JBWR 3/5

We made our first excursion to Jamaica Bay today. I was happy just not to be in New Jersey for a day. But it was much windier than I expected, which A) kept the passerines hidden and B) it discouraged me from trying to identify whether the thousand or so scaup on the West Pond were lesser or greater--I don't pick out details like the shape of the head or the size of the "nail" in the bill when there's a biting wind in face and my eyes are tearing up and my nose is running the 50 yard dash.

Highlight of the day was certainly finding the resident Barn Owl in its box on Big John's Pond. Lowlight of the day was searching fruitlessly for a Long-eared Owl that one of the rangers told us had been photographed in the North Garden. We looked with him for about a half hour with no luck. Crows were screaming overhead which made me believe the owl was somewhere nearby and had flown off to escape its mobbers. It just seemed odd to us that the owl had been photographed in the bare branches of a tree, according to the ranger. Our limited experience of Long-ears is that they like to press themselves very closely to the trunks of fir trees, making them almost perfectly camouflaged. It would have really been nice to see that bird. 

A somewhat disappointing 24 species today mostly due to the dearth of land birds.
West Pond
Number of species:    20
Snow Goose    2000    Mostly in the marsh, at least 3 blue morphs seen
Brant    50
Canada Goose    100
American Black Duck    25
Mallard    4
Northern Shoveler    30
Northern Pintail    1
Green-winged Teal    35
Greater/Lesser Scaup    1000
Bufflehead    1
Red-breasted Merganser    3
Ruddy Duck    500
Ring-billed Gull    X
Herring Gull    X
Great Black-backed Gull    3
American Crow    7
European Starling    1
Red-winged Blackbird    4
House Finch    1    Tree near visitor center
American Goldfinch    2    Tree near visitor center
House Sparrow    1    Bushes at entrance.
East Pond
Number of species:    11
Mute Swan    12
American Black Duck    4
Mallard    2
Lesser Scaup    50
Greater/Lesser Scaup    500
Bufflehead    1
Hooded Merganser    2
Ruddy Duck    500
Ring-billed Gull    X
Herring Gull    X
Barn Owl    1  Big John's Pond
American Crow    1