We went on another lovely field trip with Linnaean NY. Saw and heard lots of grassland birds at Shawangunk Grassland NWR in Ulster County, New York. and at the Liberty Loop Trail part of the Wallkill River NWR in NY/New Jersey. The highlight for me were the Sandhill Cranes, including a baby one. They were life-birds for me. I enjoyed the company of fellow birders, many of whom I have known for years. It was very hot out in the grasslands – 90 degrees! Ice-cream on the way home helped a little. The baby Sandhill Crane is in the grass in the first two pictures.
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis), Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis), Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis), Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Eastern Tailed-Blue (Cupido comyntas), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Drone Fly (Eristalis arbustorum) omn Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Spotted Turtle (Emydidae Clemmys guttata), Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Woodchuck or Groundhog (Marmota monax), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Blue Chip Farm, Wallkill, NY 5/22/2021 
Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Catchfly (Silene), Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Field Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), Liberty Loup Trail, Wallkill R NWR 5/22/2021 
Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Tufted Vetch or Cow Vetch (Vicia cracca), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Ragged-robin (Silene flos-cuculi), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021 
Bird’s-foot Trefoil or Eggs and Bacon (Lotus corniculatus), Shawangunk Grasslands NWR 5/22/2021
Is your Catch Fly our Bladder Campion? We pick it and pop the bladder on idle summer moments: https://www.gardenia.net/plant/silene-vulgaris.
For a moment I thought that crane was eating a red winged blackbird!
Bladder campion and Catchfly are one of the many Selene subspecies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Silene_species
Bladder campion is white and has a fat bladder.
Very funny! The cranes were disturbing the Red-wing blackbird’s nest.
Hi Sherry, nice to be back in touch with you again. Lovely portfolio of photos from this interesting place. To be honest I always thought a bobolink was an animal, not a bird.
Hi Denzil. Thanks for dropping by.
I love these bird captures! The flower gallery is fabulous.
Thank you for sharing, Sherry!
Nice shots! Grasslands is worth the trip!
Thanks. It was worth it, except for the heat.
Those Cranes look huge! The wild-plant shots are awesome! 🙂
The cranes are huge 🙂 Thanks Tom.
These are great! Love the turtle.
Thanks Mark. My husband’s name is Marc 🙂
Sherry love the pictures and the identifications. You are a naturalist. Take us on a walk. Love the botany
Lovely shots – especially the birds, for which I imagine you had your long lens this time 🙂
Yes, this time I had my 70-600 mm. For some of the plants I used my cell phone plus iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/ to ID them
You got a lot of nice pictures in these natural reserves !
Thanks. Most are just records.
There’s so much to love here: the bobolink, the sandhill crane baby, the tailed blue. But the best part of the post was something I found when I went looking to find out how to pronounce the name: Shawangunk. I don’t know how you say it, but apparently some Boy Scouts and other locals are all in with ‘Shon-gum.’ I never would have figured that out!
I didn’t know that. Very funny. Thank you 🙂