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| Bluffs at Mount Loretto |
Today we had the kind of day with sparrows that I always wish for with warblers.
I was just finishing up my walk around Mount Loretto without having seen anything really special aside from a really closeup look of a Northern Harrier overhead. When I got to the edge of the fields near the entrance, holy smokes, the place exploded in sparrows. It was the proverbial "mixed flock" of sparrows--Song, Chipping, Field, White-throated, White-crowned, Lincoln's...left and right, in the grass, back to the brush, perch on branch, fly down, I couldn't keep up. My numbers for the species are conservative; I know I saw more than one of most of the different sparrows, but I couldn't say I saw more than two except for the Song Sparrows which predominated in the flock.
I was waiting for Shari to come back from her appointment and inwardly groaned when the White-crowned Sparrow jumped up and perched on a twig for a full half-minute. If only she had been there with her new camera! What a pose, what a shot it would have been. However, when she did arrive the camera came in handy as she was able to take a picture of a sparrow I was pretty certain was a Lincoln's (it looked like a thin Song Sparrow, with a buffy breast and the chest stripes didn't form a center dot). Upon further review in the diner at lunch it turned out to be the correct identification.
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| Brants in Raritan Bay |
After lunch we drove around Staten Island, checking out various sites. The most interesting was the William T. Davis Refuge trail--thrushes, kinglets, woodpeckers, chickadees, a Red-tailed Hawk above.
We stopped at Great Kills, but the bay was devoid of waterfowl--only gulls on the mud flats. We also stopped at the Greenbelt Nature Center but there were way too many kids and dogs on the trails, obviating any chance of productive birding.
The combined list:
Staten Island
key: ML=Mount Loretto, D=William T. Davis Refuge, W=Willowbrook Park, VB=Arthur Van Briesen Park.
Brant 150 ML
Canada Goose 405 ML, W
American Black Duck 14 ML
Mallard 109 ML, W
Double-crested Cormorant 4 ML
Northern Harrier 2 ML
Red-tailed Hawk 3 ML, D
American Coot 1 ML
Ring-billed Gull 2 ML
Herring Gull 9 ML
Canada Goose 405 ML, W
American Black Duck 14 ML
Mallard 109 ML, W
Double-crested Cormorant 4 ML
Northern Harrier 2 ML
Red-tailed Hawk 3 ML, D
American Coot 1 ML
Ring-billed Gull 2 ML
Herring Gull 9 ML
Great Black-backed Gull 2 ML, VB
Mourning Dove 1 VB
Belted Kingfisher 1 ML
Belted Kingfisher 1 ML
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3 D, W
Downy Woodpecker 1 ML
Hairy Woodpecker 1 ML
Northern Flicker 1 ML
Downy Woodpecker 1 ML
Hairy Woodpecker 1 ML
Northern Flicker 1 ML
Eastern Phoebe 1 W
Blue Jay 7 ML, D, W, VB
White-breasted Nuthatch 2 D, VB
Black-capped Chickadee 3 ML, D
Carolina Wren 2 ML
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5 ML, D, VB
Blue Jay 7 ML, D, W, VB
White-breasted Nuthatch 2 D, VB
Black-capped Chickadee 3 ML, D
Carolina Wren 2 ML
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5 ML, D, VB
Hermit Thrush 2 D
American Robin 10 D
Gray Catbird 2 ML, D
Gray Catbird 2 ML, D
Northern Mockingbird 1 VB
European Starling 50 ML
Yellow-rumped Warbler 13 ML
European Starling 50 ML
Yellow-rumped Warbler 13 ML
Savannah Sparrow 1 W
Chipping Sparrow 2 ML
Field Sparrow 2 ML
Song Sparrow 12 ML
Lincoln's Sparrow 1 ML
Swamp Sparrow 1 ML
White-throated Sparrow 29 ML,D,W,VB
White-crowned Sparrow 2 ML
Northern Cardinal 1 ML
Chipping Sparrow 2 ML
Field Sparrow 2 ML
Song Sparrow 12 ML
Lincoln's Sparrow 1 ML
Swamp Sparrow 1 ML
White-throated Sparrow 29 ML,D,W,VB
White-crowned Sparrow 2 ML
Northern Cardinal 1 ML
Common Grackle 4 D, W
American Goldfinch 10 ML
American Goldfinch 10 ML
House Sparrow 10 VB
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