First Full Day of Winter

It’s officially winter and we decide to once again check the goose pond on Carpenter Road to see if indeed any new geese species have arrived since our last visit. As the seasons have progressed and the onset of the colder weather is truly upon us, this is one of a few bodies of water in the county that is not frozen over. The word has gotten out in the world of geese and there are now well over 1000 individuals here. Scanning the masses, we can identify 5 different species of goose…Canada (no problem finding them!), White-fronted, Cackling (the most difficult to distinguish from the rest), a lone blue morph Snow goose and a couple of Ross’s geese.

‍ ‍ A Ross’s Goose tucked behind one of a myriad of Canada geese - Carpenter Road - 12/22/25

The mass of geese create quite a din when it seems every individual is trying to out-honk the others, so it was quite obvious when all of a sudden someone threw the switch, and a “deafening silence” descended over the pond. It didn’t take long to figure out what precipitated this change in volume as a first year Bald eagle flew over the throng once and then again and then again. Finally, the young bird flew to the far side of the pond and landed in a tree very close to a fine looking mature eagle. With that, the geese all started their cacophony of “song” once again.

A fine looking first-year eagle cruises over more than 1000 geese on Carpenter Road goose pond - 12/22/25

From here, we moved over to the Sunflower Farm on Route 12 in New Hampton. Reports of more than 100 Horned larks, Snow buntings and at least one Lapland longspur caught our attention and we hoped to be able to photograph some of these winter specialties. We found hundreds of birds indeed, but they were not the hoped for species. Rather, we encountered a large murder of crows picking along the ground where excess onions from the adjacent fields had been left rotting.

American crows among the rotting onions - Iris Road - 12/22/25

I had seen this in previous trips out to the Black Dirt Region and found that the crows are apparently feeding off insects and worms that are feeding on the onions. That being said, there was certainly a good number of crows associated with this fallow onion patch, so if they are not eating the onions, there is certainly some other source of nutrition to be found here if you are a crow.

As we continued to drive down Iris Road between the onion/sod fields and the Wallkill River, we noticed three deer running right towards us a considerable distance away. They continued to head in our direction at a pretty good clip and we were puzzled as to why they would run towards us rather than avoid us. We then saw an ATV coming up behind them. The deer, a doe and her two fawns, now had to make a decision…..Continue heading right at us or head down to the chilly waters of the Wallkill. The Wallkill won and the three deer headed down the embankment, into the icy water, and across to relative “safety”.

Down to the Wallkill - 12/22/25

Just a short distance further down the dirt road, we found our largest woodpecker, the Pileated. It’s such a striking bird….no wonder Woody Woodpecker was created in this bird’s image.

Pileated woodpecker - Iris Road - 12/22/25

The bird flitted from tree to tree, drumming and occasionally sending out its distinctive call to announce its presence to any other of its species in the neighborhood. Eventually it headed down river, but fortunately not before posing for a very nice portrait.

Eventually, we did spot our target quarry for the day, the Horned larks. Sadly, these were scope views only and brief sightings at that. No chance for any photography at this spot, but nice to see them again in any case. This may well be my last visit out to the Black Dirt until spring as the time for my migratory trek south draws near. Always love coming out here to see what the sod farms have to offer. We’ll be back in May for sure.