Date: 5/21/26 9:05 pm From: Tristan Lowery via groups.io <tristanlowery...> Subject: [hmbirds] HMBC Century Run (5/16)
I did a solo, Albany County-only, Century Run last Saturday (5/16), which
was my twelfth time in the Century Run participating overall (beginning in
2014) and my ninth home county effort in Albany (excluding the 2020 plague
year and my first solo effort last year in 2025 that I quit early after
thinking that I ran over a cat that darted in front of my car, which
thoroughly rattled me and threw me off the rest of the day — though I’ve
since convinced myself I did not take this particular cat’s ninth life).
I’ve had a lot of fun doing the Century Run over the years, even if most
attempts follow a familiar pattern: the thrill of reaching 100 species
early on, followed by the agony of barely scraping into the high 110s or
low 120s several exhausting hours later. But after hitting 124 species in
2019 and 127 in 2021, I had my sights firmly set on breaking the
130-species mark for the first time in 2026.
So, on Saturday morning, I left my house in Albany at 3:07 a.m. and
recorded a few singing American Robins on the way to the Albany Pine Bush
Preserve as my first species of the day. I made a few stops around the
preserve hoping for owls and whip-poor-wills, but only came up with two
American Woodcocks, a singing Field Sparrow, and a few more robins on what
I knew would be a moonless night. While it was still very dark, I visited
Vly Creek Marsh and Black Creek Marsh next, where I picked up Barred Owl
and Marsh Wren – along with my first Willow Flycatcher of the year - but
nothing else as far as marsh specialties go. Knox Wetland wasn’t much
better in this regard, though I did finally get a Virginia Rail there.
Next, I birded the higher elevations of Berne and Westerlo over the next
few hours, getting a good number of mountain breeding species at Partridge
Run Wildlife Management Area and Rensselaerville State Forest, including a
good assortment of wood-warblers on Cheese Hill Road and flyover Red
Crossbills in several locations. Some more productive marsh birding later
in the morning (Common Gallinule and American Bittern) got me to 99 species
before hitting the big reservoirs in southern Albany County.
I reached the “century mark” of 100 species at 10:41 a.m. with a Bald Eagle
at Basic Creek Reservoir. A half dozen Common Mergansers got me to 101, but
there wasn’t much else on the water at Basic Creek. A bit later, three
Greater Scaup at Alcove Reservoir might have been the most unexpected birds
of the day, a species I’ve had on the Century Run only once before. I
picked up another 15 species in the next hour and a half of birding
southeastern Albany County, including Worm-eating Warbler and my only
Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the day at Deer Mountain.
The afternoon brought the predictable slump upon me, turning the next few
hours into a hot, heavy, slow-motion crawl. Falcons in particular were a
disappointment at my next stops, as I dipped both on Peregrine Falcon at
the Dunn Memorial Bridge and Merlin at Washington Park in downtown Albany
(though I did see my only Cedar Waxwings of the day here). Like Rich
White’s group, I didn’t do very well with shorebirds, with the rocks of
Cohoes Flats mostly covered with water and devoid of sandpipers and
plovers. I did pick out one flyover American Herring Gull among dozens of
Ring-billed Gulls along the Mohawk near Cohoes, a minor bright spot in the
afternoon – before going on to dip on Grasshopper Sparrow at Albany
International Airport.
At this point, I needed some better luck with some easy stakeouts to lift
my spirits, so I returned to the Albany Pine Bush (about twelve hours after
my initial visit that morning) to add the continuing Red-headed Woodpeckers
at the Kings Highway Barrens, as well as a bonus Pileated Woodpecker and
Orchard Oriole. The very vocal Soras at the Crossings were next, bringing
me to 125 species around 6:00 p.m. At this point, 130 seemed to be within
easy reach numerically, but I knew all too well how easily birds can just
fail to materialize on a Century Run, especially in those desperate later
hours as the sun begins to drop in the sky. But after 13 hours of running
around the county by myself and keeping myself conscious on a steady stream
of Mountain Dew, I figured I could use some company, so I called my wife
Susannah and asked if she wanted to join me for the final push of the day
(she agreed).
Of course, my flagging luck turned around almost immediately after picking
her up (and she was all too happy to take credit for this swing in my
fortunes). When I mentioned I still needed Black Vulture for the day, we
both agreed it was worth making our next stop the NYSDOT residency in
Voorheesville, where both local vulture species are reliably seen feasting
on the highway roadkill dump there. On the way out there, as we sped past a
farm field opposite Bender Melon Farm in the diminishing light, I saw
something out of the corners of my sleep-deprived eyes and asked aloud,
“Were those turkeys or just big clumps of dirt in that field?” Before she
could answer, I swerved into the next available driveway for us to have a
quick look back – they were indeed turkeys for species #126! And after
getting those Black Vultures a few moments later for #127, we headed to
Five Rivers.
As well as I’d done in the higher terrain of Albany County that morning, I
was still missing Hermit Thrush and White-throated Sparrow for the day (not
to mention White-crowned Sparrow), so a quick evening hike around Five
Rivers seemed like my best last-ditch chance for a few new species. We
certainly weren’t expecting the next one to be Brant, but a migrating flock
of about 200 geese flew over us low by the visitor center a few minutes
after our arrival. I got to #129 species when we finally came across at
least one White-throated Sparrow in the brush along the Old Field Trail. We
wandered around a bit more after that without any new species for the day,
though we did see an American Bittern flying high overhead and Susannah got
her first really good looks at an American Woodcock that was performing a
distraction display a few feet in front of us on Foresman’s Loop.
So, it took a bit of work and some luck, but I finally got to 130 species
with our next stop on Biers Road in Coeymans Hollow, where we heard at
least two Eastern Whip-poor-wills singing as soon as we got out of the car
at this well-known location. For extra measure, we stopped to listen for
Great Horned Owls off Meads Lane at 9:15 p.m. After hearing a few flocks of
Brant go over in the dark, but no owls, I suggested we call it quits at
9:30, pick up the takeout order we had placed online, and then head home
for the rest of the night. All too predictably, as we climbed back into the
car at 9:31, we heard at least one Great Horned Owl hooting in the distance
for species #131.
Not sure what’s next for me, Century Run-wise, but I will say that after
such an absolutely draining day, reading the accounts of the other teams as
they trickle in every year is almost as much fun as one’s own experience
(and thanks to Rich and his team for providing such an entertaining
narrative). Personally, I’m just happy to have topped 130 species for the
first time — though even after a few days’ rest, I’m still here mentally
waffling between swearing “never again!” and looking up the date for next
year's big day....
