Marine Park--West 2/27

Now that the snow has melted I decided to visit Marine Park--West* for the first time this year. I saw some good birds and took some poor photos of them. As was the case yesterday, most of the birds were in the water. 

Red-breasted Mergansers

But I wasn't there 5 minutes when I heard the familiar screech of Monk Parakeets and found them landing in the top of a tree.

I wandered around the paths for a couple of hours or more finding a few birds here and there. At one point there was a lot of activity, mostly chickadees and a Downy Woodpecker flitting about. Looking a little deeper into the trees I found what may have been the cause of their excitement: It's been a good weekend for Cooper's Hawks. 

I arrived at 9:37 A.M. and low tide was scheduled for 9:38, so I was able to walk way out on the beach, far off the beaten down marsh grass paths. I've already documented the many abandoned cars I've found along the paths http://tinyurl.com/63qgaf8--and happily most of those have been removed.  But low tide uncovered a virtual abandoned car parking lot. 

Whatever this vehicle once was, it now serves as mussel bed.

The thought occurs to me that perhaps all those cars I thought were removed were only moved underwater. It would take a lot of comparison to figure it out and isn't worth the bother. 

But remember: This is a city park. Someone is responsible for its maintenance. Someone is doing a really lousy job. Or maybe it's an attempt to form an artificial reef. Seems to work for the mussels. 

My list for the day: 

Number of species:    26
Brant    150
Canada Goose    42
American Wigeon    9
American Black Duck    14
Mallard    4
Northern Shoveler    86
Bufflehead    26
Red-breasted Merganser    10
Ruddy Duck    42
Pied-billed Grebe    2
Cooper's Hawk    1
Merlin    1
Ring-billed Gull    200
Herring Gull    100
Great Black-backed Gull    2
Rock Pigeon    6
Monk Parakeet    2
Downy Woodpecker    1
Blue Jay    1
American Crow    3
Black-capped Chickadee    8
European Starling    1
Yellow-rumped Warbler    2
American Tree Sparrow    2
Song Sparrow    1
Northern Cardinal    1


*This is eBird's new designation of what they were formerly calling Salt Marsh Nature Center-West. It is west of the Salt Marsh Nature Center, but if anything, it is southwest of Marine Park. And do I feel like changing all my tags? No.