Marine Park--Southwest 7/8: Black Skimmers

Pretty steamy in the marsh today. Low tide, the air pungent with the scent of dead things and burnt, wet wood. It seemed wherever I walked on my 2 mile trek to the beach I came across burnt patches of grass or phragmites. In addition to being the dumping ground of choice for discriminating car thieves of  Brooklyn, it has also become the borough's pyromaniacal playground.

The only notable birds today were the Black Skimmers, those gloriously goofy birds that zip along the surface of the water with their larger lower mandible, skimming up nutrition from just below. I saw 3 and they, unlike many birds, are not shy. When they're skimming they're on a mission and if you happen to be standing along their route, that's fine, see you later.

33 species today plus 1 crow that didn't call as it was being chased by blackbirds.
Mallard  1
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  7
Snowy Egret  5
Osprey  4
American Oystercatcher  6
Laughing Gull  10
Herring Gull  15
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Least Tern  4
Common Tern  1
Forster's Tern  3
Black Skimmer  3
Rock Pigeon  1
Mourning Dove  15
Willow Flycatcher  1
crow sp.  1
Tree Swallow  5
Barn Swallow  10
American Robin  25
Gray Catbird  12
Northern Mockingbird  4
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  50
Cedar Waxwing  4
Yellow Warbler  3
Common Yellowthroat  4
Eastern Towhee  3
Song Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  3
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Common Grackle  1
House Sparrow  3

SMART CAR WRECK WEEK 5

Still there; the grass is getting higher but not high enough to hide it