JBWR 5/31--One More Oddity

We finished out the month with a relatively quick jaunt around the West Pond at JBWR. A fellow birder pointed out a bird in the bay that he was pretty certain was a Red-necked Grebe and after consulting Sibley, Peterson and 5 or 6 other birders we concluded that it was indeed a very out-of-season grebe. It wasn't in breeding plumage like the Horned Grebe we saw a couple of days ago on Staten Island, but looked like either a non-breeder with very worn plumage or else one that was in transition. It also wasn't diving (which was fine for us in terms of ID--grebes are notorious for disappearing on you) which led us to wonder if it was ill. I often think when I see a rare or out-season bird that this is great for me, but that the bird has just hit a reproductive dead-end.

Naturally, we left the camera at home.

I wasn't certain, but I didn't really remember ever seeing a RNGR. I remember once on a very cold day in Belmar, NJ trying, with a couple of other birders to turn some Horned Grebes into something more exotic, but we apparently weren't successful because when I consulted our master life lists the grebe turned out to be a lifer! Not a bad way to end the month, especially with the bonus of a Wilson's Phalarope in breeding plumage. We'd heard that one had been reported, but we had long passed the location where it had last been seen when I scoped it out running along the beach down from Bench 12. Lucky Bench 12 where we also saw the White-faced Ibis twice this month.

This year's northern migration is just about over. Summer is upon us. Birding in the summer can really be a challenge since counter-intuitively it can be a relatively barren time to go birding.  Add in the heat and the bugs  and you really have to want to seek out birds (& hope for a rarity to come your way) to go birding for the next 3 months

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge--West Pond

Number of species:     46

Brant     14 These are real stragglers!

Canada Goose     100

Mute Swan     7     Bench 2 5 cygnets

Gadwall     1     Bench 2 sleeping on the beach

American Black Duck     5

Mallard     25

Greater Scaup     1

RED-NECKED GREBE     1     In bay off Bench 6

Double-crested Cormorant     15

Great Egret     5

Snowy Egret     2

Little Blue Heron     1     In marsh near Osprey nest

Black-crowned Night-Heron     1

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron     2

Glossy Ibis     10

Osprey     4

Clapper Rail     1     In marsh by Bench 1

Semipalmated Plover     3

American Oystercatcher     4

Willet     1

Semipalmated Sandpiper     1000

Dunlin     1

Wilson's Phalarope     1     Bench 12

Laughing Gull     20

Herring Gull     25

Forster's Tern     10

Mourning Dove     2

Willow Flycatcher     2

American Crow     3

Tree Swallow     50

Barn Swallow     1

Marsh Wren     1     Marsh near Bench 10

American Robin     1

Gray Catbird     25

Northern Mockingbird     1

Brown Thrasher     2

European Starling     1

Cedar Waxwing     4     Parking lot and trail between Visitor Center and blind.

Yellow Warbler     10

Common Yellowthroat     5

Eastern Towhee     1

Song Sparrow     2

Northern Cardinal     1

Red-winged Blackbird     25

Common Grackle     1     Chased by blackbird

Boat-tailed Grackle     1