JBWR 4/24--Nifty Fifty

Well, technically 49. The 50th species today was a Turkey Vulture seen surveying the mud flats of the Paerdegat Basin off the Belt Parkway as we were headed home from Jamaica Bay.

We started out in the South Garden hoping for some warblers and we found lots of Yellow-rumps as well as a Yellow Warbler, along with 2 Blue-headed Vireos. It was finally a warm, partly sunny (partly cloudy) day with no wind to speak of, so perhaps for the first time this year it was a comfortable circuit of the West Pond. Glossy Ibises are back, the return of another big-nose bird; in the bright sun they were iridescent brown and green.  They always remind me of Gonzo of the Muppets.

Maybe it's just me.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge 
(West, East, & Big John's Ponds, + incidental observation on Belt Parkway)
Brant    250

Canada Goose    53
Mute Swan    35
Gadwall    4
American Black Duck    2
Mallard    3

Northern Shoveler  1   East Pond
Green-winged Teal    4
Greater Scaup    200
Bufflehead    31
Red-breasted Merganser    6
Ruddy Duck    500
Horned Grebe    1
Double-crested Cormorant    45
Great Egret    4

Snowy Egret    3

Black-crowned Night-Heron  6  Big John’s Pond
Glossy Ibis    12

Turkey Vulture  1 Belt Pkwy
Osprey    2

Merlin  1 East Pond
American Oystercatcher    6
Greater Yellowlegs    2
Willet    1
Laughing Gull    38

Herring Gull    7

Great Black-backed Gull  20 East Pond
Common Tern    5
Mourning Dove    2    Parking Lot
Red-bellied Woodpecker    1    North Garden
Blue-headed Vireo    2    South Garden
American Crow    3
Tree Swallow    100

Black-capped Chickadee    2   

Carolina Wren  1  East Pond
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    1    South Garden
Hermit Thrush    1    South Garden
American Robin    36
Gray Catbird    1    Blind
Brown Thrasher    1
European Starling    2
Yellow Warbler    2
Yellow-rumped Warbler    17
Eastern Towhee    8
Song Sparrow    2
White-throated Sparrow    5

Dark-eyed Junco  2  East Pond Trail
Northern Cardinal    6
Red-winged Blackbird    35
House Sparrow    1    Parking Lot