Prospect Park--Pine Siskins 11/12

Pine Siskins are an "irruptive" species and this year seems to be one of those irruptive years. I saw 4 in the park today along Rocky Pass, mixed in, as they often are, with a flock of goldfinch. I say 4 but there could have been more--the flock was flying back & forth across the path pretty quickly. The siskins have been reported in a lot of different places in the park, in relatively small numbers. It seems early for them--to me they're a "dead of winter" bird. They must be on the move though--I saw a post from Robert Moses State Park on Long Island where someone counted 750 siskins flying by with goldfinches. That would be a sight!

Other than the siskins, the highlights of today's jaunt in the park were an absolutely beautiful  drake Wood Duck, lit perfectly by the a ray of sunlight through the trees of the Lower Pool; a hen Ring-necked Duck on the Upper Pool; and lots of comical Northern Shovelers--no matter how many times I see them, they always strike me just an unlikely bird with their huge bills on their little bodies.

List:
Prospect Park
Number of species:    35
Canada Goose    25
Mute Swan    5
Wood Duck    1    Drake on Lower Pool
Mallard    50
Northern Shoveler    65
Ring-necked Duck    1    Hen on Upper Pool
Ruddy Duck    225
Pied-billed Grebe    4    One Upper Pool, one Lullwater, two Lake
Great Blue Heron    2    Upper Pool & S. Lullwater
Red-tailed Hawk    2
American Coot    23
Ring-billed Gull    125
Herring Gull    25
Great Black-backed Gull    2    Sitting on canopy of boat in Lake
Rock Pigeon    8
Mourning Dove    16
Red-bellied Woodpecker    1    Lookout Hill
Downy Woodpecker    2    Wellhouse
Blue Jay    2
American Crow    1    Sitting with gulls on canopy of boat. 
Black-capped Chickadee    4
White-breasted Nuthatch    2
Carolina Wren    1
Winter Wren    1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    2    Wellhouse
Hermit Thrush    1    Peninsula
American Robin    4    Lily Pond
Gray Catbird    1    Lullwater
Chipping Sparrow    1    Wildflower Meadow
Song Sparrow    3
White-throated Sparrow    15
Dark-eyed Junco    5
Northern Cardinal    2
Pine Siskin    4    Rocky Pass right before Three Arches Bridge
American Goldfinch    10

White-tailed Kite; Ocean, Atlantic & Cape May Counties

We spent the weekend birding the coast of south Jersey. Our original plan was to drive down to the Avalon Seawatch then work our way back to north to Smithville where we would stay overnight so that we could get a really early start at Brigantine, 5 minutes away, and do the loop a couple of times and perhaps even walk some of the trails which we hardly ever do. Then, maybe, if the White-tailed Kite that had been reported in Barnegat was still being seen, we'd stop there on our way back to Brooklyn.

But we didn't do that. Instead, Shari checked her Blackberry at a rest stop and we saw that the kite had been seen not 20 minutes ago. I was hesitant to chase the bird because I thought we'd be investing too much time for 1 species which we might not see, but Shari prevailed and, of course, she was right. We found the Barnegat Municipal dock without any problem and I picked up the bird right away sitting in a snag, way, way across the water. If that had been all the looks we got, then yeah, I could add it to the life list, but it certainly wouldn't have been satisfying. But then the bird started to fly, to hover, to "kite," attacking at one point a Red-Tailed Hawk and chasing it out of a tree. At times when the kite was lit by the sun in just the right way, it's white tail could be clearly seen, and the bird's flight was distinctive. We watched it for about 20 minutes with 25 or so other birders.

There was one bird photographer there we knew--last year we had flagged him down in Brigantine when we spotted the Roseate Spoonbill and asked him to document it (only the 3rd recorded sighting in NJ). I nodded to him but I he didn't recognize me. That's okay--a lot of birders look vaguely familiar to me and I don't feel like I have to talk to each one.

But then I heard him talking to another guy about cameras and why, even if the pictures aren't high quality they can still be very useful. "When Larry & Shari Zirlin stopped me last year to take a picture of the Roseate Spoonbill," he was saying, so I popped up from looking through the scope and waved my arms to get his attention. I was wearing a different kind of hat than I usually do and that, apparently threw him off. It's always odd to hear yourself talked about--takes you out of your solipsism and proves you really exist in the world.

We'd never been to this part of the Forsythe Refuge so after getting all we could out of the kite we decided to look around for the 3 avocets that had also been reported there. Didn't find them, but did pick up some birds in the impoundments and on the beach of Barnegat Bay.
E. B. Forsythe NWR--Barnegat
Number of species:    18
Canada Goose    10
Mute Swan    5
American Black Duck    10
Mallard    6
Northern Shoveler    4
Northern Pintail    4
Double-crested Cormorant    6
Great Blue Heron    1    Off Bayshore Road
Great Egret    1
Turkey Vulture    6    Kettle
White-tailed Kite    1    
Red-tailed Hawk    1   
Ring-billed Gull    X
Herring Gull    X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker    1    Viewing Platform
Carolina Wren    1    Heard on Municipal Dock
Northern Cardinal    1    Viewing Platform
House Finch    6    On railing of public beach on Bayshore Road. 

Then since it was too late to drive all the way down to Avalon, we decided to switch things around and go to Brig instead. The day had started off sunny, but by the time were doing the circuit at Brig it had clouded up and become a bit breezy. We only did one loop of the impoundments. Lots of ducks, as would be expected. The only disappointment was that we didn't find any Tundra Swans.



Greater Yellowlegs
Photo: Shari  Zirlin

 E.B. Forsythe NWR--Wildlife Drive

Number of species:    36
Snow Goose    250
Brant    3000
Canada Goose    75
Mute Swan    2
Gadwall    20
American Black Duck    200
Mallard    100
Northern Shoveler    10
Northern Pintail    50
Green-winged Teal    10
Hooded Merganser    5
Double-crested Cormorant    10
Great Blue Heron    2
Great Egret    1
Snowy Egret    1
Northern Harrier    4
Red-tailed Hawk    1
Peregrine Falcon    1
American Coot    10
Black-bellied Plover    9
Greater Yellowlegs    14  
Dunlin    300
Ring-billed Gull    10
Herring Gull    10
Great Black-backed Gull    3
Downy Woodpecker    1
Blue Jay    3
American Crow    5
American Robin    10
Yellow-rumped Warbler    10
Savannah Sparrow    5
Song Sparrow    1
White-throated Sparrow    1
Northern Cardinal    1
Red-winged Blackbird    5
American Goldfinch    2

By this time it was almost 5 and time to check into the hotel we had booked in

Historic Smithtown

We'd been passing Smithtown every time we went to Brigantine and talked about staying there so we could carry out our original plan of getting an early start. We didn't know anything about the place other than that the Smithville Inn which was off Rt 9 looked fancy and that there were 80 shops (or shoppes) to "explore." 

Shari booked us a room in "The Barn" of the Colonial Inn which is a pseudo B&B. She wanted to look at the stores; I, of course, had no interest, so I stayed in the room and played checkers against myself. I won. Then I read about the town (or towne as they insist on spelling it) in the welcome material. Not too long after Shari returned, a little disappointed, saying that she had the feeling of being in one of Disney World's fake towns. 

Not too far off, I told her. The Smithville Inn has a history going back to 1796. All the other stores and in fact the whole towne is part of two corporations. The story goes that the Smithville Inn, after having fallen into disrepair and abandonment in the late 1870's (and why wouldn't it--there isn't much there now, what could there have been there 140 years ago?), was discovered bought by Fred & Ethel Noyes (not Mertz) in 1947, and who in 1951 had fixed up the place and started a restaurant. Over the years the Inn expanded and Fred & Ethel went around south Jersey, buying up old buildings and transporting them back to the land they had also bought with the Smithville Inn. 

Fred & Ethel did pretty well and in 1974 sold the whole kit and caboodle to the National Broadcasting Company for 7 million dollars, not bad money in those days. NBC in turn sold the company to some investors in Philadelphia, who flipped the property and by the late 80's things weren't go so well and the whole towne was bought by a local bank for $150,000 at a sheriff's auction. Even in the 80's $150,000 wasn't a lot of money. So later the bank sold the property to yet another corporation and somehow the land was split between the "old" towne and the newer part called Village Greene (spelled with an "e" naturally). And yet, inexplicably, the Federal government has designated the whole phony construction an historic landmark. 

Which is not to say the place was terrible. The room was fine if a little pricey and the Smithville Inn's food was pretty good. We may even stay there again. Let me not forget to mention the little train they have that circles the whole towne--$2 buys you a ride.

Shari on the Hooterville Express

And now, back to birding.



Yellow-rumped Warbler
Photo by Shari  Zirlin

 We decided to drive down to Cape May and try our luck there. We didn't do badly, though we never find the 80 or 90 species that other birders seem to. 

First stop was Cape May State Park and look at Lighthouse Pond. I was happy to see Ring-necked Ducks there. 

Number of species:    17
Mute Swan    1
Gadwall    50
American Wigeon    50
Mallard    10
Northern Shoveler    10
Green-winged Teal    20
Ring-necked Duck    6
Ruddy Duck    20
Turkey Vulture    2
Red-tailed Hawk    1
American Coot    25
Northern Flicker    1
American Crow    1
Carolina Chickadee    2
Carolina Wren    1
Yellow-rumped Warbler    10
Dark-eyed Junco    1

Peregrine Falcon
Photo by Shari Zirlin

Then we spent around 40 minutes at the Hawkwatch. The Gull Pond had the usual ducks, Turkey Vultures abounded and we had our FOY Red-Shouldered Hawks. 

Number of species:    20
Canada Goose    10
Mute Swan    6
Mallard    2
Northern Shoveler    10
Green-winged Teal    10
Bufflehead    1
Ruddy Duck    10
Pied-billed Grebe    2
Turkey Vulture    15
Red-shouldered Hawk    3
Red-tailed Hawk    1
Merlin    1
Peregrine Falcon    1
Ring-billed Gull    1
Rock Pigeon    2
American Crow    2
Carolina Wren    1
American Robin    4
Song Sparrow    2
House Sparrow    5

A little tradition we have is that Shari stops in a the Cape May Bird Observatory store and I bird along the edges of Lily Lake while she does. There I found Gray Catbird and one Ruby-crowned Kinglet nicely displaying its little crown, as well as goldfinches and common waterfowl on the lake. 

Then it was off to the Meadows which is Nature Conservancy land. We haven't liked this place as much as we once did, ever since they cut down a lot of trees and shrubs and "opened" up the land. There doesn't seem to be as much habitat for passerines as there once was and the place is just uglier than it has to be. Nothing of note was on the beach except for a passel of Great-blacked Gulls. And wouldn't you like to have these guys sitting on the roof of your expensive vacation home?

Turkey Vultures on House Across from Meadows
Photo by Shari Zirlin

Cape May Migratory Bird Sanctuary (Meadows)

Number of species:    23
Canada Goose    30
Mute Swan    10
Gadwall    100
Mallard    10
Northern Pintail    10
Green-winged Teal    50
Bufflehead    1
Hooded Merganser    6
Ruddy Duck    20
Double-crested Cormorant    1
Great Blue Heron    1
Great Egret    1
Turkey Vulture    9
Northern Harrier    2
American Kestrel    2
American Coot    10
Ring-billed Gull    X
Herring Gull    X
Great Black-backed Gull    55
Tree Swallow    6
Yellow-rumped Warbler    12
Red-winged Blackbird    60
American Goldfinch    1

And so, after lunch at the State Park we left Cape Island and started to make our way back to  Saturday's original destination of the Avalon Seawatch.

Northern Harrier at Wetlands Institute
Photo by Shari Zirlin

We stopped off at the Wetlands Institute on Stone Harbor Causeway, but aside from a Northern Mockingbird, there was nothing new there. 

At Stone Harbor Point it was little interesting--gannets and Sanderlings, but no ducks that we could identify; just long black strings of birds flying above the horizon.

Number of species:    9
Brant    8
Northern Gannet    10
Sanderling    25
Herring Gull    X
Great Black-backed Gull    X
Mourning Dove    1
Northern Mockingbird    1
Yellow-rumped Warbler    8
Song Sparrow    1

Finally, we made it up to the Avalon Seawatch. The whole weekend I'd been hoping to find ducks on open water, especially scoters, eiders, Redheads and/or Canvasbacks. And so far I'd seen none. But at Avalon we were finally able to add all 3 scoters, including the hard to find White-winged Scoter, and Common Eiders. 4 out of 6, 66%, not bad. By this time, because of the end of DST (I felt like we'd stolen an hour from the hotel) it was going to get dark soon, so we heading up the Garden State Parkway and got back to Brooklyn around 7.  68 species for the weekend, including 1 lifer. Again, not bad, but sometime I really want to be able to get 80 or 90. I think I have to look harder at flocks of birds and not just assume that all the ducks or sparrows or gulls are the same species.

Number of species:    7
Common Eider    10
Surf Scoter    10
White-winged Scoter    1
Black Scoter    10
Northern Gannet    10
Sanderling    1
Herring Gull    X

"Let me tell you why that's a bad idea."

Driving home tonight from Jersey, we were listening to the local radio station. One of their ads is for Dunkin' Donuts, which is running a promo called Rush Hour Runs.

I've always thought the job I should have is to be a consultant on retainer and before any company would start a new campaign or come out with a new product or anticipate making any kind of change, they would run it by me first. I would point out to them what was wrong with the concept. Then I would get paid 10% of the money they didn't spend on their bonehead idea. 

In this case, I would simply point out to them that Rush Hour Runs sounds like having a bout of diarrhea in rush hour traffic.

Then they would write me a check and I'd go out birding until the next dumb idea was proposed.

Pier 1 11/4--Wet & Windy

It looked like there was a break in the rain this afternoon, so around 4 o'clock I went out. The break lasted long enough for me to get down to Pier 1, then it started to rain again, building up from a tolerable drizzle into a windy downpour. 5 species of sparrows were skulking around in the marsh and on the lawns. The most interesting bird I saw was a very bedraggled juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron, bill tucked into its feathers, standing forlornly on one of the old pilings.

Today's little list:
Pier 1
Number of species:     9
Double-crested Cormorant     2
Black-crowned Night-Heron     1
Ring-billed Gull     1
Herring Gull     2
Chipping Sparrow     1
Song Sparrow     1
Swamp Sparrow     1
White-throated Sparrow     6
Dark-eyed Junco    2

Post Election

You don't have to fool
All of the people all of the time;
Just a lot of the people
Most of the time. 

Land Grab!

As more species turned up on Pier 1, it was really bugging me that because of a geographical technicality (NY County’s border extends to the Brooklyn shoreline) the Pier’s sightings were being listed on eBird in NY County instead of Kings.  When Mike Yuan listed his birds there, instead of using the established hot spot, he created his own, and by putting his marker a 100 feet or so away--on the "mainland"-- from my original one, his listings wound up in the proper county.

So I wrote to eBird and explained how ludicrous the situation was—it is after all BROOKLYN Bridge Park--& as of tomorrow, the park will be counted in Kings instead of New York County.   I feel like I’ve snatched the land back to the right side of the line. The only downside is that I’ve lost a lot of New York County listings.

National Cold Storage Company
in the process of being demolished

The place has been active the last couple of days—juncos abound.  There were even dozens in the empty, dirt-filled lot where National Cold Storage Company once stood

(National Cold Storage Company is also the title of a great book of poems by Harvey Shapiro. You can get it on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/347abx2)

The list for today:

Pier 1

11/2/10
Number of species:     19
American Black Duck     10
Mallard     2
Double-crested Cormorant     3
Ring-billed Gull     6
Herring Gull     3
Great Black-backed Gull     1
Rock Pigeon     10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2
Hermit Thrush     4
American Robin     3
European Starling     2
Yellow-rumped Warbler     1
Palm Warbler     1
Song Sparrow     10
White-throated Sparrow     30
Dark-eyed Junco     100
House Finch     1
American Goldfinch     7
House Sparrow     3

Pier 1 Debuts 11/1

Hermit Thrush & House Finch made their debuts at Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park this morning.  There were also lots of sparrows, particularly juncos--a conservative count of 100 on the lawns, in the marsh, in the trees, on the fly over the East River, basically anywhere I turned there were juncos in sight. The House Finch was feeding with a small flock of them.

I felt like I could have found more birds but I was under dressed, especially in the gloves department. When I could no longer spin the focus knob on my binoculars I decided it was probably a better idea to leave than to continue.

In addition another birder reported on Friday Blue-headed Vireo as well as Field and Savannah Sparrows to add to the list. I was happy to see someone else birding this little patch.

List:
Number of species:    21
Canada Goose    6
American Black Duck    4
Mallard    2
Double-crested Cormorant    2
Ring-billed Gull    10
Herring Gull    1
Great Black-backed Gull    1
Rock Pigeon    8
Eastern Phoebe    1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet    2
Hermit Thrush    1
American Robin    6
Yellow-rumped Warbler    3
Palm Warbler    1
Chipping Sparrow    2
Song Sparrow    5
Swamp Sparrow    1
White-throated Sparrow    5
Dark-eyed Junco    100
House Finch    1
House Sparrow    3