Subject: Birding Brooklyn's Coast
From: Rob Jett
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:33:26 -0400
I led a trip for the Brooklyn Bird Club today
to several coastal areas in Brooklyn. We started
the morning at Dreier-Offerman Park (Calvert Vaux) and also birded Plum Beach, Dead Horse Bay
and Floyd Bennett Field. A strong NW wind early
in the day kept a lot of birds down, but we did manage a few nice highlights. The first bird of the day was an extremely
cooperative Yellow-billed Cuckoo. We had just
parked the cars and were headed down the path
when Michael Yuan spotted the bird perched 3 feet
off the ground and only about 15 feet away. It allowed
ridiculously long, close looks before eventually
flying across the path and into more dense cover.
The main soccer fields were being blasted by cold
winds off the bay, but there was still a few Killdeer
and a Wilson's Snipe hunkered down in the grass. We didn't see a lot of sparrows, but
yellow-rumps were abundant and, on our way out, a
very brightly plumed Nashville Warbler foraged a short distance from where we had seen the cuckoo. The target species at Plum Beach was Nelson's Sparrow,
of which we quickly found two. Dead Horse Bay was pretty much a bust, with a
brief Osprey sighting being the only highlight. It was noon by the time we got to Floyd Bennett, so
there wasn't much sparrow activity at the community
garden, just lots and lots of yellow-rumps. We did
spot one male Purple Finch. A single Cattle Egret remains on the main grasslands making this nearly
two weeks since it was first spotted. We watched it
drinking from a small puddle next to a NPS truck.
At the Return-a-Gift Pond there were several Green-winged Teal, three Wood Duck and a single Northern Pintail. There was a lot of raptor activity all day, with
many Sharp-shinned Hawks seen at all locations.
Other raptor species observed were Osprey, Northern
Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin and Peregrine Falcon. Observers: Alejandra Borunda, Eddie Davis,
Donna Evans, Rob Jett, Michael Johnson, Phil Malek,
Janet Schumacher, Bob Washburn, Michael Yuan Good birding, Rob The City Birder Weblog http://citybirder.blogspot.com ********** Location: Dreier-Offerman Park Observation date: 10/23/10 Number of species: 38 Brant Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Sharp-shinned Hawk (6.) American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon (2.) Killdeer (3.) Spotted Sandpiper Wilson's Snipe Great Black-backed Gull Yellow-billed Cuckoo Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Cedar Waxwing Nashville Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Brown-headed Cowbird American Goldfinch Other common species seen (or heard): Canada Goose, Mute Swan, American Black Duck, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, American Robin, European Starling, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch, House Sparrow ********* Location: Plum Beach Observation date: 10/23/10 Number of species: 26 Brant Double-crested Cormorant Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk (4.) American Oystercatcher (4.) Sanderling Ring-billed Gull Northern Flicker Carolina Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Northern Mockingbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Nelson's Sparrow (2.) Other common species seen (or heard): Canada Goose, Mallard, American Black Duck, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, American Crow, European Starling, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, House Sparrow ********* Location: Dead Horse Bay Observation date: 10/23/10 Number of species: 21 Brant Double-crested Cormorant Osprey Sharp-shinned Hawk (2.) Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Black-capped Chickadee Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Yellow-rumped Warbler Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow American Goldfinch Other common species seen (or heard): Mallard, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, American Robin, European Starling, Song Sparrow ********* Location: Floyd Bennett Field Observation date: 10/23/10 Number of species: 43 Brant Wood Duck (3.) Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal (14.) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Cattle Egret Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk (4.) Cooper's Hawk (2.) Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel (2.) Merlin Black-bellied Plover (14.) Belted Kingfisher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Tree Swallow Red-breasted Nuthatch Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Northern Mockingbird Yellow-rumped Warbler Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow (3.) Dark-eyed Junco Purple Finch (1.) American Goldfinch Other common species seen (or heard): Canada Goose, Mallard, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, American Crow, American Robin, European Starling, Song Sparrow, House Finch, House Sparrow -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES
