Leading : Tom Preston
For the April 15th Brooklyn Bird Club 'Coastal Brooklyn' trip we visited Owl's Head Park, Gravesend Bay, Floyd Bennett Field and Jamaica Bay. It was a trip with a good variety of birds, including many First Of Year sightings for all of us.
An hour spent at Owl's Head produced some migrants, though not the numbers we were hoping for after the overnight southerly winds
There were an unusually large number of Sapsuckers - we saw 8 - plus a number of Hermit Thrushes, Flickers, Palm Warblers, Juncos and Chipping Sparrows. We also had our first House Wren, found by Monica. Everyone enjoyed a very close male American Kestrel spotted by Alan.
We moved onto Gravesend Bay for a brief stop to look for Purple Sandpipers. We had a couple of close ones, out of about a dozen which flew back and forth, as well as close views of a Red-throated Loon in winter plumage.
At Floyd Bennett Field, sightings included singing Northern Parula and Field Sparrow near the Community Gardens, Northern Harrier, several more Kestrels and 4 Black-crowned Night Herons at the Return-a-Gift Pond, along with a well-hidden drake Green-winged Teal found by Alexandra.
At Jamaica Bay, spring was obviously in full swing. Among the birds there were 2 Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egret, many Forster's Terns and Boat-tailed Grackles, Glossy Ibis, Ospreys on the nest and over the East Pond, breeding plumage Horned Grebes, Pied-billed Grebe, and a good view of Barn Owl. Towhees are in - we had them in all suitable spots we visited.
Participants: Monica Berger, Alexandra Ratay, Jamie Newman, Alan, JoAnn Preston (registrar), Tom Preston (leader)
71 Species Total:
Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Red-throated Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Glossy Ibis
Osprey
Northern Harrier
American Kestrel
American Coot
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Purple Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Barn Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
