I saw four Cedar Waxwings on Pier One this afternoon. Oddly, for these berry loving birds, they weren't in trees that had any fruit on them. The bushes in the marsh with what I presume were raspberries* were full of House Sparrows eating the berries. As waxwings are just about my favorite passerines, I was quite pleased to find them in the park. There were probably more than four, as I could hear their "zzzt zzzt" call but couldn't find them in the thick foliage. This the 59th species recorded on the Pier in its brief history as a park.
The hybrid family of American Black Duck (drake) and Mallard with 3 ducklings were in the water picking whatnot from a gray skein of scum and garbage.
In other family news Pier Two had 2 Canada Geese with 2 goslings and perched on a wire on Pier Three was a young Barn Swallow begging for food. After a while an adult landed on the wire but ignored the beggar. I think the message there was like the Met Life commercial I constantly hear on the Mets broadcasts: "Times are hard. If you want it you have to work for it." Then they both flew off, lesson, presumably learned.
List:
11 species (+1 other taxa)
American Black Duck 1
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) 3
Mallard 1
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Ring-billed Gull 5
Rock Pigeon 2
Barn Swallow 5
American Robin 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 15
Cedar Waxwing 4
House Sparrow 20
*It turns out they are serviceberries. (6/16)
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