Marine Park West 4/14--Little Blue Heron & Common Tern

Two first-of-year birds today at Marine Park West: a first-spring Little Blue Heron and a couple of Common Terns on the pilings near the entrance. My first reaction when I saw the Little Blue was, "Boy is that a grungy looking Snowy Egret." But then the blue bill and greenish legs snapped the identification into place.

A pair of Lesser Scaup were hanging out with the Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks--all these birds will be moving on pretty soon. Still a lot of Brants around, though not nearly as many as I've seen there and other spots. But Brant, because they nest so far up north, hang around a long time, late May, even early June.

I walked the sandy trails going out to the beach and the muddy ones walking back as the tide receded. Along the way I photographed more junk that's been dumped in this city park.  It is deplorable, of course, that the city lets the park go to ruin like this, threatening important habitat, but of course, it is even more deplorable that there are so many morons in this city who think nothing of trashing and destroying a public park.
Meanwhile, across the water the Army Corp of Engineer is "restoring" 40 acres of habitat--and taking forever--while abandoned cars leach oil and chemicals into the creek and ATV's and dirt bikes tear up the trails--when they stay on the trails.

Some of what I found today:
CHAIRS & LOUNGERS

PAINT BALLS

AUTOMOTIVE

 Another variation on the abandoned car motif--not only drive it into the phragmites, but instead of flipping it over, disembowel it and put the muffler on on top of the bashed in roof--meaning someone had to go under the car in the muck to do it--what a lot of work vandalism is.

Pontiac bumper in middle of trail

 35 Species for the day.

Brant    130
Canada Goose    1
Mute Swan    5
American Wigeon    3
Mallard    5
Lesser Scaup    2
Bufflehead    20
Red-breasted Merganser    4
Ruddy Duck    25
Pied-billed Grebe    1
Double-crested Cormorant    7
Great Egret    2
Snowy Egret    3
Little Blue Heron    1
American Oystercatcher    4
Greater Yellowlegs    1
Ring-billed Gull    33
Herring Gull    25
Common Tern    2
Rock Pigeon    5
Mourning Dove    4
Northern Flicker    4
American Crow    2
Tree Swallow    2
Black-capped Chickadee    3
Hermit Thrush    1
American Robin    50
Northern Mockingbird    1
European Starling    40
Song Sparrow    5
White-throated Sparrow    1
Northern Cardinal    8
Red-winged Blackbird    35
Common Grackle    4
House Sparrow    1