A splendid morning to walk down to Pier One and see what the south westerly winds last night blew in. Considering that the salt marsh was devoid of birds because landscapers were repairing winter's damage, there were a lot of birds to be found.
I've seen Barn Swallows for years flying around the Witness' building just to the west, but for the first time they showed up flying over both Pier One and Pier Four. A Gray Catbird was skulking around the underbrush near the stairs, and most surprisingly, a Brown Thrasher flew out of the middle garden and disappeared into the bushes by the last pool. Those three species are all new to the park.
On the fenced off lawn there was a large mixed flock of sparrows and I do mean mixed. Scattered in among the mostly House and White-Throated Sparrows were a couple of juncos, a Swamp Sparrow, a few Song Sparrows and a Savannah Sparrow. With the Eastern Towhee drinking its tea, that makes 6 sparrow species, not counting the HOSP.
A couple of other new returnees for the park were House Wren and a female Common Yellowthroat. With 27 species between the 2 piers, that's pretty good variety for such a small space.
PIER ONE
Number of species: 26
Brant 34
Canada Goose 1
American Black Duck 2
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Laughing Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 4
Rock Pigeon 1
Barn Swallow 3
House Wren 1
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 10
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Common Grackle 9
House Sparrow 20
PIER FOUR
Number of species: 8
Brant 3
Mallard 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Laughing Gull 2
Herring Gull 1
Mourning Dove 1
Barn Swallow 1
European Starling 1
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