Salt Marsh Nature Center 11/15

I was able to get to the salt marsh today since the trains were running. At first I thought it was going to be a day with a lot of species after walking down the entrance trail I immediately saw hundreds of Brant, lots of Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks, some Mallards plus 1 Pied-bill Grebe. I noticed, though, that there were no cormorants roosting on the pilings. That was odd; cormorant is usually a gimmee.

Birds were hard to find. I did have some interesting ones, like the Sharp-shinned Hawk and when I went to the other side of the creek where the center's building is I found a couple of American Wigeons, but all in all, while any day birding is a good day, the lack of variety in species was a little disappointing.  It was a gray, cool day, exactly the kind of day the word I imagine when I see the word "November."

Brant on Gerrittsen Creek

Brant in Flight

List for the day:
Notes:    All sightings are Salt Marsh Nature Center-West except those marked "E" which are from the HQ side. 
Number of species:    26
Brant    500
Canada Goose    165
American Wigeon    2    E
American Black Duck    2
Mallard    40
Bufflehead    17
Ruddy Duck    26
Pied-billed Grebe    1
Great Blue Heron    2
Northern Harrier    1
Sharp-shinned Hawk    1
Ring-billed Gull    X
Herring Gull    X
Great Black-backed Gull    1
Rock Pigeon    1    E
Mourning Dove    4
Downy Woodpecker    1
Northern Flicker    6
American Crow    4
Black-capped Chickadee    8
Northern Mockingbird    1    E
Yellow-rumped Warbler    13
Swamp Sparrow    1    E
Northern Cardinal    1
American Goldfinch    2
House Sparrow    3    E