The Sod Farms

Black Dirt Region of Orange County, NY

There have been a number of posts in the blog about the Black Dirt Region of Orange County so I won’t go into the geology or natural history of the area here. Basically, this area is known for being attractive to winter specialties like Snow buntings, Horned larks, and even Lapland longspurs. This is also a great habitat for my all-time favorite bird, the Northern harrier. I’ll be leading a field trip out here in a couple of days, so I decided I’d best scout out the area today and get a feel for what is out here right now. The area is best after some rain fall creates puddling. But the fact is it has been rather dry, so that won’t come into play on this trip.

The birds of the day as far as numbers are concerned turned out to be Canada geese and American crows. The image above taken as I entered Skinners Lane in Pine Island demonstrates the sheer volume of the geese. Between here and Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge which I stopped by a bit later, I encountered well over 500 geese. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but pretty impressive all the same. On the back side of the sod farms, crows were gathered together in the hundreds as well….again, not my target bird.

Song sparrow - Skinners Lane - 11-7-25

Sparrows are always attracted to grassland habitat such as is found here at the farms. The most common is the Song sparrow which was one of the first birds to make its presence known today. While not a rarity by any means, this songster is always a welcome sight and in this case decided to put on a little display for me as I trained the camera upon him. I do appreciate cooperative birds!

One of my targets which was present in good numbers today was the Horned lark. Flocks of 10 - 20 birds were seen through the binoculars and scope at some distance. They were easy to identify with the optics, but too distant to even attempt capturing an image. I could only hope that I would run across a bird or two at closer proximity as the day wore on. The horned lark is a small songbird found across North America, notable for its distinctive black facial markings and tiny feathered "horns" during breeding season that give the bird its name. It typically inhabits open fields, prairies, and deserts, where it forages on the ground for seeds and insects. The bird’s sandy brown and pale yellow plumage provides excellent camouflage against the dry, grassy landscapes it favors. Here in the Sod Farms, it will search for its prey among the furrows of black soil and is often hidden down in the “trenches” making it difficult to pick out unless you happen to be in the correct location looking down one of those furrows.

Horned Lark - Sunflower Farm - 11-7-25

Eventually, I was able to find several of the larks picking through the soil between the rows of grass. The one seen above was an individual bird away from the flocks I had been seeing and hearing throughout the morning. He was close enough to afford me a decent if not ideal shot. Another one appeared close by and was a welcome sight after being frustrated by the distant birds most of the morning.

A second lark….

Soon it became obvious why the flocks that I had been seeing and hearing all morning were now nowhere to be found. A beautiful female Nortern harrier came cruising by no more than three feet above the ground level in search of prey. The harriers are among the most accomplished fliers in the avian world. It is always a joy to see them cruise, stall, hover, dive and ascend vertically over these open expanses of fields.

Northern Harrier - Sunflower Farms - 11-7-25

The flight of these birds alone makes it easy to quickly identify the harrier, but to make it even more unmistakable, the bird sports a bright white patch on the topside of its rump. As mentioned in an earlier post, the males of the species are Gray (commonly referred to as “Gray ghosts”) while the females like this lady are a rich chestnut brown. Note how dominant the white rump patch is on the bird below as she flew away from my line of sight.

As I got ready to head back home, I decided to make a quick stop at the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge located near the sod farms. A viewing platform often offers up some wonderful views of waterfowl and wading birds. Today, the main feature of attraction was once again the Canada geese. Hundreds were gathered at the far end of the impoundment. Closer by, however was a beautiful Green-winged teal….always a treat to see and not always that easy to find. A Great blue heron was also nearby as well as several Mallards.

Green-winged teal - Oil City Road - 11-7-25

I’ll be back at the black dirt farms this weekend and will hopefully have some more species to report on at that time.