An often seen topic among the various electronic forums across the world is:
There are obviously many places to bird around any given region and they can not all be birded in a single day, nor even a few days.
There are really three dimensions which make up a complete bird-finding guide: locations, birds, and time of the year. Most printed bird-finding guides focus on the locations. The WNY Birding pages primary focus is the locations dimension as well. You can often get the other two pieces of the puzzle by reading the location description, e.g. "Foo Bay is a good for Harlequin Ducks in winter."
This web page attempts to add another dimension to the virtual bird-finding guide by addressing the time of year factor and tries to address that oft-asked electronic-forum question. But, this page is limited to the area around Rochester, NY and the Genesee Region (note, not all of Western NY). Be aware that the answer to this question is seasonal as birds migrate and breed at different times in the year. Also, note that the answer to the question is based upon what is desired to be seen. If targetting a specific species, try using the annotated list. This web page is designed to give the reader an idea of what is around during the various seasons and where the best spots are to try to find them.
Note: Through trial and error, local birders of a given area know when to look for the birds and in which locations. The Rochester Birding Association (RBA) and Genesee Ornithological Society (GOS) offer a series of free field trips to help local or visiting birders. Everyone is welcome to attend. These trips can be used as a way to bird with local birders who are familiar with the area and the local birds. Or, the schedule of field trips can be used by visiting birders as a framework for places to bird, when, and what to expect. See the Rochester Birding Association field trip schedule for more details.
Some people insist that there are two seasons in WNY: winter and construction. We will not use that distinction.
One might consider looking into attending a local field trip, or CBC. The field trip schedules are outdated, but give an example of where locals go and when.
Winter birding is spent watching the last of the waterfowl leave as the waters freeze, watching the half-hardies slowly eek away and hopefully watch for the winter vagrants to arrive. Generally speaking, February is the coldest month and results in the least amount of birds being reported. This is either due to the cold keeping the birds away, or the cold keeping the birders inside where it is warm.
Some of the later migrants may still be lingering in early December. This includes waterfowl and gulls. A nice variety of waterfowl is usually present at Hamlin Beach State Park or Conesus Lake, although the waters do not always freeze and wintering waterfowl can be seen anywhere along the lakeshore and in most rivers and bays, such as Sodus Bay.
Unquestionably, the best place for gulls (perhaps in all of North America, or
even the world) is the Niagara River. Locally, the same species of gulls possible at the Niagara River can be found locally. However, the concentration and number of observers are fewer. A few white-winged gulls may show up some of the bays and lake shore locations throughout the Rochester area, or at the Detection Systems Ponds or High Acres Landfill . Little Gulls make regular appearances on Lakeshore Blvd by the Van Lare wastewater treatment plant near Durand Eastman Park .
Winter finches may be seen depending upon the strenght of their vagrancy. The irregular winter finches include Pine Siskins, Pine Grosbeak, Evening Grosbeaks, Red Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, Purple Finch and Common and Hoary Redpolls. The best places to glimpse these birds are either locally at feeders, or in conifer stands with a large cone crop. One of the better locations for these is Durand Eastman Park
and sometimes Webster Park or the pines in the campgrounds of Hamlin Beach State Park. Also possibly seen in Durand Eastman Park, feeding in the abundant berry bushes, shrubs and trees, are Cedar and Bohemian Waxwings and American Robins.
Other birds of winter interest includes some of the open land birds. These include Common and Hoary (rare) Redpolls, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks. These birds are often found along the west lakeshore, such as around the farm fields around Hamlin Beach State Park, or down in the farmers fields near the road edges or in the manure spreads in the areas of Nations Road or Retsof with Retsof trading years with Nations Road as the nod for wintering birds. But,
Nations Road always has a few specialties. (Note: both can usually be birded on the same trip).
In my mind, no winter is complete without taking a trip to Mendon Ponds Park and hand-feeding the chickadees (and nuthatches) on Bird Song Trail. This is not a great birding experience in the sense of finding a Ross's Gull, but it does wonders to purge the soul and lift the spirits and keep away the winter blues. As a local birders says, "A dee-dee a day keeps the doldrums away." Plus, there is the added bonus that one may find some half-hardies there as well.
Wintering raptors may invade from the north. Such birds include, but are not limited to, Snowy owls, Short-eared owls, Rough-legged Hawks, and Northern Shrikes (an honorary raptor). Good places to find Snowy Owls is along the lakeshore, especially on the piers, such as the ones at
Hamlin Beach State Park,
Point Breeze,
Charlotte,
Braddocks Bay,
Irondequoit Bay, or
Sodus Bay. Short-eared owls, Rough-legged Hawks, and Northern Shrikes are found along the west lakeshore, or in some of the traditional wintering areas for these raptors as Nations Road, or Retsof. Nations Road has a few specialties and both areas can usually be birded on the same trip.
A common spring sees the manning of the Braddock Bay Hawk Platform in mid-February (which continues until June). Early raptors are usually Roughlegs and Redtails. Late-March brings Red-Shoulderd Hawks and early to mid April brings large numbers of Accipiters. April has the start of the warmer weather birds with hawks peaking with the incredible Broadwing flights during the last weeks in April. Peak eagle flight are in the month of May. These raptors (and migrating owls at night) are best observed at Braddock Bay. Migrating waterfowl are on the west lakeshore or at places like Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge or the Oak Orchard area. The bulk of the songbirds come in May and can be seen, as well, anywhere along the lakeshore.
Without a doubt, the place to be in Spring is on the Lake Ontario lakeshore. Somewhere, anywhere... it seldom matters. The combination of the southwest winds pushing migrants north coupled with the large barrier of this lake produces a lingering or natural buffer zone right at the lake shore. The contours of the lake are such that the birds are funnelled down the edge of the lake past places like Braddock Bay and
Island Cottage Woods.
Durand Eastmand Park and
Webster Park can be exciting as well.
These are but a few highlights as the lakeshore is long, and the spring is intense.
Few Rochester birders would doubt that the place to be in Spring is on the Lake Ontario lakeshore with Braddock Bay (March, April and May) and Island Cottage Woods (May) getting the overwhelming and definitive nod as the places to go!
Late-June and early July are rather slow for regular Rochester birders. Many young birds have fledged and are, of course, hard to find, because they are not singing, and are hard to identify when you do find them. Mid-July through mid-August are quite slow and rather quiet with the only birds around seeming to be a slow, steadily increasing number of shorebirds at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge or Oak Orchard (although relatively minute numbers compared to the tidal locations on the oceans). Although not
officially Region 2 (0.6 miles), try the Batavia WWTP for shorebirds and odd summering ducks.
Mid-August has a small fledgling dispersal of hawks, primarily immature Redtails, at Braddock Bay. Late August has (locally) larger numbers of shorebirds, and the songbirds starting to come back south.
As fall birding is prolonged for most species, it is difficult to pick any one spot for the smaller birds, but the best bet for migrating warblers, thrushes and sparrows is (again) the lake shore in such places as Durand Eastman Park or the wooded areas and fields in and around Hamlin Beach State Park.
Early September should still hold good numbers of shorebirds at
Oak Orchard and Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, but numbers soon dwindle. But, Montezuma should not later be neglected as the waterfowl numbers rise here, and at Oak Orchard. Raptor migration is nil due to the same reason it is so great in the spring (the lake is a buffer). Sparrows and waterfowl in mid-October should be peak and the Hamlin Beach State Park Lakewatch usually kicks in with increasing numbers of migrating waterfowl and increasing numbers of loons in November. Gulls start passing by the Hamlin Beach Lakewatch in November, and numbers of species and variety peak in mid- to late November at the world-renowned gull capital
Niagara River.
This page was last updated on 18 April 2001. Comments or questions regarding this page should be sent to Webmaster. Winter
Winters are long in New York State. Snow seems to start falling in November and continues on and off until March or even April. But, many birders categorize winter as after all the migrants stop migrating, but before they start again. To many up in the Rochester area, this is the time from December through February.
Spring
To many birders in Western New York (and all of the Northeast), there is only one season for birding, namely Spring. Spring is the long-awaited season for wildflowers and the return of the color and songs of the birds. Spring starts out slow and staggers through the month of March often with heavy snowfalls and warm winds melting away the snow by April leaving muddy footing throughout the land. Couple that with the traditional April showers and one has the requirements for a flowerful May. Winter never seems to end and spring always seems around the corner. The weather conditions are such that one never feels that winter has left us until the first waves of warblers arrive. By that time, birding is at its peak, spirits are at their best and summer and breeding season is just around the corner.
Summer
Short, but hot and sticky is usually the best way to describe the summers around the Genesee region. Birding is still quite good early to mid-June as breeding birds are still singing their hearts out defending their personal spaces. One of the better spots for woodland birds (and quite beautiful as well) is Letchworth State Park, or (buggier and not so pretty) Mendon Ponds Park. Breeding marsh birds (rails and bitterns) and perhaps sedge wrens may be found at Braddock Bay or nearby lakeshore marshes. Summer singing grassland birds can be found is open spaces and farmlands such as Nations Road, or Retsof with the best spot probably being Nations Road. Late comers such as Yellow-
Breasted Chats, cuckoos and Sedge Wrens are still arriving in June.
Fall
Autumns are colorful in New York State. Fall birding is spent watching the last of the warm weather birds leave the area. It is a long and prolonged demise of the number of variety and number of birds. Fall birding, as elsewhere, contains more birds (due to the immatures), but the combination of leaves (although colorful), the prolonged migration, the muted or lacking songs and the lost colorful plumages of the breeding season makes September birding much more challenging than in the spring. But, it is also the time of expectation for that rare and out-of-the ordinary (usually immature) bird that has seemed to have lost its way. September brings the return of many songbirds not seen since Spring. October brings waterfowl to the refuges, and along the lakeshore and brings the hopes of a jaeger over the lake. November continues with waterfowl, adds loons to Lake Ontario and brings gulls to the Niagara River.
Copyright, © Kurt Fox, 1999-2001.
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