Coordinator: Tristan Lowery 646-323-8914 tristanlowery@gmail.com

The Crossings of Colonie is one of the more popular suburban parks in the Capital District and has become a favorite hotspot for birders as well. While most of the park consists of mowed lawns crisscrossed by paths for joggers and dogwalkers, and its most prominent feature for most visitors is a large man-made pond (albeit one that can host a surprising variety of waterbirds), there’s also enough woodland, meadow, and wetland habitat here to make it a productive location for birding during spring migration. And if we luck out with enough late spring rain – as we often do – the grassy areas of the park may become sufficiently sodden to generate temporary shorebird habitat in the form of lagoon-like puddles that can attract surprisingly large flocks of plovers and shorebirds. If they are present, this is a good opportunity to view shorebirds in our area relatively up close.

Meet at 7:00 a.m. at the South Pavilion parking lot on the west end of the park, accessed by driving through the park following its main drive from the main entrance on Albany Shaker Road all the way to the end. Feel free to bring a scope for viewing shorebirds if you have one; the shorebird puddles are located near this parking lot and scopes can easily be returned to your vehicle before we venture elsewhere around the park. This is a weekday tour and the leader will likely opt to leave for work after about two hours of birding, but other participants are free to continue as they see fit.