Staten Island 6/8--MISSISSIPPI KITE, Blue Grosbeak

MISSISSIPPI KITE
Photos: Shari Zirlin

After a full day of soaking rain, I was looking forward to going down to Brig this morning, but Shari called an audible and we headed north, instead, to Staten Island. She still subscribes to the Staten Island birding list and noticed that at the Cemetery of the Resurrection (and think about that oxymoron for a moment) a potential life bird for the both of us was still present. Last time we were at the cemetery was right after Thanksgiving when we got some good looks at Cave Swallows. I generally don't like birding cemeteries except for Green-wood in Brooklyn, where they actively encourage it. It just seems, depending on my mood, either disrespectful or downright creepy. But, for the chance to see a MISSISSIPPI KITE, I put my feelings aside--somewhat.

The location of the spot on was a little vague, so after a false start, going around the back of the cemetery, we drove onto the grounds proper and parked at the back of the "Perpendicular Pond," where we'd seen the Cave Swallows. Shari walked up what looked like a service road where machinery, gravel, and other construction equipment was stored and saw three birders standing around. "Look for the birders, not the bird," is our motto. One of the birders was the guy who'd originally found the bird--Anthony Ciancimino who has made the cemetery his "patch" and has accumulated an amazing list there. Another was Andrew Baksh an intrepid, indefatigable birder, who's blog is always worth looking at. They said the bird had been around and couple of times already, so we settled in to wait. In the meanwhile, an Orchard Oriole flew into a nearby tree and sat there singing for a good 20 minutes.

When Shari & I were in France's mosquito-ridden salt marsh called the Carmargue six years ago, I missed what would have been my life Purple Heron because I was behind a bush, answering one of nature's more urgent calls. The same thing almost happened today. I wandered farther up the driveway, to an unused portion of the cemetery, half-looking for the kite perched in a tree and half-looking for an out of the way spot. When I found one, I heard Shari call me. I raced down the muddy road. The others had told Shari not to holler anymore because she might spook the bird, which had suddenly appeared perched in a tree right in front of everyone. Luckily, it was very unconcerned with its audience and we were all able to view it for 15 or 20 minutes. Pictures, because of the bad lighting, were problematic, but there was no mistaking the kite for any other bird.

We were about to leave when Andrew received a call that there was a singing Blue Grosbeak across the street at Mt Loretto.  We had planned to go there anyway, so we drove over. I thought I knew where the bird was from Andrew's description--I had seen one there, up the hill by the old lighthouse, a few years ago. However, after walking up there we found neither bird nor birders. We walked back down the hill and around to what would be Cunningham Street if it extended into the park, and found Andrew and Tom Preston looking out to the high grassy fields on either side of the road. It was here, on the path toward the maintenance shed, that the grosbeak was being seen and heard. It took only a few minutes for me to find it perched on a stalk. The kicker was that not only was there a male present, but a female too and she was carrying nesting material in her mouth. Blue Grosbeaks are not known to nest that far north--according to Howie Fischer, another Staten Island birder, if there were to nest this year it would only be the second record for Staten Island. So it was an exciting moment. The grosbeak flew from the field into a large tree right on the path, where not 10 feet away in the tree there was also a singing Indigo Bunting--not such a rarity as the grosbeak, but always great to see and I have certainly never seen both in the same tree. That was the capper for the day; we walked down to Cunningham Pond but nothing was shaking there, so we crossed the field back to the parking lot and headed off to lunch. Our two Staten Island lists:
CEMETERY OF THE RESURRECTION
8 species
Great Egret  1
Osprey  1
MISSISSIPPI KITE  1    
Chimney Swift  1
Gray Catbird  1    Heard
Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard
Common Grackle  3
Orchard Oriole  1
MOUNT LORETTO UNIQUE AREA
30 species
Mallard  7
Double-crested Cormorant  5
Great Egret  2
Osprey  1
Killdeer  2
Laughing Gull  25
Herring Gull  5
Common Tern  4
Mourning Dove  6
Chimney Swift  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
Fish Crow  1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  10
Tree Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  1    Heard
Carolina Wren  1    Heard
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  1    Heard
European Starling  100
Common Yellowthroat  2    Heard
Yellow Warbler  2
Song Sparrow  2
Blue Grosbeak  2    
Indigo Bunting  1    
Red-winged Blackbird  20
Common Grackle  3
Baltimore Oriole  2