south.

Songbirds were arriving too. Eastern Phoebes calling their name from fence lines. Tree Swallows over the water, the first Eastern Towhee I’ve heard in weeks. At the parking lot a single Louisiana Waterthrush on a puddle edge, which seemed early but was very real.

Good day. Pulled over six times on the drive home to look at red-tails.