Eleven Brooklyn Bird Club members made the two hour drive to visit Brigantine and the Ocean City Heron Rookery. For many participants it was their first time there.
The weather was spectacular. It began to get hot and buggy for a period, but then the breeze picked up, the bugs dispersed, and it was very pleasant.
 |
| Fledglings Great Egrets at Ocean City Rookery photo'd by Marisa Hernandez |
While the species count was not as spectacular as it has been at other dates (mid-May and late August/early September are always great!) there was still plenty to see. At the Leeds Eco-trail we got great views of an active Marsh Wren nest and the wrens themselves. We continued to hear Marsh Wrens throughout the day. There were hundreds of Semipalmated Sandpipers with regular White-rumped Sandpipers, many Willets, breeding plumage Dunlin, Seaside Sparrows, four species of tern, and a Yellow-breasted Chat (life bird 500 for one participant). A top level birder has regularly reported King Rail and we heard rail calls that did sound potentially deeper pitched and slower than Clapper Rail but none of us felt sufficiently confident to make the ID. There was a surprising dearth of larger shorebirds other than Willet and Egrets. The whimbrel seem to have moved on, and we saw only one yellowlegs. We saw many winter plumage Black-bellied Plover but were not able to confirm an American Golden-Plover although one had been reported that week.
 |
| Marsh Wren Nest photo by Chris Miller |
The best spectacle was to be had at the Ocean City Heron rookery where eggs have hatched and we could see up close Great and Snowy Egrets and White Ibis feeding their young. Little Blue Herons and Glossy Ibis still appeared to be incubating eggs. There were plenty of Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons although we did not see any nests or young. We did see juveniles of both species. We aren't sure if they finished their breeding activity earlier in the spring or just weren't breeding in that spot. We did spot juveniles of both night heron species but they could have been born in Florida or other southern states where nesting can begin in December or even November. We also spotted a couple of Tri-colored Herons, although did not see any breeding activity from them either.
In the future, if going to Brig in June, I would probably have to tried to get on the marsh loop earlier in the morning, stopped at the Purple Martin boxes and the Leeds Eco-Trail briefly but skipped the rest of the trails around the Visitors Center. The Gull Tower did not yield much of anything either and might have been ok to skip.
