Brigantine 2/22--Tree Swallows

Early this morning, as we were at the entrance to Brig, listening to blackbirds singing "conkaree," picking out birds on snowless ground, it felt, for a little while, like Spring. All the water was open on the ponds, the impoundments, and the bay. And to further the illusion that winter might actually end, at the beginning of the Wildlife Drive, Pete & Mike, leading our Audubon field trip, spotted two Tree Swallows racing around, presumably finding bugs that have ventured out in the relatively warm air. Tree Swallows are considered rare this time of year.

With all the open water, ducks, swans, and geese were present in abundance. The wind picked up mid-morning and got stronger as the day progressed, which meant that the passerines we'd seen in the morning were about all we were going to see.

Three Peregrine Falcons were posing, two on the hacking tower,

and one immature on an Osprey platform.

This first year bird has been in the vicinity of the north dike for the last couple of months. Speculation is that it is a bird the migrated down from the arctic, since it is not shy around people. In other words, since it has never seen people, it doesn't know what a threat we are.

We had a very respectable 50 species for our two trips around the dikes. Almost everything we saw was recorded on the first trip, because after lunch the wind had become daunting and most birds were hunkered down, birds being, on the whole, smarter than people.
Snow Goose  2000
Brant  115
Canada Goose  250
Mute Swan  10
Tundra Swan  70    
Gadwall  2
American Wigeon  1    Southwest pool
American Black Duck  200
Mallard  15
Northern Shoveler  25
Northern Pintail  200
Green-winged Teal  75
Canvasback  36    
Ring-necked Duck  4
Greater Scaup  1
Bufflehead  25
Hooded Merganser  9    East pool
Common Merganser  4
Red-breasted Merganser  50
Horned Grebe  1
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  4
Northern Harrier  3
Bald Eagle  1    f/o end of north dike
Red-tailed Hawk  2
American Oystercatcher  2
Dunlin  100
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Mourning Dove  1    Heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard
Peregrine Falcon  3   
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  5
Tree Swallow  2    
Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard
Tufted Titmouse  1
Carolina Wren  2    Heard
Hermit Thrush  1    Entrance road
American Robin  5
European Starling  100    Great Creek Rd
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Fox Sparrow  1    Entrance road
Song Sparrow  1    Heard, Gull Pond road
White-throated Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1    Heard
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  50    Great Creek Rd with starlings
House Finch  3    Visitor Ctr feeders
House Sparrow  1    Visitor Ctr feeders